Schedule Changes

I'm thinking of making major changes to my schedule. I've wanted to do 2 things for a few years now: get organized and get physically fit. Neither has really happened. I'm more organized than I was a few years ago, but my house is still generally a mess. I'm more fit than I was a few years ago, but not where I really want to be.

So here's the thing: I took a hard look at my schedule and found a few things. One is that I snack A LOT at night. I schedule time to clean after the kids go to bed, but it never really works out that way.

Generally I sleep in in the mornings while Tony gets the kids ready for school. This works for us. I'm not a morning person at all, and Tony does a great job getting kids out the door (except for Becca's hair, but I'm up by the time she needs that). Generally I spend a few hours cleaning in the mornings. Usually I'm cleaning whatever mess the twins were making before I was up because Daddy was distracted by getting older kids ready to go to school. Then I'm off to do whatever things I have scheduled for the day.

Anyone else see an issue here? My days are messed up! I spend time cleaning up messes instead of organizing and doing regular clean up. Then when I should be cleaning in the evenings, I'm really just eating and relaxing in front of the TV!

So, I'm setting myself a bedtime. I'm not going to be unreasonable, though. I know my body hates sleeping before 1am. Insomnia abounds before that. I am still going to try 11pm. I'm also cutting off all snacks at 9. I'd make it before that, but I know myself better than that. I'm going to want to snack after the kids go to bed at 8, and telling myself that I can't won't make this work. I've tried not snacking after dinner when trying to get rid of the insomnia, and I couldn't stick to it. I'd much rather do something that I can keep up.

The next part of that is the mornings. I've been trying to get up earlier, but it isn't working. I know it's the insomnia, so I'm sure I can't be unreasonable with that either. I'm going to just try getting up when the alarm goes off instead of poking my husband and rolling over. I will get up and shower THEN do my quiet time with God. I usually do this the other way around...then I end up falling back to sleep because I'm still in bed for my quiet time. It doesn't work.

I've actually tried this type of schedule before, but the problem was that I was off caffeine at the time too. That doesn't work for me. I became a really horrible person. I have already shaken my dependence on caffeine, so hopefully this will work. Changing the schedule while going off caffeine at the same time didn't work. One thing at a time.

While I'm changing things around, if I find extra time in there, I'm going to start a more consistent workout routine. I'm actually thinking of the couch to 5k plan. I really want to be able to run a marathon one of these days, but I already know that I can't even jog a 5k. I have to start somewhere, so I'm thinking of starting there. The thing is, there are a few plans for the couch to 5k thing, not just the ones that I've linked, so I'm going to research it further to see which would work best for me. I welcome any suggestions.

The problem with my work out thing right now is that at this point, I have to take the twins with me wherever I go unless Tony is home. This means I either get up even more early (I'm not sure I can do that yet), or exercise at night (probably not the best thing for my insomnia). I'm thinking just the schedule change for now, then I'll add the workout when I'm a little more flexible with my time. If nothing else, the twins start Kindergarten in August, and I'll have more time when they are in school.

The other thing is, if I get up and get my twins ready for the day at the same time Tony does, it eliminates whatever mess that they would make as well as make the morning smoother for him. I find it frustrating that the twins are not as self sufficient at my other kids were at that age. They more likely to make a mess if you have them get themselves breakfast, even if it's just a waffle out of the toaster. At 4, both Micah and Becca could make a waffle for themselves, but neither poured cereal or milk still. I don't know if it's that they are more clumsy or if they are just more imaginative, making the whole process of putting the waffle in the toaster and taking it out much too boring.

So, there it is. My evil plan. I'll blog on it more later. I'm going to try to start the whole thing tonight. I may not make it, though. It sort of depends on when my husband gets home from umpiring. Sometimes he's late, and I don't like going to bed without him at least home. I'm definitely going to start the no snack after 9 thing, though.