Sunday Salon: A Birthday and the Beginning of Another School Year

Today while sitting in church I was mentally trying to determine my to do list in my head.  It was a long list. I had great intentions of getting right to work when I got home. And then, I picked up Woman With A Secret by Sophie Hannah, a novel I started yesterday that I have been obsessively reading and want to finish up. And two hours later, I haven't begun a single item on my list. I'm also not done with the book.  However, I have set it aside for a bit so that at least I can check a few things off of my list.

Tomorrow is the first day for students in the district where I teach.  My girls started on Thursday last week.

Of course we had to take the traditional first day of school picture, which was ridiculously difficult.  I have tons of them on my phone and one that passes as being ok.  However, I really like the bottom of these two because it pretty well shows what life is like at our house.

Yesterday was Little Sister's birthday. She's nine now which seems amazing.  Mostly her birthday presents consisted of Shopkins, these little plastic toys that she collects. But Friday after school (despite the absolutely horrible three hour downpour that occurred during this time) I went and got her a fish.  She's been asking for one for a while, and did a good job fish-sitting for our neighbor girl.  

Today it's the calm before the storm. I've got a list of everyone's after school activities for the week and a meal plan.  The girls are starting out with lunches packed at night and clothes laid out for the next day.  I've even laid out five days worth of work clothes.  

Each school year always seems like a new beginning to me, and usually my organization falters fairly quickly.  However, last week our staff did a two day Leader in Me Training based on Stephen Covey's book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which has me reflecting on how I spend my time.  If I did less internet surfing I could accomplish a lot more which would also help in my being organized. I'm going to try very hard to control this part of my life and get more done.

I've still got lots to do today and since my girls are split between their grandmas, I am going to take advantage of this time and knock a few more things off my to-do list. 

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!