I’ve been a full-time homemaker for 9 years now and am still overwhelmed by the many tasks, and at other times, BORED by them. Which can lead to unhappiness, even depression, but I noticed that when I focus my energies on a new challenge, that I am happier. So I wrote down some of the “professions” that being a wife, mother and homemaker included and picked one to focus on every month. By focusing on one of these endless areas, I can actually devote the time needed to improve at it, while giving myself permission to not worry about the other endless areas. And then, when I moved on to the next profession, I will have increased skills from the previous month to apply. Make sense?
So I made my list:
professional home organizer
I have the storage that I need, I just need to organize it. I write down when ever I come across an area or drawer that needs to be organized. In this month I’ll be researching methods to be organized, implementing them, and de-cluttering.
handywoman
This is for those areas that you wouldn’t worry about until you were going to sell the house: painting the trim, putting in a light fixture where a bare bulb hangs, etc.
professional chef
I started with this one since suppers were a DISASTER at my house. Picky eaters and poor planning. So, I baked with my preschoolers, and made homemade granola. I signed up for COOKNIK (5 supper recipes complete with tips and shopping lists emailed every Wed. eve for $17 for 6 months worth). Cousin K told me about Dinner Revolution, and BFF told me that Simple Suppers is opening soon: kitchens that supply the space and ingredients to make 12 entrees and then CLEAN up for you. It gave me focus for the month: when I was feeling down, I’d gather the troops to bake with me. If I started to feel guilty about some other pathetic area of my life, I’d tell myself “I’m a professional chef – I’ll have to talk to the house keeper about that”.
professional shopper/artisan
This was to prepare for Christmas, and validate my ebay addiction ;) I chose November, and was done with gifts before December began.
artist
I plan to do this in the summer and share the joy of art with my children. Do a sketch a day, just like my profs taught me. Do a painting on location with the older boys (at the cottage).
early childhood developer
I am going to take time to play and craft and learn with my children. I will plan stuff from the www.familyfun.com website. I never get around to this, but once I focus on it, I will be better skilled at incorporating it more often. I've now done this for one month, and decided to toilet train Sabine. I also stopped to teach Everett to play "Go Fish" and to pronounce the letter "s". Not EXACTLY as planned, but I did develop some children, I guess.
professional house keeper
Tanya told me about www.flylady.net which is a site where you can sign up for daily and weekly house cleaning reminders. I didn't follow the whole schedule, but I did try the "home blessing hour" and setting my timer for 10 minutes for all tasks. An improvement.
female escourt
Funny, eh? But homemakers need to keep the husband happy, too. And I’ll have to be escourted to fancy places every week, and I’d better get something new to wear to those fancy places, hadn’t I? If you’ve read the “Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands” you know about the “frump syndrome”.
gardener
When NOT having a garden is overwhelming, it’s hard to embrace the extra task of gardening, but I do love it, once I start. My yard really benefited from all of the extra attention and I really had fun.
events planner
How many times have I thought “tomorrow is ______ (insert special holiday here)” but not had anything planned? Any month of the year could benefit from a little events planning. I’ve chosen this one for December, this year, but I want to plan out the rest of the year too. I’ll look through Family Fun again, and put reminders into my calendar.
seamstress
What more do I need to write? I’m hoping that I will develop some skills here, so that I address things that need to be repaired (and ironed!) more than once a year.
professional historian
Code name for SCRAPBOOKER. You can get a lot done in one month if you are a professional!
naturalist
[not to be confused with naturist (nudist)] It’s studying nature. I never spend enough time outside, nor do my children – so I’ll focus on it. We could try bird watching, bug watching, hikes in the river valley, or visit a different playground every time.
Then I assigned them to the upcoming months and decided what to do as that professional. And lest you think that I have it all together, you are mistaken; that part about doing the ironing more than once a year? NOT a joke.
So I made my list:
professional home organizer
I have the storage that I need, I just need to organize it. I write down when ever I come across an area or drawer that needs to be organized. In this month I’ll be researching methods to be organized, implementing them, and de-cluttering.
handywoman
This is for those areas that you wouldn’t worry about until you were going to sell the house: painting the trim, putting in a light fixture where a bare bulb hangs, etc.
professional chef
I started with this one since suppers were a DISASTER at my house. Picky eaters and poor planning. So, I baked with my preschoolers, and made homemade granola. I signed up for COOKNIK (5 supper recipes complete with tips and shopping lists emailed every Wed. eve for $17 for 6 months worth). Cousin K told me about Dinner Revolution, and BFF told me that Simple Suppers is opening soon: kitchens that supply the space and ingredients to make 12 entrees and then CLEAN up for you. It gave me focus for the month: when I was feeling down, I’d gather the troops to bake with me. If I started to feel guilty about some other pathetic area of my life, I’d tell myself “I’m a professional chef – I’ll have to talk to the house keeper about that”.
professional shopper/artisan
This was to prepare for Christmas, and validate my ebay addiction ;) I chose November, and was done with gifts before December began.
artist
I plan to do this in the summer and share the joy of art with my children. Do a sketch a day, just like my profs taught me. Do a painting on location with the older boys (at the cottage).
early childhood developer
I am going to take time to play and craft and learn with my children. I will plan stuff from the www.familyfun.com website. I never get around to this, but once I focus on it, I will be better skilled at incorporating it more often. I've now done this for one month, and decided to toilet train Sabine. I also stopped to teach Everett to play "Go Fish" and to pronounce the letter "s". Not EXACTLY as planned, but I did develop some children, I guess.
professional house keeper
Tanya told me about www.flylady.net which is a site where you can sign up for daily and weekly house cleaning reminders. I didn't follow the whole schedule, but I did try the "home blessing hour" and setting my timer for 10 minutes for all tasks. An improvement.
female escourt
Funny, eh? But homemakers need to keep the husband happy, too. And I’ll have to be escourted to fancy places every week, and I’d better get something new to wear to those fancy places, hadn’t I? If you’ve read the “Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands” you know about the “frump syndrome”.
gardener
When NOT having a garden is overwhelming, it’s hard to embrace the extra task of gardening, but I do love it, once I start. My yard really benefited from all of the extra attention and I really had fun.
events planner
How many times have I thought “tomorrow is ______ (insert special holiday here)” but not had anything planned? Any month of the year could benefit from a little events planning. I’ve chosen this one for December, this year, but I want to plan out the rest of the year too. I’ll look through Family Fun again, and put reminders into my calendar.
seamstress
What more do I need to write? I’m hoping that I will develop some skills here, so that I address things that need to be repaired (and ironed!) more than once a year.
professional historian
Code name for SCRAPBOOKER. You can get a lot done in one month if you are a professional!
naturalist
[not to be confused with naturist (nudist)] It’s studying nature. I never spend enough time outside, nor do my children – so I’ll focus on it. We could try bird watching, bug watching, hikes in the river valley, or visit a different playground every time.
Then I assigned them to the upcoming months and decided what to do as that professional. And lest you think that I have it all together, you are mistaken; that part about doing the ironing more than once a year? NOT a joke.
1 comment:
my BFF is brilliant...i have always loved this idea...i will start April 1 with the home organizer...love the background here by the way...so...what if YOU are already a professional historian - your stuff is pretty near perfect already...what comes after? master historian? doctor historian? elitist ? volunteer (that's when you start doing it for other people) ?
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