A DAY IN THE LIFE: OPERATION ORGANIZATION BACK TO SCHOOL SERIES

I was so honored to be invited by Christy and Amy of 11 Magnolia Lane to participate in this Operation: Organization Back to School series today.  Honestly, I'm not the most organized person and am constantly fighting certain problem areas like I'm sure many of you do, so I wasn't sure I had much to share on the topic.  However, I've found a few small things here and there that help our family and me personally stay on track,  so I'll include those throughout the details of my day.  If you're a new visitor today, welcome!  I'm so glad you stopped by and hope you find something that you can relate to here.

*Affiliate links may be used in this post for your shopping convenience.  

Here's my disclaimer for this post:  This is the typical "schedule" I shoot for, but all of these things don't always happen in my day.  I don't keep a disciplined time schedule for my days, more of a routine of different things that need to be done day by day.  Some (more than I like) days I don't exercise, I spend all day running errands and have to cram in computer work at night.  Some days if I have a big project in the works I barely get anything done besides feeding my family (and ordering pizza totally counts as feeding your family!).   I know you all who are Moms can totally relate, your schedule can never be too set in stone.

My day begins around 6:45 a.m.  Since my kids are older, they are responsible for getting themselves up and going.  My son has early morning band practice every day and leaves the house by 6:30, so I don't see him before school most days.  When I get up I fix a quick breakfast for my daughter (she's not a big fan of breakfast) and pack her lunch.  One thing that we did last year that made packing lunches so much easier and faster was to set up a lunchbox station inside the pantry door.  When almost everything we need is right in front of us it's so much more efficient!

My husband usually takes her to school by 7:15.  When he leaves to take her I slip on my tennis shoes and go for a walk- usually 30-45 minutes.  I know myself, and if I don't go first thing it usually won't happen at all.  I generally listen to my playlist as I walk, but I've also been enjoying listening to some podcasts during that time to shake it up a bit.  I have to be careful, though... if I get too intent on listening to a podcast I end up leisurely strolling instead of walking fast.  ;)

$12 Mirrored Cat Eye Sunglasses

When I return from walking my husband has returned from drop-off and is usually about ready to go to work.  I'll make breakfast for the two of us, usually some sort of eggs/protein.  This quiche is in the rotation about once a week, and if we're especially conscious about carbs I'll make it without the crust and just decrease the cooking time.  Always a family favorite!

He usually eats quickly and heads out the door, while I sit down and eat and do my quiet time.  If it's the time of year when I'm in an organized Bible Study I'll work on it during this time, or if I'm in between studies I like to occasionally go back through studies I've already done or do a simple devotional book (I especially like this one and this one).

After that I usually putter around the house a little, cleaning up dishes, watering pots outside, straightening up.  This was watering day!  My tropical plants and succulents get watered about once every 3 weeks or so, I don't really have a set schedule for them.  That's the beauty of those plants... they tolerate infrequent watering and can take lots of abuse!  If I have fresh flowers I change the water in them and re-cut the stems every 2-3 days.

Similar Striped Vase

I finally hit the shower at some point after that (yay!) and get ready for the rest of the day.  If I know I'm not going anywhere that day, top knot, no makeup,  and comfy clothes it is!  If I do have plans to be out I'll get completely ready.

At this point I'll hop on the computer and check e-mails, read a few blogs, and work on posts if needed.  If I have a specific project going on I'll use this time during the day to work on that as well.  On this day in particular, I had a phone interview scheduled for our upcoming feature in Better Homes and Gardens (eeeek!!). That's a huge reason to love blogging... I can do business interviews at my kitchen table...with no makeup and wet hair!  ;)  And did I ever think I'd be posting a photo of myself on the internet with no makeup and my hair not done???  Nope!  You can bet I slapped a filter on there, though!  ;)

It's probably obvious, but the thing that keeps me the most organized with my work is a planner.  A good old write it down with pencil and paper planner.  I've tried several different ones, but I really like this one lately that I bought from Target.  It has a large monthly grid, then a page for each week adjoining a "this week" and "reminders" list page.  I keep our family calendar and my blog calendar all in one spot with this one, and these are my favorite pens to do a bit of color coding.

Somewhere around noon I stop for lunch.  Some days Ray comes home for lunch and some days I'm on my own.  I usually have some sort of quesadilla or salad with leftover chicken or taco meat and watch a bit of tv or read while I eat.  Today, it was Taco Salad! I'm not a coffee drinker, so by lunch I'm usually ready for a little boost.  I stick with my favorite iced tea or a soda.

