A Classic Housewife in a Modern World

I’m not making resolutions. I’m not making promises, either.

On the other hand, we’re hopefully continuously growing, learning and improving ourselves, right? As Christians, we’re constantly being edified, refined. Today is no different than yesterday. This year is no different than last year. We should constantly be seeking improvement and striving to be like Christ.

Unlike a resolution to change something or try something new, I want to spend a few moments thinking of specific things to continue working on intentionally in this upcoming year. For me, 2007 was “The Year of Clean.” I spent the entire year going through room after room in our house, going through boxes that hadn’t been opened in years, purging, de-cluttering and reorganizing to get my house down to an amount that I could actually manage and maintain. 2008 was the dubbed “The Year of Self-Discipline” with the motto of “Just do it!” I continued working on self-discipline and getting stuff done. I’ve done better at times and worse at others, but I trudged through it to get it done. Even at it’s worst, it was never as bad as the worst of 2007.

But “Just do it,” “keep putting one foot in front of the other” and “take it one bite at a time” doesn’t take into account the quality of the job done. This year, I want to keep working on purging, de-cluttering and organizing (because you can never stop, really, or you’ll find yourself buried in clutter again), I want to keep working on the self-discipline to get things done when they need to be done (because apparently I totally stink at setting good habits and I’m still working on it) but I want to start living each day to it’s full extent. I don’t want to be thinking about what has to be done, dwelling on what happened yesterday, or worrying about tomorrow. I want to give my home and family Grade A quality attention.

This is the year of quality time. The year of not multi-tasking everything, all the time.

This year, I want to:

1. Make better use of my mornings — instead of piddling the morning away and feeling behind on my day.
2. Try, again, to read the bible in a year – I’m good at starting, not so good at finishing.
3. Start using my home management binder again — I’ve gotten out of the habit for several months, and I definitely do better with it.
4. Start practicing guitar again – “Santa Mommy Clause” brought new guitar strings; she always knows just what to put in my stocking. (ME time and worship time.)
5. Start menu planning the right way again — planning for the full day, considering the weekly sales ads, and making a shopping list right then so it’s ready. It’s smarter and I’m more prepared and I save more money.
6. Have game/movie nights on Sunday evenings — once, many years ago, we used to have movie night every Sunday. I miss that.
7. Stop multi-tasking during school time — I’m not 100% focused on my children when I am.
8. Work on consistency with schooling and record keeping.
9. Spend quality time with my kids before bedtime — reading, praying and tucking them in instead of just kissing them and sending them off to bed half the time. (I’m not very patient with storytime. Too many interruptions!)
10. Making my husband feel loved — giving full attention, meeting his daily needs, greeting him warmly, etc.

I don’t know that I’ll have one more day. I don’t know that my kids will. I do want to know that I haven’t wasted my time, but have put it to good use. Not just put it to use, but put it to GOOD use. Quality time.

What about you?

• Read “Looking Back on 2008“
• Read “My Reading List for Edification in 2009“