Pages

Thursday, May 19, 2011

What Are Your Intentions?

I haven't been myself recently.

Usually, as soon as I get the boys settled for the night, I'm itchin' to sit down at the computer and write.  It takes a herculean effort most evenings to make myself finish cleaning up the kitchen or throw in another load of laundry or get out the feather duster.  I just want to sit down and write!

For the past few days, however, I have taken great delight in household tasks and have spent extra time straightening up or doing this and that before planting myself at the computer.  I've almost had to make myself write--not that I feel any pressure from anyone else to post anything here; that's not my motivation--but simply because I want to capture the memories of these days.  As it is, I feel like SO MUCH slips through my fingers, and I never get a chance to jot it down.  I'm always "behind" with the blog.  I always have idea upon idea of what to write about.  I always have a mental list of Very Important Events that I must record for posterity (and for my own recollection and enjoyment, years from now).  And I never have enough time.  

Because of that, I'm almost always squeezing other areas of life to expand my blogging time--giving the short end of the stick to my dishes, so to speak, so that I can write more.  But not recently.  It's just not like me to act this way!  ;-)

At any rate, when I finally turned on my laptop tonight, I was planning to finish another post, a much lengthier one; but it's going to take me longer than I have time for tonight, so it will have to wait.  In the meantime, here's something else I wanted to post (and really, I wanted to post it several weeks ago, but it didn't happen in my original schedule--does anything?).  ;-)

********

You know how the summer seems to fly by?  One week you're putting away the school books and enjoying the feeling of being done, knowing that the whole summer stretches out long and glorious before you.  And then, seemingly in just a week or two, the summer is gone!  How does that happen?!

In an effort to be more intentional about how we spend our time this summer, the boys and I have been creating a list.  It's nothing fancy--just a piece of notebook paper taped to the side of our homeschool closet--but on it, we've written down some goals for the summer, ideas for how to spend our time, dreams of what we want to accomplish.
 Some of these 31 items are more feasible than others.  Some fall into the "probably not gonna happen, but I won't tell you that just yet because I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm" category.  They range from the free ("catch fireflies," "lay on the trampoline and look at the stars") to the expensive ("go to the beach").  Some are for all of us ("eat ice cream at Kline's"), and some are specific to one or two people ("take fencing lessons" - that one's for me, of course - HA! - not a chance - but wouldn't my boys think I was The Coolest Mom Ever if I did?).  :)

It will be interesting to look back, at the end of the summer, and see how many of these items we actually accomplished.  Will we hit half?  Two-thirds?

In any case, Tobin's got the right idea.  We'd better rest up.
It's going to be quite a busy summer!  :)

8 comments:

  1. Your list makes me realize how spoiled I am to be living a mile and a half away from the ocean. Five miles from the bay. I wish I could say that you could visit and it would be a cheap visit but...alas...we are in 'the hamptons' which means everything is more expensive - even a gallon of milk. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. The list looks wonderful. I love the picture of Tobin falling asleep with his boots on.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love it! Similar to our list...we may be down to one vehicle soon, so many of our activities need to be done at home.

    Also, we are utilizing Highland retreat this summer. For Memorial Day weekend we are staying in an A Frame for $40/night. The week after July 4, we are going to stay in the retreat center for two nights (this year's rates are $58/night with two adults, kids are free!). All our activities and cooking/eating will be outside, but we don't have to "tent" it. We are so excited!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You should most definitely take fencing lessons LOL I'll take them with you! haha

    ReplyDelete
  5. Davene--

    I don't know if you realize how INCREDIBLY wise and effective this will be. Our family did this for numerous years---from the time the kids were rather young (I recall the youngest drawing pictures of his goals!). It REALLY helped us to, as you said in your post, be intentional in our priorities and time. AND, it took some guilt off my shoulders if I didn't get to something...I knew it wasn't because I had simply forgotten, but because other things had taken priority.
    May God bless your plans and lead you as you go!!
    Love,
    Valerie
    (and thank you for your encouragement and kind words to my daughter yesterday! Hope she and I can see you at the HEAV convention!!)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I echo your thoughts on dividing time up between household/real life tasks and blogging time!

    I really like the idea of a goals list for the summer!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, the timing of this post is just right! I have just started a revolution over here, calling it "Intentional Days". I'm planning to blog about it as soon as I get more solid footing and a few more days under my belt.
    I'm glad you're being intentional about how you spend your summer. I might have to make such a list myself one of these years.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you...
~ for taking a moment to spill your thoughts,
and, in so doing,
~ for being a blessing to those of us who read these words!