31 Days of Balancing Work and Home {day four} : lose the pride.

My advice for today....buy the packaged cookies from the bakery.

Why such trite advice today? Because we put so much pressure on ourselves to perform. I know not every working woman feels this way, but I am one that likes to make things from scratch. It kind of kills me to buy any packaged food. Whenever I am signed up to bring food to some event, I like it to be something that I made. So, I have to ask myself at times if it is a matter of wanting to be healthy and eat whole foods, or is it a matter of pride? For our meals at home, I would say it is about health.

But yesterday, I had to scrap the baking pride and pick something up at the grocery store for a meeting while I was running late to work. I would rather wow people. I would rather be the person with the best, yummiest dish. I like people to ask for my recipes. That's pride talkin'!

This week I've been busy. This week, I've been trying to focus on my house. This week I didn't have time to make yummy things. Because I work all day. And you know what? That's ok. Bake when you can, buy when you need to in order to maintain your sanity and be a good steward of your time. That's what I'm learning.

31 Days of Balancing Work and Home {day three} : maintain.

 

Word of the day: Maintain.

 

When you work, even part time, you will have to come to terms with the fact that your house is not going to be clean 100% of the time. Truthfully, no one has a clean house all of the time, but it can feel like you are the only one who doesn't have time to work on your house.

 

 

I don't know about you,but I tend to get tired and let things go. I clean like a madwoman, and then I don't for like a week. Or sometimes two. And then I am sick of it, and I get overwhelmed and upset that I have so much to do. And then I clean like a madwoman. And the cycle goes on....

 

Wouldn't it be better to do a little everyday? That's what I'm working toward. I'm trying to maintain my home, a little bit everyday. I am trying to let go of unnecessary stress and forgive myself for not having a sparkling kitchen at all times. :)

 



31 Days of Balancing Work and Home {day two} : no guilt!

Today will be short and sweet. Actually, my goal is to keep all of these posts short and sweet. I barely made it to this one; I have a little over an hour left to get today's post in! I am looking forward to the pressure of the challenge! :)

 

Here's the thought for today on balancing work and home:

Don't allow yourself to feel guilty about wanting to have- and be great at- both a career and homemaking. I think we are pressured to choose by many forces: our jobs, our friends, society, our own thoughts. It's ok if you want to be great on the job and great in the home. You can be! So set aside the guilt, if you struggle with it. Set aside the perfectionist expectations you may have for both aspects of your life. And revel in the fact that you have it in your heart to do amazing things in both of your realms of influence! It's not an easy thing, so let's get to work finding a balance, shall we?

September's Giveaway Winner Announced!

Thank you so much for participating and following me here on the blog and on Facebook! I appreciate everyone's help as I slowly but surely build the blog. :) Keep checking back for more, as I join the 31 Day challenge and blog every day in October about balancing work and home.

Without further ado...

The winner of the Scentsy plugin is Michelle Wold Jolley! Thanks for each of your thoughtful comments, Michelle! You can comment below to let us all know you are claiming your prize!

Please send me a message on Facebook to claim and work out the details of receiving your prize!

Thanks again everyone, and congratulations, Michelle!

31 Days of Balancing Work and Home {day one} : intro.

For the month of October, I'm linking up over at the Nesting Place, where they are having a 31 day blog event. I heard about via Sarah Mae, who is by far one of my favorite bloggers out there- check out her site! There is always something good for my heart when I read her writing.

I found out about this kind of last minute, but I am eager to join in the fun, and accept the challenge of blogging for 31 days straight! Judging from how busy my life got as soon as I committed to writing The Working Girl's Guide series in September, this will be a tough goal for me.

But October is my favorite month, and I am feeling energetic and ready for adventure! So, since I haven't had a lot of time to decide what my 31 Day topic should be, I am going to continue to share about balancing work and homemaking. Rather than lengthy posts, this will be 31 days of tips and tricks, my own life's mishaps, and sharing tidbits from my heart. I hope you all share your own moments in the comments as we all strive for balance and the building up of our homes and lives!

I'm cheating a tiny bit and making Day #1 an Intro. :) I'll be back to share tomorrow with something a little more substantial. I'll also be announcing the winner from September's giveaway, so stay tuned!

What's on the Menu 9/30- 10/6

Here's what we're eating! It's been a while since I've posted regularly, so I'm hoping to be up and running more often in October. :) Do you have a menu plan? Feel free to leave a link to your menu post in the comments!

Sunday- We went to some friends' for dinner, so I didn't have to cook! Yay!

Monday- It's band night for hubby, so we just grab something on the road. Nice part of not having kids: we don't really have to plan anything for dinner if we have things to do. Bad part: we eat more Wendy's than we should.

Tuesday- Small group- we are bringing salad toppings. This will be a good way to use up some end of season garden tomatoes!

Wednesday- Chili and cornbread- hoping my crockpot doesn't burn my food this week. I really don't want to buy a new one. :(

Thursday- Fish tacos with rice and mango salsa

Friday- Meatball subs and salad

Saturday- Beef stew and biscuits

Make ahead and freezer cooking- This week I need to keep dealing with garden tomatoes and figure out what to do with those. :) Also, I'm going to make Freezer Lasagna Casserole, cookies, and granola bars. Hopefully.

The Working Girl's Guide, Week #5- Determine Your Future Goals

Here we are at the last week! Thanks for joining me and reading along. September has been a crazy month in our house! It seems like anytime you commit to something, five other things pop up that make it hard to do.

I'll tally up and announce the winner of September's giveaway tomorrow, by the way. My plan had been to do it today, but keep checking back for the big news! :)

So, for this last week, I wan to talk about determining your future goals. Why? Because what we want to have eventually affects what we do and what our attitudes are like now.

#1- What do you want long term?
Do you want to stay at home with your kids, or even without kids, to care for your home? Do you want to continue in your career? Do you want to work a little bit but focus on home? Do you wish you were able to stay at home, but need to work for financial reasons? It's hard to make these kinds of decisions. I don't have kids yet, and I'm already stressing out about it. :) Some women feel called to be at home full time, and some do not. But, whatever path you are going to take- whether being a full time homemaker, or balancing work and home, those goals will affect how you keep your home now.

#2- How can you reach your goals?
If you plan to quit working, maybe now is the time to be planning financially and preparing to transition out of the work force. If you are planning to continue working, now is the time to learn some balance and homemaking habits that will make life a little easier. Even if being at home seems like a distant dream, be thinking of what you can do now to reach it. If you want to enhance your career, how can you achieve being great at that, and also being a great homemaker? Learn the skills and habits now that will increase your chances of success at work and homemaking, in whatever combination you choose.

#3- Being content in your current role.
This is the real kicker. Whatever it is you do now- whether you are a working mom that wants to stay at home, a stay at home mom that wants to work, a single girl that wants a husband and family, or a married girl without kids yet- that's what you are, right now. Instead of focusing on what you don't have, be content with what you have in the present. It's good to have future goals, and then work toward those. But it is also important to embrace the role you are currently in. This is hard if you just don't think you have the life you want- if it's hard for you to be at work when you just want to be at home. Or to want to have children and be a mom, but you haven't had the opportunity yet. These aren't small heartaches- but hold on to the fact that God has you in this role for a reason, and use the time to it's fullest!

Thanks again for joining up with my blog- I hope you keep coming back, and I hope you enjoyed The Working Girl's Guide to Proverbs 31!