Using Time Wisely: Counting my Blessings (11-23)

November 9, 2011 by Tracy

I am so glad to be back into a routine after struggling with illness for over a week. Thank you for your patience with the posts as I took a little break to heal and then wrote with a vengeance over the weekend. Back on track, I am so thankful to be doing the mundane things that required so much work a week ago. Here’s my grateful report:

11. A healthy body that allows me to work and help others;

12. Garbage disposal that saves me so much time while cooking in the kitchen;

13. Patient husband, who tripped and stumbled over the piles of toys, clothes, and shoes that cluttered our house during my stay in the recliner;

14. Cool weather and lots of sunshine, so my kids could play outside away from the germs;

15. Friends, who prayed and checked on me during my illness;

16. My husband’s supervisor, who understood when Paul needed to take our son to school and arrive at work a little late;

17. Comforting words from the Scriptures to uplift my spirit;

18. My youngest daughter’s little hands sneaking up to tickle me;

19. Help from my oldest daughter matching the socks from the clean load of laundry;

Concentrating on finding the matching socks

20. My son’s quick wake-up in the mornings to get ready for school;

21. The uncontrollable laughter and giggling of my children before bedtime;

22. Thanking our Lord for our family while praying together each night; and

23. Wonderful Readers, like you, who keep me accountable.

Reflecting back to count my blessings encourages me as I see the progress made in the last few days. I may not be as far along on my To Do list as I would like, but thankfully, I am not where I started last week. Baby steps while using time wisely will help us reach those goals. Just remember to count your blessings along the way.

Question: For what are you thankful today? Please add your answer to the comments.

Using Time Wisely: Counting my Blessings (1-10)

October 26, 2011 by Tracy

Allergy season has definitely arrived. All three of my children have been congested, miserable, and exhausted. Zapped of energy and just needing snuggles and hugs, my children have camped in my lap this week.

Instead of worrying about the piles of laundry, menu plans, grocery shopping, and other Mommy-responsibilities, I have been counting these blessings:

1. A wonderful husband, who after working all day comes home to play and snuggle with our children, assist with dinner, and handle the cleanup;

Family picture - Summer 2011

2. Slobbery kisses from my 20-month-old;

3. Special breakfast shared with my 6-year-old son;

4. My 4-year-old organizing partner;

5. Benedryl to relieve the allergy symptoms;

6. Soft pillow and a warm comforter;

7. Going to bed early and waking refreshed;

8. Listening to my son read;

9. Hearing “Mommy” (even though it is repeated way too many times); and

10. Lap filled with snuggling children.

Hard to believe this picture is almost 2 years old. I need to continue using time wisely because time is flying by!

A day is quickly coming when my children will no longer desire to crawl into my lap for comfort (insert sad face here). But rather than dwelling on the inevitable, I am choosing to count my blessings.

Keeping my perspective on the blessings of today and thanking my Heavenly Father for another day to spend with my family, I am using time wisely by living today with no regrets. If you find life getting overwhelming with responsibilities piling up, try changing your outlook by counting your blessings.

Question: For what are you thankful today? What are your blessings? Wanna leave a comment?

Goal-oriented or Task-oriented?

April 11, 2011 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Do you find that you start many projects at once with none of them getting completed? This is my daughter.

Goal-oriented

She is goal-oriented and loves to get out different sets of toys with the goal of organizing. She likes to line up the dolls, sort the silverware, and stack the blocks.

If the baby comes over to play with an available organized pile, then my oldest daughter gets so upset because she is not done with those items. At the end of playtime, she has all these little messes.

She then gets overwhelmed with pickup because she did not pickup when she was done with the silverware or blocks. We are working on getting out one set of items, playing with them, and putting them away before getting out something else. It is a work in progress, but with this system, the pickup progress is easier to manage.

Task-oriented

Where my daughter is goal-oriented, I am task-oriented. I like to select an item on the To Do list (i.e. make tea), and complete that task.

In our household, the kids and I drink about 3 gallons of tea in 2 days. Now, I could make tea everyday, and sometimes I do. But I prefer to make 4 gallons of tea every 2-3 days. I just like having the refrigerator stocked, the tea maker in its place, and the counter cleared off.

Often life intervenes, and I get distracted by good things. But when I get back to my task, I just keep on going. When my task is finished, then I move on to something else. This system works for me, but it may not work for you.

You might be goal-oriented like my daughter, who would probably prefer to accomplish the tea-making task at a set time each day. For example, after dinner make a pitcher of tea. These same individuals prefer to tackle a load of laundry each day.

The laundry pile, like the tea making, is a continuous cycle. I prefer to spend a day or two doing laundry to get it done. Again, life happens, and sometimes I need to do laundry during the week and then on the weekends.

Just knowing how you approach projects might help as you schedule your tasks. The goals are to get things done and don’t get overwhelmed while using time wisely.

Question: Are you goal-oriented, task-oriented, or both?