Just Peachy in Dixie: 1 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hello all,

Wow! Has it truly almost been a year since my last post?! I miss blogging! I'm ready to come back. So many things I want to blog about bouncing around in my head and not quite sure where to start. I think I'll start at the beginning…..

Just over 42 years ago I was born……JUST KIDDING!!! Ha! Ha! How about I just start back to when this blog began? A little reflection on what was before moving forward to what's to come. My first post was almost exactly five years ago. So much has happened in that time! I have gone from being a stay at home Mom, who spent my days homemaking and homeschooling to going back to work part time as a Sales Associate, then promoted to a Keyholder, to Assistant Manager, to Store Manager. What can I say….my type A personality just doesn't allow me to hold back. It's a constant full boar sprint to any new adventure! Now throw in two moves (one of which was just temporary until we found the right home), my daughter becoming a competition clogger, traveling for clogging and store manager training that included getting on a flight going out of state, renting a car to drive around somewhere I have never been, which is a BIG endeavor for someone who rarely even leaves the county I live in! All the while still homeschooling my daughter with the help of my wonderful husband. I could definitely not do all that without him in my corner! My homemaking has definitely suffered as I find myself so tempted to just collapse on the sofa with the family, in front of the TV instead of keeping up with things like the laundry, much more regular sweeping/dusting/vacuuming, well…the list just goes on.

Where does the time go? I often find myself pondering on what I've spent my time on. I've discovered that I spend my time on a lot of useless crap! I'm really fed up with spending my precious free time with wasteful things! Yep, here we go with the Type A coming out…..again! Seriously though, there are so many things that I find relaxing, fun, enjoyable that I'm not doing because I've opted to just veg out in front of the TV, or mindlessly scroll through Pinterest (not looking for anything in particular mind you), wasting time on Facebook looking at what other people are doing with their lives, instead of living my own. I have discovered that I spend a lot of my time full of nothing in particular rather than living full. I'm sick and tired of it! Tired of keeping things stashed away in an armoire, or closet to use for a repurposing craft that I never get to, finding crochet patterns that I never use, reading about how to make more things naturally from scratch on Pinterest, reading about all the ways I could live/eat healthier but never following through. I'm taking my free time back! Am I saying that I will never plop in front of the TV, or scroll through Pinterest……No….but I will be much more selective of my TV time/watching, and scroll for things with a purpose of finding something in particular rather than aimless, randomness. Hence, my new series of blogs…..52 Weeks of Living Full!

Seeing as I want to spend more time bettering myself and the lives of my husband and daughter, I want to blog about it to help keep myself accountable, but I don't want to spend too much time on the computer either. This is why I am choosing to just commit to posting once a week with updates on things I've learned how to do, projects I've completed, or goals I have achieved in making better use of my free time.

With that being said, I'm going to list some things that I would like to achieve during the 52 week journey. I'll also throw in some hopes and dreams, just to see where life may end up a year from now. ;)

Living full during my free time by…..
~Watching less TV
~Rearranging my Flylady cleaning schedule to better suit my current schedule
~Spending more time outside
~Getting in fun exercise (ie: walking our dog, practice clogging with my daughter, seeing how many steps I can really squeeze in a day, etc.)
~Crafting (crochet, candles, repurposing, sewing, maybe something new)
~Learning to make as many things possible all natural and from scratch (food, cleaning supplies, makeup, beauty products, etc.)
~Learning how to be more self sustaining (gardening, living off the land)

Hopes and dreams…..
~Become even more minimalistic (will post on how we made the decision to downsize out of want rather than necessity)
~Find a house on land and out of a neighborhood
~Have a nice size garden
~Have farm animals

I'm sure I'll probably think of some more things, but that's a good start I think. :) I look forward to seeing how many of these aspirations I can achieve from week to week and where things are a year from now. Until next week…..

Be sure to check out the Link Up on Raising Homemakers where I linked this post. Just click on the link below.