boundaries and frames

So, this upcoming season of my life is proving to be more than I could have ever dreamed of. I am gainfully unemployed (after much effort at attempting to be employed) and it was very obvious that my days as a teacher in a classroom were more than likely coming to an end.

Both of my children are going to be in school five days a week. And I get the amazing opportunity to just be the classroom volunteer mom that I never dreamed would ever happen in my life. We wake up in the morning, walk to school and walk home together. It’s nuts and I’m pretty much overwhelmed. I’ve been given an opportunity to really create something with daisyeyes and also to finally do some long-wanted writing.

In order to bring some order to all the space that has been opened up in my life, I thought I would share what I’ve been doing to help set some new boundaries.

To start with I thought about all the things I would like to accomplish in a week and assigned days to them. There is a lot of grace here, but I needed something to help me set aside time to write, create and take care of our home.

I’m a huge menu planner in process and here is a picture of my table all set up for me to get started on my August menu. It’s been sitting there all week and I need to go to the store tomorrow morning. Like I said, a lot of grace my friends.

Here is what happens when the menu is planned. I put it in a page protector and as I make things I cross them off. The ones that are circled are ones that didn’t get made. July was a bust. We blew the budget out of the water and didn’t make half the stuff on the menu and what I did end up making was mostly yuck. Like I said…where would we be without grace?

My kitchen was redone in the 1980s and it screams “I was designed in the 1980s!” What woman in their right mind would pick cabinets that are 1)melamine white, 2)have a stupid little divot in the front that catches all sorts of ick. Stupid I say. Must have been a man! :0) Therefore, I have started using them as white boards. Here is my kitchen organizer:

We are also bringing some structure for the Rooster and Chick also. I found this great app for our iPad called Chore Pad HD and it is awesome. We stink at staying on top of rewards and allowance and this really frees us up to not have to keep up with it.

The catch with it though, is that there is nothing there to remind the kids of what their chores are. So, I made this little chart for them to look at.

The catch with it, though, is us and just getting into the routine period!

Those are all the boundaries…what about frames?
Honestly, I heard this podcast interview with a couple of women talking about framing your life. Changing your perspective and looking at every little space in your life as if it were in a frame and using it as a reminder of how God continues to bless us. This season, that is my utmost goal. I want to write, I want to sew and create, but ultimately I want to change the things in my life I am framing. I want to stop framing my life as a great status update. You can follow my journey with finding God in the ordinary here every Tuesday. Join me!!

I can honestly tell you that I am more relaxed, at ease and at peace than I have ever been in my life. Are things perfect? Heck no! We just buried our guinea pig this afternoon and the budget is slim pickings for August with a birthday to plan for too! But, I feel more freedom in my life than I have ever had before.

Grace is Amazing.

*If for some odd reason you would like a pdf of any of these files for yourself, just shoot me a comment or an email and I’ll be happy to pass them along.