Gingham Napkins  ||  Similar Green Placemats  (one exact set here)

After lunch I do a little more computer work.  On this day I knew I'd be doing a lot of sitting, so I multi-tasked and did a foot treatment at the same time.  I don't find going to get pedicures especially enjoyable or relaxing, but I tried Baby Foot last Fall and I'm hooked!  After a long summer of going bare foot a good deal of the time, let's just say my feet needed some smoothing.  If you can get past the disgusting before and after advertising photos, you might like it too!  You can read my tips for using this product in this post.

Baby Foot Exfoliant Foot Peel

Also around this time in the afternoon I start to think about dinner and the kids getting home from school.  I'll do whatever initial prep is needed for dinner, and occasionally get something ready for a snack for the kids when they get home, although half the time they just grab a quick snack.  But, today I made Pumpkin Bread.  I love this recipe because I can throw it together in about 5 minutes, stir everything in one bowl, and pop it in the oven.  It comes in so handy for after school snacks and breakfast as well.

Some days I'll run a few errands before the kids get home from school, or if I need them for the errands we'll go right after school.  Here's another tip that I just recently started doing, and I don't know why I never did it sooner!  I keep a sturdy basket or tote in the back of my car to contain things I need to return or throw small sacks in after I make a purchase.  It helps so much to keep things from sliding around all over the back of my vehicle.

I don't know about you, but I have a love/hate relationship with my kids and their phones.  Not my kids.  I always love them.  Just their phones.  ;)   I don't feel good about letting them have free reign with them, mainly because they can be so distracting and time consuming.  A very useful tool, but distracting.  I know from experience!  And I HATE policing their time on their phone.  So, at the beginning of our school year a few weeks ago I implemented a simple system.  When they get home from school, they get 20 minutes of phone time, which they are responsible for monitoring their time (I technically keep an eye on their time too because if they go over they lose phone privileges for a while).  Then, it goes on the kitchen counter while homework and other chores are done.  After all of their responsibilities are taken care of, they can have them back for a while, but I want them back on the counter at 8:00 p.m. for overnight.  They've gone back to using regular alarm clocks rather than their phones and so far we're doing okay with this system but are still working on it.  Any suggestions?  What works well for your family?

Green Mixer ||  Similar Brass Pineapple Ice Bucket/Tumbler

One last tool that has helped us tremendously over the past several years is a large family chalkboard calendar hanging in the kitchen.  I have always kept my personal calendar with all of our events, but it's helped so much to have all of our activities visible for the whole family to see and know what to expect.  This chalkboard was a DIY project from an old piece of artwork and has been one of my hardest working projects!

Dinnertime varies for us depending on activities, but most nights we do sit down for dinner together regardless of the time.  Tonight I worked on dinner while Emily worked on her homework.

We had this yummy chicken dish, one of her favorites!

Monogrammed Pagoda Napkins

After the hustle and bustle of after school, homework, dinner, and family time many evenings you'll find us right here on the patio.  I hardly ever have a blog post finished until the night before it goes up, so I'm usually putting the finishing touches on those at night.

DIY Striped Pots  ||  How to Paint Ceramics (painted garden stools)

Finally time for bed!  No matter how tired I am, 99.9% of the time I read before turning out my light.  Sometimes it's 2 pages, sometimes it's multiple chapters, but it's what shuts my mind down.  Right now I've been re-reading a favorite series and am still enjoying it even though I know what's going to happen.  Does anyone else do the same thing?

There you have it.  Nothing terribly exciting or earth shattering to report here, but I love my family and our little life and try hard to keep everything running smoothly.

Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed the personal peek into my days and picked up a good tip or two.  If you're new here today, I'd love for you to join my email list!  You'll receive a notification straight to your inbox any time there's a new post on Dimples and Tangles, simply enter your address below.

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Be sure to head over to these fabulous blogs and check out their Day in the Life posts today too.  I know they'll all have some wonderful organizing tips for us as well!

Christy  — 11 Magnolia Lane

Amanda — Dixie Delights

Rebekah — A Blissful Nest
*Megan from Honey We're Home is a Houston area resident, and although she was scheduled to post today I'm sure everyone understands that she needed to re-schedule her post to next week. She and her family are safe and are lending aid where they can to help their neighbors in need.  She wrote a great post from an insider's perspective of how you can help!

Check back next week for round 2 of the series!

September 6th

Amy -11 Magnolia Lane

Sam - Simply Organized 

Erin - Sunny Side Up

Mallory — Style Your Senses

Julie — Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Haneen - Haneen’s Haven
Megan — Honey We're Home



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