Sunday night

This weekend has flown by in a blur. I spent most of yesterday in St. Pete at a friend's wedding (Marissa's sister). Since it was so far away and Marissa and family were going back to VA today (big boohoo) I decided to go early so we got there at about noon and the wedding wasn't until 4:30. We hung around the hotel with them helping where we could until time to go to the church. The wedding was beautiful, Jayce was beautiful, the kids were adorable, the ceremony was very sweet, the reception fun, a good day overall. I drove home pretty late for me which made me nervous. I was on the road by 9:30 and was home by 11:30. I passed the time listening to speaker's from past homeschool conventions. I learned about seeing my difficult child as the gift he truly is and how to motivate my children beyond obedience to also love others and put others' needs above their own. I tried it out today in the grocery store when H and G had a squabble about throwing something away. I asked Hannah to serve her sister by throwing both of their little cups away. Hannah promptly turned and bumped Grace as she walked by huffing. Not a lot of love....we'll have to try again. Isn't raising little sinners fun??? Anyway, I got home about 11:30 but was too wound up to sleep (caffeine maybe?) for another hour so it was 12:30 before I got to bed. I was up by 7 to go to church and work in the nursery. I went to the grocery store on the way home while tired and starving with three little sinners. Not a good combo. I couldn't wait to get home, put groceries away, eat lunch and go take a nap. When I got home Ollie had parked the van on the street, a sure sign that he wanted to clean out the garage. Truly my least favorite chore. I was mad just thinking about it but wanted to have a good attitude--prayed for a good attitude (we have had MANY fights over cleaning out the garage due to my bad attitude). I went in, cleaned the kitchen, and when Ollie came in a bit later I calmly asked him if we were cleaning out the garage today. Now folks, this is truly an answer to prayer, here was his reply to me--"No (woohoo!), I need to hose off the driveway. After your nap (I hadn't even told him I was planning for one, I think he knows me well) we will clean or maybe during your nap. You must be really exhausted, go get some sleep. I'm cooking dinner too." That didn't make it hard to keep a good attitude!! So, I went and napped and I didn't look at the clock but I do believe that I slept for 3 hours. Guess who will be burning the midnight oil tonight? I'm going to try not to waste these couple of hours. I made myself clean the bathroom after putting kids to bed and before getting on the computer. Ollie is still hanging out with Hannah so I have some time alone. I have been terrible lately about wasting time on the computer. I will check blogs, check them again, check e-mail, check FB, check it all again, etc. It's really becoming ridiculous and life around me is suffering. Specifically, my house. I used to have a great system for keeping it clean that I stuck to for years. It helped that our church met in our house every Thursday night so it was always cleaned for then. Now though I just let things get way out of hand. I am continually putting out fires with no system or plan in place. My goal during this 6 weeks or so off of school is to get some sort of system in place that includes the kids doing regular jobs so that the house stays a little cleaner. I know this comes so easy to some people but NOT TO ME! I am not a schedule person nor do I ever do anything in a systematic manner. What I am good at is flying by the seat of my pants. So, any advice is welcomed as I set out to come up with a plan that will work for me.