Thistle Hill Ranch: Feeling Organized & Productive?

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Feeling Organized & Productive?

Do you ever have those weeks where everything seems to go as it should, & your almost afraid to acknowledge it...because you might jinx it?

Well, I had one of those weeks!

To Do List:

Clean Out Refridgerator { I clean out the fridge every week, each time I go grocery shopping; but, soap and water cleaning should be done once a month, and I've been lackadaisical. But this week...DONE!
Re-Organize Everyones Clothes Drawers and Closets, DONE!
Get Lesson Planning for the Next Month Done, & Add New Semester Electives, Done!
Get Ranch Documents Purged and Files Ready for the New Year, Done!
Get The Boy's Refocused on the Semester Goals, Done!
Organize Timing For Artificially Inseminating Cattle for Fall Calving, Done!
Dry Cleaning, Done!
Grocery Shopping for the week, Done!
Dogs Bathed & Clip their nails, Done!

I was so happy I got all of this accomplished, as well as all the housework, grocery shopping, and I even had full cooperation from my boys!

So were the stars all aligned, am I dreaming? Or was I just REALLY lucky?

I think it was A LOT of determination, a dash of consternation, and whole heck of a lot of caffeine!

I am a major planner. I have to have things organized, or I feel nuts! When the boys were in public school, I was running errands, cleaning, organizing, then picking them up from school, helping with homework, cooking dinner, and repeat.

Now, it's even busier! This is my daily schedule:

I wake-up about 7 AM...not too bad
Wake the boys up, {2 or 3 times}
Shower & get ready
Start a load of laundry
Make coffee & breakfast
While the boys do their AM House Chores & Animal Feeding/Barn Chores, I check my email, watch the news and remake ready the opening lessons for homeschool.
Then we start school for about an hour, then break to quickly let out the horses for their daily grazing.
Continue class usually until between 2-4PM depending on daily distractions, errands, or appointments.
Finish Laundry, straighten up the house. Get in a workout.
Go over the next days lessons, grade papers, research future lessons, Blog, etc.
5:30PM the boys do their evening barn chores and animal feeding.
7PM I start dinner { yes! we eat late! We wait for Glen to get home, so we can eat as a family.}

Every 6 weeks we drive 1 1/2 hours to the orthodontist and dog grooming. It seems too much, but it gives us a chance to get Central Market shopping done, and see family and friends if we have a chance.

Sometimes, I have to pick up cow and horse feed, or shavings for the stalls during our school week, but usually Glen takes care of that on Wednesday or Thursday's his days off and also our weekend.

Yes, in case you've missed that on previous posts, we take Wednesday & Thursday off when Glen is off. It works out so much better for our family and family time together.

So what's the secret to staying focused, organized, and refreshed? I realized I was going to bed earlier, drinking more tea, and exercising more regularly. So maybe the key is just being kinder to yourself!

Here are a few pictures from the week. Some of these you may have already seen on Instagram, so...sorry for any repeats!

Miss Daisy eating horse apples!

Our pregnant momma Sandy and Miss Classy grazing!

Ha! Only a Catholic Homeschooling mom would store her homeschooling supplies in the same bookcase as the alcohol!

Really, it's because we lost our homeschool room, when we moved into this smaller farmhouse. So until the new house is built...It is what it is!

We even had time to make it to the library this week for our research on farm animals, specifically cattle and horses. We want to learn EVERYTHING!!!!