Getting Serious: Christmas

I started pulling out the Christmas decorations last night.  I found the mini tree my hubby bought me when we lived in a tiny apartment & instantly thought it would be perfect for Elli to have her own tree. Only problem, I don't have unbreakable ornaments for her to use, so time to get creative!  What I did have was giant decorative paper clips in my scrapbooking supplies. Perfect!  We decorated that tree over & over, so much fun!

In my bins I also found the bag of jingle bells I used in school for caroling to other classrooms with my students.  Jackpot!! We had our own little carol sing on the floor of the kitchen.  What a great night!

Getting Serious: Command Centre

Behold the first 'draft' of our new household Command Centre!
I've spent the last week working on getting organized, the first step in this SAHM Getting Serious.
I realized that I was constantly forgetting important things I needed to take care of/do/buy & so on.  I kept making little lists on post it notes, then losing the notes, lol.  With a 7 wk old & an 18 mos old I am suffering from a serious case of baby brain plus sleep deprivation, never a good combination for being functional & productive!  I have been feeling overwhelmed, scattered, disorganized & kind of lost.
So I put those sleepless nights up with baby (& my iPad) to good use.  I scoured the Internet (& Pinterest) for ideas on home organization & fell in love with the Home Organization binder.  One problem with my hubby & I though is "out of sight, out of mind" applies to both of us right now so we needed something more visual for certain things.  The Command Centre was born!
I attached to magnet strips (IKEA) to the pantry door & hung the following documents: free printable 2014 calendar I found on Pinterest, a Honey-Do list for hubby (again Pinterest), our current grocery list, the schedule for all the indoor playgrounds & free activities in our area, my To-Do List and a Clean House weekly rotation.
My Grocery List is broken down by category (eg Produce, Dairy, etc).
My To Do List is also broken down (eg Crafts/Sewing, Computer/Online Work, Gifts & Things to Buy, etc.)
My cleaning schedule is broken down twice.  The first 4 boxes are things to do on a 4 week rotation so the basic cleaning things I sometimes forget about get done each month.  The next 4 boxes are a 4 month rotation with 'deep cleaning' & organizing things that will get done 3x a year.  I will be laminating this & using dry erase markers to check things off & reuse the list.
Eventually I plan to work on making/adapting my own graphics to get things prettier & more matching with my kitchen decor; but this works for now!

I did end up making a Home Organization mini-binder as well.  I'm not finished yet but so far it has the "Menu" of all our favourite meals for when I need ideas, a list of the meals currently in our freezer and a chart to keep track of my water/diet/exercise.  Once I get it done I'll try to post pics & more details on it as well.

Time to Get Serious

I never thought I'd be a stay at home mom.  Honestly.  It was just not something I wanted or saw myself doing.  Sure, I wanted kids, but the assumption was I'd go back to work ASAP.  Too much time at home drove me crazy.  I got stir crazy quickly, very quickly.  I barely made it through summer holidays each year without cleaning & organizing the entire house as well as taking on a new hobby...and I'd still be dying to go back to work by mid-August!  I figured being home full time, even as a mom, would be pretty much the same.
Also, teaching is something I am so passionate about, something I love doing.  I worked hard at bettering myself as a teacher, at making myself & my classroom more organized & efficient.  Every school year I chose a few things about myself as a teacher, my themes & plans & my classroom to focus on & improve.
So between my inability to spend too much time at home & my sincere love for my career, it wasn't in the "plan" to be a SAHM.
As with all the best laid plans, that went out the window! ;)
First I was taken off work & put on augmented bed rest when pregnant.  Next, right as I began looking to go back to work, we found out I was pregnant again.  So here I am, almost two years into being home full time & probably looking at another year at least.
I'm going to be honest here, I struggled with that for months.  It was a very tough thing to wrap my head around, not going back to teaching when I thought I would.  I miss teaching, I miss my coworkers, I miss the school environment (I miss the paycheque!).  I miss the independence, I miss feeling like I have a bit of my "own" life (I miss showering & getting dressed up every day too).  I miss the challenge, the joy of learning new things, the sense of accomplishment & pride.
Today as I was (finally) getting in the shower (at 11pm cuz that's when both my babies were finally asleep) it hit me.
 I need to stop whining!
Yes, I want to go back to teaching & I will one day without a doubt.  It's my calling.
That's no excuse for my attitude though.  Right now, I'm a SAHM.  It's not what I planned but it's a huge blessing & it deserves MORE of my dedication, creativity & energy than I ever gave to my job.
If I spent that much time & energy to constantly improve myself & my classroom to meet the needs of my students better, why would I not do that now?
Instead of "missing" the opportunity to be creative at school, I need to be creative at home.
Instead of "missing" teaching my students, I need to teach my children.
Instead of "missing" being active during the day, I need to be active with my children.
Why am I not using all those talents & skills I funneled into teaching now with my children & in my home?
So it's time to get serious.
To dedicate myself to doing this SAHM thing my way, the Princess Teacher way.  ;)