The change from lazy summer to busy calendars - who authorized this?

4 days until school is out then life will get busy - how strange is that? Those days of unstructured, spontaneous living are no more. My kids need the structure, the routine or they get squirly. A schedule to a 3 and 6 year old is like swaddling to a new born baby. And truth be told, I'm pretty ineffective myself without the perimeters of deadlines and schedules. The good news is that a bunch of the events and commitments quickly approaching are creative opportunities, celebrations and family adventures. However, I have learned that one must be strategically prepared or these occasions can quickly turn into stressers and chores.

The first step was assembling our family calendar which is the real story of what life will look like. The next, and my task for today, is scheduling in time for preparations and cleanup as well highlighting days of flexibility and scheduling downtime. This summer I am making a conscious effort to stay ahead of the curve so that our family can enjoy all the activities and still experience the "lazy daze" I recall from my childhood.
To be totally honest, I have another motive. I love signing up for swaps, on-line artsy challenges and hostessing play dates with my friends but I rarely look at the calendar when signing up. I want to be more thoughtful of these activities so my world is slower, quieter, more fluid. I don't want to feel guilty during one activity because I "should" be doing another.


For example, the quilt-along is a absolute delight and I am thrilled I am doing it - not sure the King size quilt was very practical though. Its double the work and I am afraid if I fall behind, I won't finish so I've been devoting more time to it than I should - the guilt has started to set in... It is a pattern I want to break, an example I don't want to set, a life I no longer choose to live. Today, I want to be

M O R E A C C O U N T A B L E

If my husband took on things as I did and did not consult me before doing so, I would be so annoyed. Why do I think it is OK for me? I want to be a more considerate, less busy person. Of course this means that I need to sit still when there is time to sit still, not see an opportunity to "do something". Wow - this is not at all where I saw this blog entry going...this is going to be tough! But Eva gave up her binky so I can certainly do this. I'll need support and gentle reminders from my posse, OK? I think this kind of work is considered cognative behavior change. Maybe I need a carrot to stay on the path. Any ideas?