Time For a New Routine?.

J and I are at an impasse. I recently found a decorative plate I made a million years ago, back in the 1990's. J hates it apparently and I am sentimentally attached to it. After all, I spent time creating this thing. No one will ever mistake it for a fine piece of art. After all, it's a clear glass plate with pictures of cats mod podged onto the back and covered with gold sheets (the fake stuff, not the real). It reminds me to stay creative. I enjoy having time to work on projects. 
  J threw it behind the water heater in his room. He thought I wouldn't notice because I was sitting here at the table reading (or trying to read) today's lesson. John 16. I made him go retrieve it. He played dumb, which is one of his typical teenager moments. If you have kids you know what I'm talking about: the blank look. Yeah right, I'm your mother. Go get the plate. He wasn't thrilled because it meant he had to kneel down and reach behind the water heater to get it. I then told him to put it back where he found it. 
  Mom's a little dense sometimes because it took a few minutes to figure out that J has been up for awhile. After all, he was in the tub when I woke up. The boy is hungry! So the bible gets set aside once more and I fix breakfast. Okay. He's fed, medicated and happy, if slightly bored already at 8:30 AM. (How do you get bored that early in the morning???) 
 I can go back to reading, right? Wrong. Now my mommy brain is kicking in. J needs something to do. I still need to do....and the list starts whirling. Long story short (if there is any hope of that after all of this), when I'm here by myself I can't ignore J or the house. My bible reading and blogging about it is a priority, even though it seems even to me that my attention to it has been flagging recently.
  It has been suggested that we rise an hour earlier than our families in order to get a jump on the day. J wakes anywhere from 3:30 to 5 am on his wilder days, rarely sleeping till 7. During first shift, The Hubby wakes at 4 in order to do what he needs to do to get to work on time. My first thought? SO not happening. 
  But then I got to thinking as I was scrambling eggs: my family needs me. I don't have to get up immediately as I hear J waken, but what if I go ahead and wake at 4 or 4:30? It's not a new concept. Women have done this probably since the days of Eve. If J is awake I can feed him and get him going on a project to occupy him till he's ready to go back to bed (which he invariably does). During first shift days that would give me a little time with my husband before he runs off to work. If he's on third shift, I can have breakfast ready for him instead of him stopping at mcGreasy's for something I really don't care for.  Once those two are taken care of I can get my bible reading done then, or start on some housework until my brain is ready to settle in and really pay attention to what I'm reading. Or maybe I have to wait until J's afternoon nap time or at least when he's quiet to study. So I may not get to sit and read until afternoon or so.  If that is the case then I can simply set the blog piece to post the next morning. I will still be reading each day and I will keep up with that part of the blog, hopefully better than I am now. 

Proverbs 31:10-31 is the description of the virtuous woman. Yes, this woman had servants to help her, but she got quite a bit done. We all have things that keep us from doing everything, but the point is taking care of our families the best we can. If it takes waking at a time when the sun is still sleeping to take care of my family at this point, I should do it. I can always nap in the afternoon when J does, if need be. We shall see how this goes!

J and I are at an impasse. I recently found a decorative plate I made a million years ago, back in the 1990's. J hates it apparently and I am sentimentally attached to it. After all, I spent time creating this thing. No one will ever mistake it for a fine piece of art. After all, it's a clear glass plate with pictures of cats mod podged onto the back and covered with gold sheets (the fake stuff, not the real). It reminds me to stay creative. I enjoy having time to work on projects. 
  J threw it behind the water heater in his room. He thought I wouldn't notice because I was sitting here at the table reading (or trying to read) today's lesson. John 16. I made him go retrieve it. He played dumb, which is one of his typical teenager moments. If you have kids you know what I'm talking about: the blank look. Yeah right, I'm your mother. Go get the plate. He wasn't thrilled because it meant he had to kneel down and reach behind the water heater to get it. I then told him to put it back where he found it. 
  Mom's a little dense sometimes because it took a few minutes to figure out that J has been up for awhile. After all, he was in the tub when I woke up. The boy is hungry! So the bible gets set aside once more and I fix breakfast. Okay. He's fed, medicated and happy, if slightly bored already at 8:30 AM. (How do you get bored that early in the morning???) 
 I can go back to reading, right? Wrong. Now my mommy brain is kicking in. J needs something to do. I still need to do....and the list starts whirling. Long story short (if there is any hope of that after all of this), when I'm here by myself I can't ignore J or the house. My bible reading and blogging about it is a priority, even though it seems even to me that my attention to it has been flagging recently.
  It has been suggested that we rise an hour earlier than our families in order to get a jump on the day. J wakes anywhere from 3:30 to 5 am on his wilder days, rarely sleeping till 7. During first shift, The Hubby wakes at 4 in order to do what he needs to do to get to work on time. My first thought? SO not happening. 
  But then I got to thinking as I was scrambling eggs: my family needs me. I don't have to get up immediately as I hear J waken, but what if I go ahead and wake at 4 or 4:30? It's not a new concept. Women have done this probably since the days of Eve. If J is awake I can feed him and get him going on a project to occupy him till he's ready to go back to bed (which he invariably does). During first shift days that would give me a little time with my husband before he runs off to work. If he's on third shift, I can have breakfast ready for him instead of him stopping at mcGreasy's for something I really don't care for.  Once those two are taken care of I can get my bible reading done then, or start on some housework until my brain is ready to settle in and really pay attention to what I'm reading. Or maybe I have to wait until J's afternoon nap time or at least when he's quiet to study. So I may not get to sit and read until afternoon or so.  If that is the case then I can simply set the blog piece to post the next morning. I will still be reading each day and I will keep up with that part of the blog, hopefully better than I am now. 

Proverbs 31:10-31 is the description of the virtuous woman. Yes, this woman had servants to help her, but she got quite a bit done. We all have things that keep us from doing everything, but the point is taking care of our families the best we can. If it takes waking at a time when the sun is still sleeping to take care of my family at this point, I should do it. I can always nap in the afternoon when J does, if need be. We shall see how this goes!