Day 1 - What's it all about?

I'm a list maker, but rarely a list follower; this is something I am trying to change.

I want to be a "challenge accepted" kind of person. I want to excel at my plans; be a doer not just a thinker.

God gives us many challenges in the Bible. Just read the book of James.

So this is the place where I shall proudly say, challenge accepted and work toward bettering myself for His glory.

I have slowly, like snail's pace slowly been improving in my duties, after a long hiatus from me I'm getting back up and building mini-routines to allow me to get more, but still not much, done. I want to move forward and work on everything at once, but one change or addition at a time is plenty and is still a step in the right direction so I'll take it.

So far in my role as a stay-at-home-and-part-time-work-from-home-depressed-emotional-rollercoastering-mummy I have (finally managed to) build myself into the routines of:
- laying out clothes for my son and I every evening, (whilst I bustle around and set out jammies, close curtains and set out nappies for middle-of-the-night changes and books for bedtime stories etc.)
- getting up, washed and dressed first thing, or just after breakfast (which makes a huge difference to my motivation and productivity; having ym clothes already set out makes a huge difference to this also)
- getting my son dressed right after his breakfast, or allowing his Dad to do this by having the clothes all ready and waiting
- airing then making the bed as soon as I vacate it
- opening blinds and curtains first thing and airing the house
- keeping up-to-date with laundry, including reusable nappies
- cooking for my family everyday, except when my Hubby chooses to pitch in (Sunday lunch master of ceremonies himself)
- keeping kitchen surfaces crumb and stain free, excepting the hob
- keeping kitchen worktop dishes free as I load the dishwasher immediately and gather handwash dishes in the basin kept under the sink
- keeping the kitchen sink and tap clean
- noting down all our activities on the family calendar, for everyone to see, as opposed to just carrying the information in my head and assuming everyone else has telepathic powers ;)
- developing a good nap and bedtime routine for my son that also includes prayer time and is just naturally evolving to include piano practise for me (stories/books, milkies, toilet, prayer, hugs and kisses, bed, songs/piano - most of these also have a baby sign that my son participates in)
- having a rest time during my son's nap, time spent online/reading/planning/resting/sleeping (purposely recharging my batteries so that I can be a better mummy
- completing a daily poll and special offers flip-through daily to earn Swagbucks (affiliate link) to earn Amazon vouchers for my family - working (currently around five hours a week) as a tutor to supplement the family income; the big challenges in this for me are time management, organisation and were letting go of my son to my Hubby, parents or in-laws (I struggled with being away from my son for any amount of time until VERY recently, he's 21-months-old). I still can find the childcare thing (with anyone except my Hubby) a little/lot stressful
- cooking and baking multiple portions of regular foods (lasagne, stew, chicken curry, muffins, pancakes, French toast, cookies) to fill our freezer and allow for quick meals and portions for my Hubby to take to work for his late shift
- making and freezing ham sandwiches for my Hubby for his lunches

This list is not long. Such is my life. I rely too heavily on my Hubby; a sure sign that I am still not as well as I would like. I rely too heavily on my parents and have taken too often to zoning out from my duties, my life, my pain/mental or hormonal anguish. I don't want to switch off from my life any longer.

I want to grow this list to vast proportions.

These are the things I am working on incorporating (and have been for a while) but that still need additional efforts:
- Scripture memorisation over breakfast time
- prayer time using prayer sticks at morning snack time
- catechism time with my son in the afternoon (using the question answer format, both said and sung to CDs)
- daily walk with my son in the buggy (slightly increasing the distance each time, currently up to about a mile-and-three-quarter - again not much but it's improving)
- brushing out and thoroughly cleaning the en-suite every Monday
- bleaching the toilets every few days

Things I REALLY need to include regularly:
- quiet time
- reading the Bible aloud to my son, although I guess I do do this in terms of reading out memory passages and reading Bible stories but I'd like to read through the Psalms with him, perhaps I could include this during morning snack time along with our prayer sticks
- cleaning our guest bathrooom at a regular time rather than relying on panic cleaning before any planned visitors
- packing and freezing portions of alternative lunches for my Hubby
- becoming more regular in my freezing food for the freezer

There are of course many more things I NEED to work on, like cleaning the rest of the house for example but small steps people, small steps . . .

Challenges will be daily living, improving me, my soul, body, health and grooming and seeking out His challenges for us to include as we seek to live for Him.

So here's today's plan - write this post about trying to do better and pray about it - ta-da. Done and done.