Small Business Saturday

If you're reading this then that means you've survived Thanksgiving (hopefully it was a happy one) and Black Friday (if you did more than stay at home like I did).  Tomorrow, Saturday, is what is called Small Business Saturday.  It is the day you are supposed to visit your local or internet small businesses and purchase things to support them.  Small businesses really are the backbone of this country and we need to give them all the help we can!

To that end, I'd just like to remind you of a few small, family owned businesses that I am affiliated with or who advertise on my website, Catholic Homeschooling Resources.  We'd all be honored if you visited any of these great places and did some Christmas shopping.

As a first stop, you'll notice off to the side on my blog, the advertisement for Mystic Monk Coffee as well as my book "A Plan For Joy in the Home".

If you go to my website, you'll find a great listing of small businesses offering some wonderful things on my Catholic Companies page.  These wonderful people advertise their companies on my page so that people like you can find out about their high quality products and services.  Be sure to check out:

Catechism Class
Holy Heroes
Civil War Truce
Little Latin Readers
Stephanie Hoffpauir
The Liturgical Calendar Coloring Book
Faith Christian Jewelers
The Goat Milk Soap Shop

Thank you so much for your support!  Happy shopping!

God Bless!

affiliate links included

Shameless Plug Time!

A couple of weeks ago I had a woman from our local paper contact me about doing an article on my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home".  I had emailed her some photos for an article she was doing on a family for "The Seven Last Words of Christ" and she noticed the link to my website at the bottom of the email and was intrigued since she was a homeschooling mom herself.

We did a phone interview and then a few days later a photographer stopped by to take pictures of us doing school.  Yikes, that was intimidating to say the least!  First off, one of the great things about being a photographer is that you never have to be in the picture!  Second, how do you photograph people sitting around a table looking at books and make it look interesting?  Well, check out the article and I think you'll agree he did a pretty good job.  Me and my still-homeschooling kiddos yackin' it up.

I'm not sure how long this link will be active, but if you'd like to read the article, you can...here.

If you'd like to check out a copy of the book for yourself, you can do that here.


 God Bless!

You CAN Do It...One Step at a Time!

Many people have told me that no matter how hard they try they just never will be organized.  I suppose that could be true for some people, but I'd like to believe that it is true only for the minority, not the majority, of disorganized people!  

Where do you begin?  That is the real question.  Is it possible that your entire life is in utter chaos?  If that is so, and I really hope not, then maybe you need to start by organizing and/or beefing up your prayer life.  Let God help you to see where you need to start.

What if, instead, you could just point to one area of your life that is totally out of control?  Let's say you homeschool and you have the schooling thing under control but can't seem to reign in the house or the meals.  Pick the worse of the two and start there.  Once you have that under control, move onto the next one.  Rome was not built in a day and your life is not going to be entirely organized in one fell swoop either.  You must not let that defeat you, however!  

I'm the kind of person who likes things done RIGHT NOW.  Unfortunately something like this takes time and patience.  When I look back I realize that it took me years to put all my "systems" in place.  Some of them weren't even possible until my kids got older.  What we can accomplish now has a lot to do with years of trial and error, growing and maturing children, and lots of patience. 

So, what can you do? First of all it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get "A Plan for Joy in the Home".  Or, if you've already gotten it and haven't read it yet, then get it back out!  Read through it and then really look at your life and see what the major areas are that are getting you down.  Decide what needs to be done to make you feel better about those areas and then, using the worksheets and ideas in the book, make your plan.  Don't tackle everything at once and don't expect to be done in a week!  

Here's an idea...Lent is coming up.  Pick one area that you need to organize better and then make that one of your Lenten resolutions.  If you're at a loss as to where to start, start with your prayer life!  That's always a good way to go.  

Keep plugging along and take it one day at a time.  It IS possible.  It ISN'T easy but the rewards are worth all of the blood, sweat and tears that you'll put into it.  I'm always glad to help in anyway that I can :)

God Bless!

A Peek at this Week

It's the third week of August...most public and private school kids are heading back to the classroom this week, if they haven't already.  In our house this week, Ms 16 yo will be heading into her senior year in high school. When she hit eight grade I couldn't think of any classes for her to take that wouldn't be redundant so we started her on her high school curriculum.  

This past June we sat down and agreed about what it would take for her to finish school this year.  When her books came in last week, she sat down and planned out the year and is ready to go tomorrow.  Man, I love when my  students become self-sufficient!

