Lately

Hi friends.

Just dropping in to let you know that I am still here.

Lots going on in our neck of the woods in the last few weeks. Some things personal, some things home related, some things exciting, some things boring.

I am struggling a bit lately with the "having it all" concept in life. I feel like I do want it all. I feel like I can manage to have it all. But where is the line drawn between having it all and just doing too much and burning yourself out?

For example:

I want to be a great wife and mom.
I want to be healthy and fit again.
I want to work full-time. Well, actually, I have to work full-time. That's a given. But I also enjoy this time outside of the house.
I want a beautiful home. I want to work hard to make our home a happy, welcoming place to be.
I want to be a better, more consistent blogger.
I want to be able to sell my handmade items on channels like Etsy and at craft shows.

With all these things in mind, these are how my days and weeks have been panning out:

5:00 AM. Wake up. I sleep in my workout clothes so I just roll out of bed, throw on some shoes, and get my work out done. Currently using the Focus: T25 program. Have you tried it yet? It's awesome.

5:30 AM. Coffee, shower, get ready for work, pack lunches, prep ingredients for dinner, empty dishwasher, run a load of laundry.

6:45 AM. Wake Peyton up. Get her dressed and ready for her day.

7:15 AM. Out the door. Drop Peyton off at Mom-Mom's and off to work.

8:00 AM-12:30 PM. Work at the desk job.

12:30-1:30 PM. Use my lunch hour to run any errands to save myself from doing these in the evening or during the weekend.

1:30-5:00 PM. Back to desk job.

5:00-5:45 PM. Pick up Peyton and head home.

5:45-6:30 PM. Snuggles with Peyton, catching up on her day, Denny comes home, and I make dinner.

6:30-7:30 PM. Dinner. Family time. Clean up.

7:30-8:30 PM. Bedtime prep and put Peyton to bed. Pray she falls asleep before 10:00 PM. Repeatedly go upstairs to make sure she isn't systematically tearing apart the second floor.

9:00 PM. As for me? I'm usually crashing and burning. Time for bed, because 5:00 AM comes around again preeeeetty early.

Even though I'm off from the desk job on the weekends, there is always so much to do that my schedule pretty much looks like the above, except we are running running running all day. Family time, work around the house, work in the yard.

So, my friends, my question to you is this: how do you fit in the things you enjoy doing while not losing your mind?

I enjoy blogging. But the evening is usually my time to blog and by 9:00 PM and Peyton is in bed...well, I'm ready for bed too.

I enjoy my crafting and making handmade things. But if I'm pooped by 9:00 PM and really want to be blogging too, how do I juggle both?

Needless to say, I think I am in a funk. I had a nice M-W-F schedule set up for my blog for a while and it was working beautifully, but I found myself struggling to keep up to provide enough decent content.

I dubbed March "Mudroom Makeover Month" and then petered out after one weekend because I put so much pressure on myself to get all this stuff done on the weekends, and I just shut down.

I bought supplies back in February for Easter decor and crafting. I scheduled myself time to create the projects, time to photograph the projects, and then when I would be posting them here. Like a good, well-disciplined blogger.

And then I rallied against the man (myself, go figure) and didn't touch any of it.

Because, let's face it: when you only have your weekends, something has gotta give: family time or project time. And to be frank, I'm not sure I'm willing to allow my family time to suffer in the name of the old bloggy blog here.

I feel very whiny and Millennial-ish complaining about this on a blog. But I feel like I do have some consistent readers out there who deserve an explanation.

Things might change around here. Schedule-wise. Content-wise. Everything-wise.

I'll share my DIYs when I get them done, not to fit in with a predetermined posting schedule. I'll share crafts when the mood strikes, not because it's April and OMG Easter is in two weeks and I need to get some Easter/Spring crafts posted. I'll share a little bit of family stuff, because that is what my focus and priority in life is. And I think I'll still do my Five Friday Faves, because I like sharing fun stuff with you.

I do have quite a bit to post about. There is so much going on (gardens! backyard! planned vacations! birthdays! baby showers! weddings! life!) that I feel like I don't want to inundate you with ALL the things at once. So I'll be taking it a little bit at a time.

Hope you'll stick around with me, friends. I do miss this space, but I want to be able to take the time to know for sure what I want this space to be.