Time on My Hands

This summer, someone asked me what I do in the off-season (the school year) when I'm not working as much.

"Umm... I clean... And cook for Caleb...."

For the life of me I could not remember how I spent my time in the Spring.  This means one of two things, I think.  One: I did pretty much nothing other than cook and clean.  Two: I did nothing memorable whatsoever.  (I guess also possibility three is long-term memory loss, but that's unlikely.)

So, I'm hopeful to use my time differently this Fall.  What do I intend to do?

1. Spend time daily in God's word and in prayer.
2. Keep my house clean.  I made a chore chart, and it doesn't take a lot of time to stick to it if I could just convince myself to!
3. Cook healthy meals and occasionally try something new.
4. Keep up this blog.  And keep it interesting.  At least to me, but hopefully to some of you.
5. Complete several more of my 101 Things in 2013 list.  There are a few of them that I know will not get done this year because they are simply not in the budget - an update on that tomorrow - but there are several I have all the parts/ingredients for, I just need to do them.
6. Read good books.  If you follow my Books Read in 2013 board in Pinterest, you'll know I've already done a lot of that this year.  (Not that I really expect people to keep up on that.  It was actually just my way of keeping a reading list.)
7. Pour back into our church body.  I have time on my hands and can help people.  I can go clean houses or type up papers for people with broken hands.  I'm a pastor's wife, for Pete's sake, I should be doing these things - and I want to!
8. Be a good hostess.  After we got settled in our house, we decided to make good on what we had said when we first got married: We want to have people over for dinner at least two times a month.  We made a list of people to start inviting, but when the first family we invited couldn't make it the first time we invited them, we kind of gave up.  Lame, I know.  So I intend to go at it with renewed vigor.  I'm sure I wasn't given the spiritual gift of hospitality for nothing.
9. Get healthy.  I know I know I know that I feel better when I exercise, but not for a couple of days.  The first couple of days are painful and uncomfortable.  But the benefits once I get past those couple of days and actually keep it up are endless: I feel better, I eat better, my skin looks better, I'm happier, I sleep better, I look better - etc.
10. But also take time to relax.  Caleb recently introduced me to the game Animal Crossing: City Folk and we've really enjoyed playing that together (well, technically taking turns, but still).  I guess reading books falls under this category, too.

So there you have it.  My 10 Fall Resolutions.  Maybe now that they're in print, I'll stick to them?  :)

How about you?  Do any of you feel like you're getting a second wind for this year?  Leave a comment and tell me about it - I'd love to read about it!

Love and Colored Pencils,
Leah Joy