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I've dreamed for years about writing a book. Seriously. Years. In fact, in college, I wrote a children's book about my brother and I that I read every single year to my students. And then they read and reread it. I never published it though, like my mom said I should. I just ordered it printed through an online scrapbooking site. Maybe someday. For now though, I decided that there's no time like the present to make a dream come true. In the summer of 2017 (five years ago now!), as we were purchasing and moving into the farmhouse, I started to dream about writing a book for adults. Just sharing my story and some lessons I've learned on this journey called life. You might have seen that I've published a morning routine journal this year and I've created a little farmhouse 654 blank notes journal. And today, I've added a printable eBook to my published books.
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In some ways, it's hard to believe that I haven't written a blog post since October of 2021. In other ways, it just makes sense. Last October, when I wrote that blog post, we were just finishing up the first quarter of this last school year. From that point on, it felt like we were meeting ourselves coming and going. This school year, we had a child in high school, one in junior high, and one in elementary. This made for some interesting schedules and lots of nights where Mr. Farmhouse and I split up to attend the girls' activities, often accepting help from the grandparents and aunts & uncles to get the third daughter where she needed to go. I know this is something that parents have accomplished for many, many years...but for us, it was the first time that we were really pulled in three different directions, on top of career and farming duties. If we're being honest -- our home suffered because of this. I don't think we were ever caught up on laundry or dishes and our mud room became a dumping ground for our belongings as we ran in to change clothes quickly and head out to the next event. As Gretchen Rubin states in her book, Outer Order, Inner Calm, "it's easier to keep up than to catch up..." And we are to the point where we desperately need to catch up. However, we WILL NOT spend the whole summer "catching up". We have three more summers left with our oldest daughter Harlee here at home, so we are going to work hard to create beautiful family memories in the midst of taking back our house. Already this summer, we've visited the Kansas City Zoo, toured the Hallmark Visitors' Center & Kaleidoscope, attended a Royals game, and we've taken a mini-vacation to Phillipsburg, Missouri (more on THAT trip later...). We've also already filled a 6-yard dumpster and gathered up over 20 tubs of belongings to sell or donate. We have gotten almost caught up on laundry and have marked off a few tasks off of our "list of things we have procrastinated on throughout the school year".
We have twelve more weeks of 2021. We're over 3/4 the way through this year. Let me be really frank with you tonight, readers: 2020 was ROUGH, but for me...2021 hasn't been much easier. As a public school administrator, the pandemic has been difficult to navigate. Virtual or in-person? Masks or no masks? Visitors in the school or no visitors allowed? So. Many. Decisions. Some students stayed home for several months and came back in the building with wider learning gaps that they had left us with. Some students came back to school with anxiety that they had not had before. Some students have quarantined two, three, or four times (or six -- like our oldest daughter). This summer, it almost felt like things were getting "back to normal" and I think I breathed a sigh of relief a little prematurely. The other school district leaders and myself started talking about the school year as if we were going to open normally. We had hopes that things would go on like they have always gone on. And then...the virus ramped up again in early-August and we were back in the boat we were in over the last 18 months. Here's the truth: I have felt like I was treading water since school started on August 23rd. I have not been able to keep up with anything at home and due to some changes in my responsibilities at work, I'm barely able to keep my head above water there. My office has been a mess. My paperwork is getting done just a day or two before the deadline (I really prefer to be EARLY). I'm not able to give myself to my staff like I like to. I've been on the struggle bus, folks! And unfortunately, when one area of our lives is chaotic, it throws the rest of our lives off-balance. What other areas? Home organization (don't even get me started on LAUNDRY), Staying physically healthy, Sticking to a budget, Focusing on spiritual growth, Being a good wife, Being a good mom. All. The. Things. ANYway -- so this weekend, I decided to sit down and make a plan for our next twelve weeks. I thought it was crazy and neurotic and a little over-the-top, but then I shared it with a few people who actually thought it was kind of helpful.
For those of you that are a little more like me -- grab the document and let's try to get our homes under control over the last quarter of 2021.
Now remember -- tomorrow actually starts WEEK 2, but you should be able to catch up by squeezing Week 1 and Week 2's content into this coming week. High hopes for a peaceful holiday season from the farmhouse, Hannah ❤️🏡❤️ |
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