Motivated Moms Chore List

I am going to try this again. The Motivated Moms Chore List. Get it for only $1 for the rest of this year by using the coupon LLNOE.

It is time... not for NaNoWriMo, but something...

It is time to take myself firmly in hand. Actually, it is past time. The bad mood and feeling sorry for myself has lasted too long.

I signed up for NaNoWriMo last year and got a couple of paragraphs written before I abandoned the project, wondering what made me think I could fit it in. We're really busy.

So when I signed up, I got on an email list and now they are recruiting and motivating for this year. And I considered it. Briefly. But we are still too busy. And I am moody and feeling sorry for myself. So I am not going to do NaNoWriMo. Obviously.

But before I decided that, I requested No Plot, No Problem from the library. Picked up it and skimmed it. And realized this is not my time to write a novel in 30 days.

In that book, I read about how, in preparation for NaNoWriMo, you should write down how you spend your time for a week. Here's what Chris Baty said,

The Time Finder is to novel-planning what the Jaws of Life are to accident scenes. But rather than extracting precious things from tight places, the Time Finder does the opposite: It helps wedge large valuables into impossibly small spaces. The tool is the ideal way to discover the answer to the inevitable question, "Where the hell am I going to find the time to write a novel?"

 To use it, you only need some paper, a pen, and some red, blue and green highlighers (or colored pencils). You'll also need five minutes a night for seven nights in a row. And before you start complaining about getting homework already, let it be known: There are treats involved.

Here's how it works: Before you go to bed every night, sit down with your paper and pen, and write down everything you did that day, broken down into half-hour increments. ....

After you've carefully documented your activities for one week, bust out the highlighters or colored pencils, and go to town. First, go through and circle or underline every REQUIRED activity in red. ... Things in this category would be basic acts of personal hygiene, commutes to work or school, actual working, running work-related errands, eating meals, shuttling friends or family around, grocery shopping, and paying bills. 

Next, go through the lists and mark the HIGHLY DESIRED activities in blue.  In this category go the things that, if push came to shove, you could get by without doing for a month, but which would cause major stress or hardship. ...

 Finally, take that last color and mark all the FORGO-ABLE activities that you could give up for a month without courting disaster. ....

If, like me, you've found that you're spending between an hour and a half to two hours a day on forgo-able items, you're golden. These will be your sacrificial lambs next month. Say good-bye to them now, and know they will still be there when you pick them  up again in thirty days.

So, I don't know what my 30-day blitz is going to look like exactly, but I am going to start with The Time Finder.

I think my 30-day project (see, I don't even have a name for it yet) will include exercise for me, a plan for regular meals and snacks for the kids (more cooking and less fast-fooding), a serious look at what is going wrong in my housekeeping and laundry life and what I can do to counteract my frustration with my lot in life. (And I know I have a really great life, but I still complain a lot and get really frustrated and sometimes yell at my family and for someone who is trying to be more Christ-like, not because I am great but because I am a follower of His and we are supposed to get more mature, this--the complaining and frustrated and yelling part--makes me feel disappointed and defeated.)

I feel like if I could get Leila to come over, she'd gently let me know, in no uncertain terms, to stop whining and get on with it. And I have a feeling she'd pray for me, too.

The exercise is to help me feel better. The meals, laundry and housework is about serving my family and working to make things smoother for all of us. But I will only succeed if I get to the root of the problem, whether it is laziness, pride, selfishness or whatever. And I can only overcome those things with the help of the Lord. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I have a lot of work to do.

The house is a bit of a mess; the laundry isn't done...

And I want to do what I can to change it. In the next hour. (Only an hour now because, goodness, it is 1:45 in the morning!) And then more tomorrow.

• Get the uniforms that are needed tomorrow in the washer (5 minutes)
• Work on putting up clean clothes. Put the kids' clean stuff just outside their door. (15 minutes)
• Unload dishwasher. (What is this doing being undone this late in the day/early the next day? For shame!) (10 minutes)
• Move wet things to dryer (1 minute)
• Sweep kitchen (5 minutes)
• Put away more clothes (10 minutes)
• Tidy kitchen (5 minutes)
• Pick up and straighten up downstairs (aiming for the biggest, most obvious messes) (9 minutes)

The most important first step, the step you cannot accomplish this without doing first, no matter who you are is...



GET OFF THE COMPUTER!

I'll report on how my one hour worked soon...

More Times Mom Family Organizer Wall Calendar

My review from amazon.com:

I'm kinda nuts when it comes to the calendar I use.

