Okay, to be real... Tuesday are my "Mondays".  My peppiness from the weekend recharge is normally winding down and knowing that my husband won't be home until late steals a bit of my joy. There is nothing like knowing you will have help at the end of a long day of endless questions and requests! 

I have three kids under six and I so wish more than one took naps! My youngest is one-and-a-half and starting to balk at naps, so my reprieve from hyper-vigilance is fleeting. He is all boy, climbing everything, finding trouble and making messes! I work from home and this has gotten increasingly harder over the last few years due to multiple factors - more children, husband working more, starting homeschool and of course less nap time. Any type of quiet time is hard in our house since we always seem to be in the main room together. Plus, I turn around and see that my toddler took out every possible toy from his room and brought it to the living room while I was dealing with his sister. Peace on Tuesdays is needed!

Mondays I try to attack the housework so Tuesdays I can be more available for my work, but my energy has been lagging lately.  I am grateful that God gave me the phrase "Smarter not Harder" last January and I really was diligent in creating space in my workload by training others.  If I had not done that, I would be drowning now for sure.  This year He has given me the word "Peace" and my mission is to simplify in as many areas as I can, so peace reigns in our home.

When we first moved in ...9 years ago... we painted soothing colors of blues and greens, so I know peaceful decor isn't really what God is getting at, despite the fact that it could use a new coat to freshen things up. I believe He is wanting me to find more peace at home by really being able to enjoy it without my constant mental checklist distracting me. So, I have been utilizing tools to remove the mental checklist into an actual one with prompts so I can just tackle the next thing without taking additional time analyzing what should be next or trying to remember when the last time I changed the filter on the AC unit.  (I use my phone's reminders list which allows me to choose repeating tasks with biweekly/weekly/monthly prompts and this has helped immensely.)

I am a type-A wanting to be closer to a type-B.  I want the balance of productivity with the enjoyment of beauty.

And here is the big point - when there isn't a prompt, I want to be in the moment with my children. I want to relish their childhood because I know how quickly you blink and that sweet baby becomes an opinionated child. I am not ready to blink and hand over my car keys to a teenager, so I am trying to be in the moment more which can be exhausting. It is a lot of repetition! I enjoy my children one-on-one, but when they all start clamoring I feel like my sanity is hanging by a thread. Raising kids is hard and being able to put the world on pause and enjoy a moment is a win! So, on these tedious Tuesdays, to restore peace we:

• Give more grace to not accomplish A, B or C (for the children and for myself)
  
• Have a dance party to reset bad moods - ( I close the blinds!)
• Go on walks to get out of the house. (Looking forward to starting trails when the baby is big enough!)
  
• Declare a PJ day (sometimes a movie night too - with popcorn!)
• Go to the library and grab another bag of books
• Meet friends at a park  (sometimes with a picnic)
• Find a Geocache 
• Sneak out after dad is home for coffee with friends!! (hello? Starbucks anyone?)

     
What do you do to salvage a day?- or make it through a long one?
​ I can always use more ideas -Please and thank you!!!

I strive to start my day with a devotion and prayer before my kids are clamoring for chocolate almond milk, breakfast or Doc McStuffin. Sometimes, depending on how late we sleep, this is easily done and other times not so much. I am fairly intelligent and I know that early rising is the Proverbs-31 model of the perfect mom for a good reason. I am here to state that she can have that title because I am proudly a night owl.

It is only a "Monday" if we had too many social obligations over the weekend and we 'let the house go'. Otherwise, I find most Mondays easy, when recharged from the weekend. My mind is normally filled with things I wish to accomplish and I try to start tackling them, but the laundry normally stands in my way.

Folding laundry is not my favorite, but I have learned to turn on a show, or a podcast to make it more bearable. My kids are young, so my type-A tendencies haven't allowed them to learn to fold yet. They do put their own clothes away, but until I can become more relaxed and not care if things are folded the way I like them - I am on my own with the folding. If I don't distract myself then it is easy to have thoughts start spiraling downward because my time seems wasted on monotonous things.

If I can get through the laundry, homeschooling and fit in a little work at baby's nap time, then I might have time to squeeze in the next chapter or re-pot a plant ( I dabble in gardening). It is inevitable that someone's temper gets sour during the day (mine included), so to reset, we turn on the music and have a dance party.... and yes, I tip my blinds so I can do so freely!

I get my best burst of inspiration just as my head hits the pillow... why?  Perhaps, because that is the only time my day...err night is quiet!? I know God wired me to be this way, so why fight it?  I need a pen and pad near my bed or I will not be able to sleep.  I cannot count how many times I have started to doze and been woken with something that God impresses upon me or some fabulous idea I simply must jot down.  If you don't it will be fuzzy the next day and that is a sin of lost inspiration.  ha ha

Monday fades into Tuesday and I praise God that in the midst of it all.
He helps me treasure a moment here or there, keeps me from losing my cool too many times, orders my day, and through loving friends and family somehow keeps me sane!