Now that I have two graduates and one self-sufficient high schooler, that leaves me with the four youngest children to teach.  Last year, and I can't believe I'm admitting this, we didn't have a schedule. Well, at least not a printed one.  I had it in my head and followed it that way but the problem was that no one else could see it so they didn't know what the time limits were.

This year I'm going back to the "certain classes at certain times" schedule and if they aren't done with that work when it's time to move on, they'll have to finish it up on their own time.  I think this will help all of us to stay on track.  I have a lot of projects to complete for my businesses so I'll need everyone else to finish up school in a timely fashion.

To that end, I just went to my website and printed out the worksheets that I use in my book and am going to sit down this week and figure out what our schedule is going to be.  I plan on posting it as soon as it is done because sometimes it helps other people to see examples. 

I'm looking forward to some of the subjects we're going to tackle this year and the kids are, too.  It always amazes me how excited they get over their school books when they first come in and how fast that excitement fades when they have to face them day after day.  

What about you?  Are you ready to start school?  Do you use a schedule?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas, and if for some reason you can't leave a comment here (because people often tell me that they can't and I have no idea why!!), then feel free to leave a comment on my facebook page.

 

A Plan for Joy Free Shipping Announcement

It's August, the month where, for most of us, summer comes to an end (even though it feels as if it just started) and school time begins.  It's time to plan and order and ORGANIZE!  Organize your books, your school room, your supplies and your DAY!

 

For that reason I'm announcing FREE SHIPPING on my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home" for the entire month of August.  It's not too late to get organized before the school year begins.  Take some time now to plan out your day and avoid the frustration and aggravation from the get-go.

I'd like to point out that my book is not just a book that tells you that you SHOULD organize your life...you already know that!  What I do in "A Plan for Joy" is show you HOW to organize your life.  We walk through the entire process and by the time you finish, you've got a pretty good idea of how your day should run.  Realize I said, should...there are never any guarantees that it will always go that way.

To find out more and to take advantage of this offer, just go to the website, www.aplanforjoyinthehome.com, look around and place your order.  Please feel free to share this with other homeschoolers you know who need help bringing some order to their day.

Please...Pin It!, Facebook it, Twitter it!  Help share the love.  Thanks.

Putting it All Together

This chapter is where you finally get to see the fruits of your labor.  I know it has been a lot of work, but now you get to put it all together and see the plan for your day take shape.

Of course, as you well know, putting the plan together doesn't mean that everything will be perfect.  The key is in being disciplined enough to FOLLOW the plan that you've put together!  Really it all comes down to that...DISCIPLINE!  You can put together the best plan, but if you never follow it, all that time was wasted.

Only you know how disciplined you are - or aren't.  If you aren't disciplined, consider adding that to your morning prayer time.  Find a prayer, or write your own, asking God to bless you with the grace to add discipline to your life.

After that, it's a piece of cake!  Get up and follow the plan you have set for yourself and your family.  Learn to be flexible when necessary.  Come back to the place you should be if you get off track.  That is the beauty of this plan that you've made.  It gives you direction for your day, but allows you to roll with the punches when you need to!

I pray that your life will be blessed and joy will come into your days when you begin your new, organized life.  It may take some time to feel natural to you, but you'll appreciate all of the work you put into this project in a very short time!

 

Remember, all of these drawings are under copyright, so please do not use them anywhere else!
 

Husband, Family and Personal Time

As soon as I saw this picture I knew it perfectly portrayed what I am trying to get at in this chapter.  A number of years ago I read some books that transformed how I thought about my husband and our relationship.  I realize now how important it is to set aside time for that "all-important" man in my life; how he needs me to minister to him just as much as my children do.  That is why I included a section in my book about making time in your day for your husband.  


In addition, it is also important that you spend some time each day connecting as a family.  Maybe that is just at dinner time, or maybe you pray the rosary together in the evening; you might even all go to the same sporting event.  What is important is that you make sure your entire family spends some time together - every day if at all possible!


Then there's YOU!  Do you have any time for yourself?  When do you get your chores done that need to be done each day.  When, other than your shower, do you get to spend some quiet moments recollecting?  You really need to spend some time each day, or at least a few days each week, getting things done that you need to do and doing something to refresh your spirit and relax your mind and body.


All three of these areas are so important in your daily life.  After working through the book this far, you will hopefully have found some time in your day to devote to each one of these areas.  If not, take a good, long look at your life and see if there aren't things that need to be gotten rid of so that you can make time in your day!

