Week One of Being a SAHW

It has been a whirlwind of a week around here. It's been raining cats and dogs in our region (don't step in a poodle!) and my husband has been away on business all week. Needless to say, Cubbie and I are becoming quite close. My fears of becoming bored have been unfounded. I am learning to love my little world within the bigger world. These four walls have not felt like a prison cell by any means, but instead, freedom to do whatever I'd like to do.

I have noticed that certain mental habits have shown themselves this week, and primarily they are habits of 9-5 working girl. For instance, I've always meal planned, but as I was doing it this week, I began to plan "quick meals" for those nights when we have routine events. About thirty seconds later, I laughed at myself and realized, "Wait a minute, I'll be home so I can have the meal prepared before 5:30."

Another lesson this self-titled efficiency expert has been learning is that because of no real time schedule, I have the freedom to pace myself and if something doesn't get done completely, I'll always have time the next day to complete it. I really don't know how I was doing it all before, mainly on Saturdays in one fell swoop. Frankly, what I've also come to realize is that I wasn't doing it all before. Sure, I was able to keep a decently clean house and prepare meals and such, but I wasn't able to enjoy or spend ample time on anything. Everything seemed like just another task, and I was working through my to-do list as quickly as possible to simply sit down and exhale. Anyone else ever feel like that?

I still have a to-do list, in fact I have three now (Master, Weekly, and Daily), but the difference is that I'm enjoying them and there's no pressure to complete them immediately. It's interesting to see that this time at home now is training me in flexibility. It is also training me to listen to my 31-week pregnant body. I'm not able to do everything at one time like I used to before, and that's okay, because I have time to do it later in the afternoon or even the next day.

So what exactly has been filling up my time? Aside from the usual things like laundry, dishes, cleaning, and cooking, I've been able to do some things that I hadn't before. So far, I've tried my hand at baking some Honey-Wheat yeast bread (all by myself!), organized all of the generous baby gifts I received from coworkers, made Banana bread, reorganized the linen closet to suit my shorty self, and tried some new recipes from Deceptively Delicious (Jessica Seinfeld), and enjoyed lunch poolside with my sister and her children.

Can I just tell you how utterly cool it was to eat a lunch yesterday that was entirely made from scratch? Chicken Salad on warm from the oven Honey-Wheat bread. It was the best I'd ever eaten. Although making bread is a relatively long process, especially by today's standards, the flavor is unbelievable, and worth every knead.

Speaking of bread, I have finally become disciplined in reading my Bible every day as well as spending time in prayer. I find it easiest to do it after I've had breakfast and before the day truly gets started. One of my problems in the past was that I never had any real direction, I was simply choosing a passage at random (via Holy Spirit, perhaps?) and that was that. But now I am going through the Book of Acts a chapter a day. I've never read it straight through before, so it's nice to have a continuing storyline for a change.

Some of the verses I've underlined this week:

"Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will send Jesus your Messiah to you again." Acts 3:19-20

"The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men who had had no special training." Acts 4:13

"But Peter and John replied, 'Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about the wonderful things we have seen and heard.'" Acts 4:19-20

And due to a cross-reference, I read the short (three chapters in all) book of Joel and found this jewel:

"That is why the Lord says, 'Turn to me now, while there is time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don't tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts.'" Joel 2:12-13a

Okay, so this post has become monstrous! Sorry for that! I'll leave you with a photo of my gorgeous Honey-Wheat bread :) Strangely enough, one of the two loaves came out to roughly the size of an NFL-regulation football. I have no idea how I'll be slicing that beast.