Project Bewitch - Rule #2

Alright, another strategy that I have found helpful during those last few anxious hours of the day comes in play about a half hour before Daddy comes home . . .

MUSIC!

Depending on the day and the mood I pick something different. If I feel like jamming with the girls then we get something more upbeat going, if I am feeling frantic and stressed then something more soothing and relaxing does the trick.

Music isn't ALWAYS helpful. Sometimes it just adds to the noise and chaos, but I do find that there are days that it helps.

So there you go! Another little helpful tip that I have found useful for those crazy moments (that can feel like weeks) before daddy walks through the door.

Project Bewitch - Rule #1

For those of you who are unaware of Project Bewitch, you will just have to click on the label to update yourself a bit - then you'll be a little bit less confused about what I have to say here.

I really have been putting a lot of thought into how to make those last few hours of the day more pleasant in my house. It's really important to me that we enjoy those few hours that we have together as a family each day, and for Garrett to come home to a happy home as often as possible. Things can just escalate to madness and chaos too quickly and I am determined to have some fun and enjoy each other as much as possible.

So, my first rule of Project Bewitch is:

Four-O-Clock Is Quitting Time!

Let me explain.

I tend to get super stressed out at the end of the day because I am thinking of the things that haven't gotten done, I am thinking of dinner that needs to be made, I am looking at the house that I would like to be more tidy before Garrett walks in, and I can quickly get myself worked up into a frenzy.

Or better yet, I am dead in the middle of a project and I just keep going and going with it and before I realize it Garrett is walking through the door, the girls are ready to eat, and I'm actually hungry myself, which puts us into the hungry grumpy family zone, and things can quickly go down hill from there.

So from now on at four-o-clock my ONLY priorities are

to get dinner on the table,

to do a quick tidy-up,

and to enjoy my family until my girls are snuggled away in their little beds.

If I'm on the computer working on something - I am DONE at four-o-clock, if I am decorating a part of the house and consumed by a project and four-o-clock hits . . . it's quitting time. It's time to change gears.

I know this whole thing might sound kind of silly. But, I think these hours of the day can be hard because I make them hard. I get wrapped up in something else besides enjoying my family and then I get mad because I'm not enjoying my family . . . it makes no sense. If I can simplify those hours to focus on a few things rather than a lot of things then it's so much easier to obtain my happy family goal.

I have to say, it has worked wonders so far. When four hits, whatever else I am doing stops and I sit down and spend some time with the girls doing whatever they are doing. Then I start getting dinner ready and the house a bit tidied up and I just feel so much less stressed when Garrett walks through the door. I'm not trying to unpack, and keep the girls happy, and make dinner, and tidy up, and finish up a blog post, and make a phone call, and deal with the current temper tantrum all at the same time. (Which, by the way, dealing with all that at the same time ALWAYS leads to me dealing with the girls in a less than desirable way - which gets me frustrated with myself about being frustrated with a kid who is just being a kid - which just gets the ball rolling for a stressed-out unenjoyable evening!)

So, there you have it. The rest of you probably don't have a problem with trying to do twenty things at once - but I certainly do. So, my first goal of "Project Bewitch" is to start simplifying at four-o-clock each day and not to concentrate on all the projects at once (which I know I shouldn't be trying to do twenty things at once at ANY hour of the day, but I am just going to take the wise advice from What About Bob? and practicing taking "baby steps").

The Bewitching Hour

There is something that can be oh so very horrible about that last hour before Daddy comes home. While most days I can cope just fine and even enjoy this time with my children, there are also days when I can't stop looking at the clock and envisioning the moment when Daddy will walk through the door while I simultaneously run out of it screaming. (I am pleased to note that I have not followed through on the vision yet, but I have come very close.)

Today was one of the more miserable days when daddy's homecoming was very much anticipated by all in the house. (You know it is bad when the three-year-old is screaming "I want my daaaaaaaa-deeeeee".)

During that last hour I can feel like the "please don't do that" phrase is being used in hyper drive. I feel like the busy body toddler is on a mission to destroy every item she can lay hands on. And I feel like the whines, the bickering, and the redundancy of it all is trying to suffocate me.

So, I am on a mission to make this last hour of the day a little bit more bearable. Ideas are brewing in my head about how to make this possible. They won't be able to come to fruition until we are in a house of our own. But I will keep you posted on what I will now refer to as "Project Unbewitch".

I am determined not to be the witch of the bewitching hour any longer.