Meal Time

The more our family grew, the more I began to appreciate scheduled meals.  Not one who loves to cook, I learned early on that it was much easier to get the task done when all of the ingredients were in the house instead of having to run out to get one or two of them.  Once we moved more than 20 minutes away from a grocery store, I knew it was imperative that I made sure all of my meals were planned.

I really can't stress enough how important it is to have a clue about what you're going to fix for dinner BEFORE it is time to fix dinner.  Not only does it save you time and money (less trips to the store definitely save you money!!), making a schedule for your dinners alleviates having to answer the age old question, "What's for dinner?"  My kids know that dinner is posted on the refrigerator, all they have to do is look and they can answer the question themselves.

There have been seasons (like right now during Lent) that I have even scheduled breakfast and lunch.  As much as I hate to think about food all at one time, it helps during a busy time to know exactly what is going on the table three times a day.

This chapter doesn't have any worksheets for you to fill out, but it helps you to think about and organize your whole eating strategy.  From the grocery list to the meal plan, we go step by step to get your meals down to something that resembles order.

If you need help in this area, I would encourage you to spend some time this week thinking and praying about your meal plan.  It really does help to make your day run smoother when you don't have to stress out about what to eat.

 

School Time

It was this very subject that caused me to beg God to send me help.  I was at the end of my rope, but in reality, my rope had really only just begun.  It was early on in our homeschooling years that I realized that something had to change or I would never be able to keep doing this.  Thankfully, God heard my prayers and answered them completely.

It was through my reading and asking other veteran homeschoolers how they "do it" that I fell into my homeschooling groove.  I realized that our lives worked much better, and I was much happier, working off of a schedule.  We had most of our day down to 1/2 hour segments for quite some time.  The kids really were thriving, too, it wasn't just me :)

I know some people say they can't work under those type of constraints, but that is the beauty of my book...it helps you to get your day organized in a way that works for you.  I would encourage you to schedule your day, but if 1/2 hour increments don't work for you, make them whatever you want them to be.  Maybe you'll only make a formal schedule for your school time.  Like I said before, this was the area of my day that was the most stressful, so this is what had to change first.  After I got that under control, it only seemed logical to me to organize more of my life.

I'll admit that organizing comes easily to me.  Scheduling also comes easily.  It may not be that way for you.  That's okay, just start out with a small part of your day, like your school day, for example, and work with it until you get the hang of it.

I will also admit that I usually don't follow a strict schedule in the summertime and that seems to work well for us.  If we come under a busy time, I'll implement a temporary schedule to get us through, but then we just kind of fall back into a laid-back rhythm.  

There have also been times during the school year when we haven't really followed a schedule and I usually come to regret it.  It might take awhile for me to realize what the problem is, but once I see it, I put a plan in place and things usually settle back down.

God is a God of order.  So many things in our lives happen in an orderly and planned fashion that it only seems natural that our days, especially our school days, should too.

Chores

 

One of the mistakes I made in raising my first three children was in not making them help around the house when they were younger.  Oh, occasionally I would ask them to do a chore but they either didn't do it properly or took so long to do it that I ended up doing it for them.

Yes, I fell into that trap.  I let them off the hook too many times and then realized what a mistake that was as they got older and more capable.  As I found out with my younger four children, it is far easier to teach them to work around the house when they are younger than it is when they are older.  

Once I got a clue that that is in fact the case, I began to say yes to my enthusiastic toddlers who wanted to help out.  I was consistently amazed at what they could accomplish if I was just a bit more patient with them.  One of my daughters, at age five, loved to vacuum, and was very good at it, too!

I really believe that it is so important to involve your children in the household chores when they are young.  For one reason, they are far more eager to help and to learn when they are younger than when they are older.  How many times my children would beg to help with something when they were even four years old.  While writing this, my son chimed in with:  it also teaches them to be responsible, to become obedient and it teaches them skills they can use the rest of their lives.

So how do you handle chores around your house?  Is this one of the areas that you struggle with?  Do you have an organized chore chart?  If you've been having problems in this realm, then this chapter should help you to get your thoughts organized and come up with a good plan for your chores.

Once you get a chore plan in place, you will know that the basic chores for the day will get done.  You'll also know who to get after if you find something NOT done!  While it may not be possible to have an immaculate house every day as well as homeschool everyone and eat 3 complete meals, having a plan in place will make it more achievable.

