Operation Home Sweet Home!

I completed my last official day of (paid) work today! Now I will be home with the girls on a full-time basis. I am so thankful that I have this opportunity. I have longed to be able to do this for a while, so I feel like I do realize what a blessing it is.  I also know that there have been days with my kids that I thought would make me lose my mind, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. I am trying not to have idyllic and unrealistic expectations going into this new adventure.

As I thought about what I'd like to focus on while staying home, I began to formulate my big idea.  I recently re-read "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, which inspired me to consider this new undertaking as my own personal project.

My latest undertaking shall henceforth be known as "Operation Home Sweet Home" (HSH for short).

I wanted to give myself a game plan, because I have a lot of projects waiting for me. There are so many things that I just didn't have time to get to before, while I was working. What I hope is that by giving myself a guideline, it can influence what I choose to spend my time doing. I don't want to get sucked into a myriad of activities that are overwhelming, or time-consuming without being part of the bigger picture.

I was recently working part-time for a while, which gave me a chance to learn a few things that I hope will help with the transition from working mom to stay-at-home mom.  I learned that for me, having something tangible which I have completed gives me a sense of accomplishment that eludes me if I spend the majority of my time on the never-ending laundry and kitchen cleaning duties.

I also realized that I might not do something well, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy doing it.  Case in point  - I saw a wonderfully creative blog called "Ruffles and Stuff" which showed how to repurpose outgrown dresses into skirts for little girls, among other wonderfully inventive things.  My mother is an accomplished seamstress.  I firmly believe such skills must skip a generation. 

I managed to make a skirt out of a too-small sundress dress for my daughter, but I used a combination of hand-sewing and iron on hemming stuff rather than the actual sewing machine. Confession: The sewing machine intimidates me.  Amazingly, it worked, but the inside where I put it together in my own crazily inept fashion does not look very pretty. It looks really cute on the outside and it seems to be comfortable to wear.  My daughter loved it. So, I will continue to sew badly and if I am lucky, I will get better with time and practice. Bonus: This fulfills the aforementioned tangibility factor.

I am going to work a bit at a time on "scoping out" my project (Operation HSH).  I think it will be just as important (maybe even more important?) to figure out what is outside the scope of this undertaking, so I can say no to those things.   Wish me luck!!!