"Nuts" in that I spend more time than I should looking at what is available, comparing features and sometimes even making charts comparing the size of the calendars and size of the grids.

2011 will be the tenth year we will use the More Time Moms Family Organizer. And while I am a loyal customer, I am most interested in getting the best calendar for us. I look to see what is available before I buy.



I love this calendar for these reasons:

It is big...

Closed, it is 11 inches long by 15 inches wide. Closed means that you would be seeing half of the calendar: either the first half of the month or the second half of the month. This is for those of you who only have about 11 inches by 15 inches to spare for it.




Opened up to the whole month, it is 22 inches long by 15 inches wide. This is the way we use it.

It has great paper...

The paper is strong, takes heavy writing (pencil and pen; felt pens might bleed through), highlighting and erasing and in nine years I have never had a page tear or come loose from the spiral binding.

The squares are perfect...

They are 2 inches by 3 3/4 inches. They have faint lines to keep your writing straight. The lines help me visually divide the squares up so I can put morning things near the top, afternoon things in the middle and evening things close to the bottom. The lines could just as easily be ignored. The lines dividing the squares are strong. Holidays and moon phases are noted.

I like the illustrations...

They are family-oriented, but not too cutesy. Some months the primary illustration is in color, other months, black and white (for children to illustrate). There will usually be another one or two small illustrations on the pages and these are in color. Visually, I really like how this calendar looks.

Additional room for notes and things...

Each monthly spread also contains other spaces for writing reminders: Kids' Chores, Reminders and then perhaps another space for Back to School, Gardening or Vacation Plans. You can use these as suggested, or change the title and use them in other ways. You will also get the previous and next months' at-a-glace calendar and a space called: "Schedule time for important things: Yourself: exercise, fresh air, reading hobbies, church, etc. Your partner, family, friends, relatives and community." And there will be a thoughtful quote, often new to me.

Stickers...

260 (and you can order more from the More Time Moms website). Some years I use them a lot, other years I might just use the birthday, anniversary, doctors' appointments and important stickers. The sticker sheet is bound into the calendar, so you won't lose it.



Heavy-duty pocket...

The inside back cover of the calendar contains a heavy-duty pocket (mine has never torn). I use the pocket for a few papers, but what I like to do is hang a clip board under the calendar with copies of school schedules, school calendars, sports schedules and so on. I put all the dates on the calendar, which is referred to daily, sometimes many times a day, but the clip board contains the originals if I need more information. I have created a document with the names, phone numbers and addresses of our doctors and dentist and I keep that in the pocket.

Also printed on the inside back cover is the whole next year's calendar and January's calendar (it is the same as the monthly spread, but smaller, of course).

More writing space...

On the back of the December page is more space for writing. There are grids there for Emergency Numbers, Medical Card Numbers, Kids' phone numbers, Everyone else's phone numbers and a blank for your use.



Charity donation...

5% of profits are donated to children's charities in developing countries. I love this.

She listens to customer feedback...

This is the 15th year this calendar has been available. Joanne, the creator of the calendar, listens to customers' feedback and makes small changes based on that. The basic format and features have remained the same.

A couple of other notes:

Our family life is busy now. Someday, I'll have time to go back and review what we've done and organize photos and scrapbooks. I keep our calendars for this reason. I've tried to remember to write things like who has Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with us, specifics about where we go on vacation and so on for these reasons.

Sometimes I want to mark a series of days, for example, my husband's vacation days, or the days of Lent or Advent. I use crayons to do this. I just outline the time period with a crayon and then lightly color in the squares. Other times I will just use a long line to indicate something that goes from Monday through Friday (a week-long camp, for example).

This is the calendar that Flylady used before she made her own. I think this one is better because of the size, layout and visually I prefer this one.

I notice that Amy Knapp has a big wall calendar available now.

I love Amy Knapp's Family Organizer, a portable planner. I was surprised and disappointed to see that Amy Knapp's wall calendar is virtually the same design as the More Time Moms calendar. Granted, there aren't that many different ways to organize a wall calendar, but it just seems too similar. I want to give my business to the originator (as long as it is still a great product and it is!).

Paying a little more for a product that I so fully rely on and use daily is worth it to me. The amazon price seems high, but does includes free shipping... I would pay more for this calendar if I had to!

This Seems Like a Fair Approach ....

I haven't been following the debate about the mosque near Ground Zero closely, but I do sorta know what people are saying about it.

I really like this perspective:
ChosenRebel -- my cultural engagement blog: A Friendly Response to a Reader and Friend's Push Back