I hope that you've been working on these chapters each week and that you're getting into a groove with organizing the different areas of your life.  I know that some might need more work than others, but hang in there and you'll be amazed at how it all comes together in the end.

 

Prayer Time

If I learned one thing early on in my homeschooling journey, it was the importance of prayer.  No matter how busy my day was going to be, I knew that I had to begin it with some type of formal prayer if I was going to get through it.

Over the years my prayer routine has changed quite a bit.  Depending on what was going on in our lives it might include daily Mass, but I've always found it helpful to spend at least a few minutes of quiet prayer time before I begin my day.  

When I was first working my prayer routine out, I tried placing my daily prayer time in various time slots throughout the day but I quickly realized that if I didn't say my prayers first thing in the morning, they were not very likely to get done at all.  No matter how good my intentions were, there always seemed to be something that would sidetrack me and I would never make it back to my room to pray.


I've put "Prayer Time" as the first working chapter in my workbook because I believe it is the foundation of all the other chapters.  If you do not have a solid prayer life, then implementing changes in all of these other areas is going to be a lot more difficult and hard to figure out.  That is also why I've included prayers in each of the chapters.  It is so important to try to figure out what God wants you to do with your day that by praying about it first you're more likely to get yourself on the right track.


A few sentences ago I mentioned a "solid prayer life".  I'll let you decide exactly what that will look like for you.  I've given you a bunch of suggestions in Chapter two, so I think you should be able to pick out the ones that will work best for you in your current circumstances. 


There are some important things to keep in mind while working out a prayer plan.  First, don't take on too much too soon.  You certainly don't want to overwhelm yourself because you will never keep up with it.  Also, make sure that you include some variety and some prayers that you can do together as a family.  If daily Mass works for you, I'd highly encourage you to include that!  Finally, don't forget that circumstances change in our lives so it is important to revamp your prayer plan when necessary.


I hope you will take some time to work on Chapter Two this week and give your prayer life a boost.  If you're interested in joining in on this walk through  my book, "A Plan for Joy in the Home:  A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers", then just click on the title and it will take you over to the website where you can order your own copy :)

 

This lovely drawing is under copyright.  Please respect that and do not copy it or use it elsewhere. 

Getting Started

How does this picture make you feel?  Jittery? Stressed? Relieved that it isn't you?

I hope it isn't indicative of what your days look like, but if it is, then I think now would be a good time to change that. 

Do you have a plan for your day or does it just run amok?  Have you considered trying to plan out your day?  You probably have thought about organizing your cabinets or your closet, why not your day?

It really is the same concept isn't it?  You get rid of the items you don't need from your cabinets and your closet and then you take all of the stuff you've kept and you organize it so it doesn't fall out when you open the door.

Let's apply the same logic to your day.  When you open your eyes, get out of bed and walk through your bedroom door, you really don't want things "falling" on you, do you?  You'd like to walk into your day knowing that it is going to be as organized as it can be.  You've removed the things that take up space, like time wasters and things you don't really need to be involved in, and you've organized what you have left to do.

Now, if something should come into your day and upset it, then it will be easy to put yourself back on track and pick up where you left off.  That is the thing I like best about having my day planned out.  No day is ever really going to go exactly like you planned it, but when it does go awry, you can re-balance yourself, figure out where you should be in your day and get back on track.

Having a plan for your day doesn't mean having every minute scheduled and being stuck in that rigid plan.  It means having a nice outline for how things should go, when they should happen and who should be doing them.  It's like the backbone for your day, not the straightjacket.   

If you've thought in the past that you could never work with having your day all planned out, I'd like you to think differently about that; at least for a little while.  I'd like to have you spend some time thinking about this plan as an organizational tool.  Something that can set your feet going in the right direction each day and then put them back on track when they need it.

Over the course of the next few weeks, let's walk this path of organization together.  Each Monday I'll give you some areas to think about and then help get you started on the next chapter in my book, "A Plan for Joy in the Home:  A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers".  Hopefully it will be the impetus you need to get yourself, and your day, more organized.  For now, just work on getting started.

 



This lovely drawing is under copyright.  Please respect that and do not copy it or use it elsewhere.

Catholic Bloggers Network First Ever Giveaway!

