Running like a chicken.......

I found myself under the weather today taking a day off (encouraged by my wonderful friend Leanne). Funny thing is even though I didn't feel so great, I got 6 loads of laundry done and folded ......(I was able to delegate the putting away to Macy bless her sweet heart!) I put Broccoli Cheese soup in the Crock Pot. I took the laptop, the bills, my purse, some ads and a pad of paper and a pen to my room.

I was able to pay all the weeks bills, make a rough list of things I want to have done before we have company for Thanksgiving and things before Winter sets in, got in on some great deals online for my kids for Christmas (check out Aeropostle's clearance online if your family likes that store, they have some great $5 t shirts and $15 hoodies), and got dinner on. I didn't get to look through the ads and make my grocery list but I've decided to stay home tonight from church and relax and do that! I might even clean out my purse, but I don't want to overdo it haha

To be honest, I know I'm an over achiever at heart.......meaning I like to be "doing" alot to keep things organized etc. but often my expectations haven't been meeting the "doing" and I've felt like I can't run one more errand, give one more kid a ride, fill out one more piece of paper or clean one more thing in this house! I think I heard myself say yesterday in a tearful voice "I'm drowning in my own schedule" so when I stumbled upon this great article on Crystal Paines blog Money Saving Mom (click on this link to read it). Basically she was encouraging us to not do IT ALL......To say no to some things that aren't in your season of life right now and let go of perfectionism........this was so good and I have to say when I went over my list of things I do that I could say no to or delegate it was hard at first to think of what could wait but I think I can manage to wait on some things until it's easier to manage. See the chick in this picture, doing what she loves to do......bake or cook or make something for somebody......missing that feeling!

I want to be able to give the best of myself to my family and I haven't found that to be easy lately......so I hope you enjoy this article! if you look around her blog she has alot of great time saving ideas and if you click on her most recent post she has a great guest post about managing time!

The holidays are coming so it's a good time to get stuff in order and be ready, it's my favorite time of year and I want to suck every bit of enjoyment out of it with my friends and family......there's a phrase Crystal wrote in her article "to have your house 45 minutes from company ready" WOW! that's a pretty good way to live I think......plus she spends 30 mins. in God's word and in prayer before her kids get up....the timing of this wouldn't work for me since my kids are up only 15 minutes after me at 6 a.m. but this is doable for me after Grace goes to school....I realize it's all about being INTENTIONAL!!

I want to enjoy the holidays and my family and not be barking orders and being grouchy (I'm not promising this will happen all the time haha) but I just want to stop the frazzled feeling! I try to find things that help me feel happy or make the job easier, for those that know me know that Christmas music puts me in myhappy place so you bet I turned some on today!

I heard a great speaker last night at a ceremony for Jordan and other students at his school and one thing I heard him say was "Be the best at all you do, try hard and don't quit, commit to doing the best job you can and don't overload yourself with QUANTITY so you can do QUALITY work.....Be the best at having a CALM ATTITUDE!" "KAPOW!!!" I knew he was a Pastor but it was a secular event but I knew what he was saying......stop stressin and doing too much and do well on what you need to do!!

ENJOY YOUR LIFE.........it's tough if you have anything extra to do, kids, school events, etc. but leave some room for a lazy "me" day you will find it so refreshing.........I realize this is all easy to say since I laid in bed all day but I plan to make myself a few little prompts around the house on note cards to remind myself this life isn't a race it's to be enjoyed. Our family has made a commitment as a family to "serve" others and we can't do a very good job with no time in our schedule.........The blog button for Proverbs 31 on the sidebar of my blog has great daily devotionals for women that I've found to be priceless in my life!

If you have any good links or ideas/books on this topic share them in the comments! we can all use help! haha HAPPY HOLIDAYS FRIENDS!