I am proud to say that I am participating in

The First EVER

Catholic Bloggers' Colossal Share-a-Thon (& Giveaway) 

which will begin on Monday, February 13th!  In case you didn't know:

"Saint Padre Pio Catholic Bloggers Network" is a Facebook group for bloggers to communicate and join in on unified initiatives. After the First International Meeting of Bloggers in August, 2011, with Pope Benedict XVI, this unified front was inspired. This group was created for better communication among bloggers and also to create a webpage directory of Catholic bloggers or a web portal of those interested in networking.

With the New Evangelization, "The Church has the duty to announce the Gospel of Jesus Christ always and everywhere." Our motto is: "The greatest charity is to take away souls from Satan and to bring them back to God!" ~ Saint Padre Pio

Together we can make a difference on the world wide web! Let's remind the world, via our presence in Catholic Social Media, that God exists and to educate them about the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church! 

So they've decided to have a wonderful giveaway and I'm going to give away a hard copy of my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home:  A Workbook on Organizing Your Day for Homeschooling Mothers".
 

 
I'm very excited about this opportunity.  From what I've seen it looks like there are going to be some really neat things given away.  Anyone is able to enter, and while I'm not sure of all of the details, you can go to the Home Page of the Network's blog to find out all of the details when they are announced. 

The giveaway will be open for entering for two weeks starting on Monday, so jump on over there and enter for your chance to win some great Catholic stuff!

Are You Ready??

While perusing my new Christmas gift, I found a section towards the back entitled "How to be a better Catholic".  It gives an outline for the things you need to do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.  It is very Ignatian (is that the proper term for something Ignatius??) so you will find the same type of outline in the prayer section of "A Plan for Joy in the Home"!  

I'm always excited when I'm reading something that tells me that God wants us to be organized.  It makes me feel like all the time I spent on this book is really worth it!  Here is what the "Daily Roman Missal" has to say:

"The practice of some acts of piety throughout the day will help you to have a divine contemplative life in the midst of the daily routine.  The habitual performance of these acts will also be the foundation for growing in Christian virtues.  Most important is to be consistent in your daily schedule, in your spiritual game plan, so that you will live as a child of God."

 If you are ready to be more organized and build your spiritual game plan, then I have the book for you!  I hope 2012 is a more organized, more prayerful year for you :)

One Talented Young Lady!

Yesterday I announced the release of my new book, pictured above.  Today I would like to talk specifically about the picture you see above and tell you a bit about the young lady who drew it.  Here's what happened...

I was looking for someone to lay out the book for me when an acquaintance told me that her daughter knew how to do that.  Her daughter, who is 16, is friends with some of my daughters and when I told them about the recommendation they all raved about Shaylynn's talents.  I knew that she was behind some of the graphics and layouts of the Ink and Fairydust Magazine, so I figured she would be a good person to try.

When it came time for the picture on the front cover, I wanted to have a peaceful family scene; one that made you feel calm when you looked at it, maybe even sigh a bit.  So I took six of my seven children and my parents and shot some pictures from outside the house looking in (a hard thing to do at night!) 

 

She then took this picture and turned it into the image you see at the top.  Of course I told her to make my parents look a bit younger :) but we think she did a fabulous job of turning my idea into a reality.



In case you haven't figure it out by now, I cannot say enough good things about Shaylynn.  She is incredibly talented, prompt, polite, thorough, joyful and, most importantly, she could read my mind!  When she offered to do sketches for each of the chapters, I thought that might be a great idea.  She took the ideas from the chapter and came up with a sketch...each of which fit perfectly and brought a smile to my face.  Her sketches definitely add to the book.


This sketch is from the chapter on Meal Planning (I just love the girl's hair:)

 

Not only did she do the layout and sketches for my book, and do the work for the Ink and Fairydust Magazine, she also makes jewelry that she sells.  If you would like to check out some of her jewelery, you can do so here.  


I find it's kind of funny that people don't feel comfortable recommending something unless they say some kind of disclaimer like "I didn't receive any compensation for saying what I just said."  So here is my disclaimer...I didn't receive any compensation from Shaylynn for what I just wrote...in fact, I paid her :)  But I am so impressed with the professionalism and talent of this young lady that I just had to make sure that you were all aware of it, too.


These are the kind of kids who will grow up and change this country for the better.  If you can help her out along the way, please do so!

A Plan for Joy in the Home

I am so excited to announce that my book is finally ready for purchase!  You can check out all the details here!  

This book has been a labor of love for quite a few years now.  After learning how to plan and organize my day out of necessity, I took all of that information and turned it into a workshop.  

After helping others to get their days planned and organized, I decided to turn the workshop into a workbook.  Here is the end product.  Boy have I learned a lot about writing and publishing your own book!

So, for those of you who are looking to be more joyful, more organized, more prayerful...this book is what you are looking for.  I will be doing additional posts this week about the great help I had in putting this together, as well as delving into the content of the book just a bit further...you know - enough to whet your appetite, but not enough to give it all away :)

Go on, check it out now...you know you want to :) 

PS It would make a great Christmas gift!  Or better yet, how about a great gift for your New Year...2012 will be the year you will be more organized!  I just know it.

A Plan For Joy in the Home

Helping people organize their day is one of my favorite things to do.  That's why I just had to join Lacy at Catholic Icing today.  In fact, I like it so much that I currently have a workbook in process called "A Plan for Joy in the Home" to help people work through the various components of their day and get them more organized.

I got started with scheduling my day a number of years ago when I had too many kids that I was trying to homeschool at once.  My schedules have evolved over those years to the point where now I can pretty much make one up in my head without too much trouble.  I get into trouble, however, when I think that I am following that schedule in my head and I realize that I really am not following any schedule and just trying to wing it.  When we wing it, we don't get as much done in a day and life just seems more stressful.

So, over these years I have come to realize how important it is to know what your priorities are for your days and then to organize them into a workable schedule.  I've recently read a few blog posts about how schedules can be restrictive and cumbersome.  For example, "what if I don't want to fold the laundry at 3:00?"  I look at my schedule as a guideline for my day.  I realize ahead of time that most days won't go exactly as I had planned, but my schedule gives me that lifeline to grab back onto when I feel as if everything is out of control.

Let's say we are all set to start school and someone comes to the door and ends up staying for an hour.  Well, there goes my plan for the morning.  At that point I have a few options:
 
1.  I can get all worked up about it and throw off the rest of my day.

OR

2.  I can look to my schedule and decide one of two things:  I will pick up where I left off and just make up the stuff that we missed the next day or I can go back to where we were interrupted and skip something later on in the day.

In this way I've just used my schedule as the tool it was meant to be.  If there is a day that I have something scheduled that I don't feel like doing (and it isn't crucial that I do it :) then by all means I skip it.  No one says that just because it is in a certain time slot that you are forced by pain of death to do it that day.  HOWEVER, don't make a schedule and then just ignore everything you put on it!  That would be pointless.

To that end, I have a basic schedule that I follow all the time, while only portions of it change depending on the time of year.  Here is my skeleton:

* Get up before the children and say my prayers!!  This is the absolute cornerstone of my day - a non-negotiable if you will.  Without this quiet time of prayer, the rest of my day definitely does not go well!

* Everyone up, breakfast, morning chores, Mass

* Back home to do school work - if school is in session

* Lunch

* Afternoon school work, free time, my time to do phone calls and paperwork, errands, etc.

* Dinner prep, dinner, clean up

* Free time, rosary, bed for kids

* Time with hubby, prayers, bed for me :)

If you are looking for help with these areas of your life, might I suggest that you click on the facebook link on my side bar so that you can "like" my website page.  This way you will find out when my book "A Plan for Joy in the Home" will be available to purchase.  This plan has helped many moms already to lead a more organized and joyful homeschooling life, so I  hope you'll join us!

A Plan For Joy

As I may or may not have mentioned here, I am working on converting my organizing workshop into a workbook that you can purchase and use in the comfort of your own home.  While I like the workshop approach, it is too hard for me to be in many different places, not to mention too expensive to travel there.  For that reason, I am converting my workshop into all the tools you need to get a working plan for your day up and running.

To that end, I'd like you to either here, or on my facebook page (you can "like" it by clicking on the link in the right hand column of this blog), tell me what it is that challenges you when it comes to being organized. 

Believe it or not, right now what has challenged me is actually not having a plan.  In the past I have always shied away from using a schedule in the summer time.  There was always that desire to feel free and not tied down.  Well, this summer has been so hectic that I feel that all we've been doing is running around in circles and not really accomplishing much.  

The other night it dawned on me that maybe I should implement a working schedule for these last few weeks of summer!  What a novel idea :)  So, that's where I am at; trying hard to accomplish a lot in the little time we have left before school starts.  I'd appreciate your input, so if you get a chance, jot me a note and let me know what your trouble spots are.