peace – Pollywog's Place Blog

Successful days start with successful mornings

Pip: The central tension here is one a lot of parents will recognize — you want to start the day with intention, but the household has other plans. The question the post is really asking is: what does it take to protect even thirty minutes for yourself, and is it worth the effort to try?

Mara: The post is direct about what’s actually at stake. The framing is this: “This 30-45 minutes gives me a chance to refresh my patience and get my thoughts together before I am bombarded with so many questions that I can’t even think straight.”

Pip: So it’s not a luxury. It’s maintenance. The quiet time is what makes the rest of the day functional — for the kids, for the household, for everyone who needs something from Mom before breakfast.

Mara: And the post is honest about the obstacles. Getting up early only works if you get to bed at a decent time, which means negotiating with a toddler who’d rather sleep sideways across two adults. The domino goes all the way back to the night before.

Pip: There’s a whole infrastructure described here — setting up the coffee maker the night before, using the dim light over the kitchen sink instead of the overhead so the kids don’t register it as a green light to start the day. It’s a stealth operation.

Mara: The quiet time itself isn’t idle either. The post lists Bible study, menu planning, grocery lists, school plans, blogging, or reading — things that feel peaceful, as the post puts it, “when I can fully concentrate on them without worrying about why the baby is crying.”

Pip: The post also links back to an earlier piece on mornings from 2016, which means this is a habit that has been lost and rebuilt more than once. That’s actually the most useful detail — it normalizes the cycle of falling off and starting again.

Mara: And the post closes with something worth sitting with: the biggest reason to get up isn’t productivity, it’s showing up well for the family. A few minutes with God and a plan for the day, and the whole household runs a little better.

Pip: Quiet mornings, it turns out, are loud in their consequences.

Mara: The throughline here is really about margins — the small buffers that keep a busy household from running on empty.

Pip: Build the buffer the night before, protect it in the morning, and apparently the elephants can wait until after the coffee.

There are some things we can fix with our own hands.

We can mend a broken fence, replenish tired soil, prune an overgrown plant, and tend a struggling garden back to health.

But we cannot force another person’s heart to change.

Estrangement from a child, parent, sibling, other family member, or dear friend carries a unique kind of grief. We may long for another conversation, another chance to listen, an opportunity to apologize, or simply an open door where there has been silence.

Sometimes, after we have done all we know to do, the only thing left is to place that person into God’s hands.

That is why I created 31 Days of Prayer for Estranged Family & Friends: A Journey of Surrender, Healing, Forgiveness & Restoration.

Watch the series on YouTube.

Continue reading →

I will say that last month went pretty well, and our home does feel a bit fuller of JOY. This month, our theme will be KINDNESS. We will be looking at ways that we can be more intentional in showing KINDNESS in all that we do.

I’m going to take a quick look at what we have planned for the month so you can get a little idea about how all of our systems work with each other.

Calendar

My morning routine means that I check our calendar every morning, and here is what I am looking at:

There are few appointments that are noted, and I have reminders set in my Cozi app. We have several appointments this week, so I remind my husband about them to make sure he remembers.
There are a couple of birthdays, and I am noting the special meals in my planner.
A few ‘special holidays’ that we would like to include.
Days that the public school will be out for one of the older kids.
I also try to look for a day that will be a good time to go to the flea market or produce market for seasonal produce.

Chores

I also like to review the chores at the beginning of the week, as we have them listed by daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

Daily chores are pretty automatic, but our monthly chores rotate by the day of the month… I try to keep things as easy as I can.

Some of our daily chores include:

Getting ready for the day – make beds, brush teeth/hair, get dressed
Animal/Garden chores – watering and feeding
Breakfast – see our Breakfast Routine here
Laundry – see our Laundry Routine here
Planning the day – check calendar, to-do list, meal plan, etc.
Morning Routine – see a sample day here
School
Lunch
Quick Clean up
Afternoon Chores – water animals, check eggs, etc.
Dinner
Clean up

If you click on the links, you can find more in-depth information about each task.

Some of my weekly chores are:

Home Blessings
Homeschool Planning – look for lesson ideas to go along with our monthly tasks and upcoming holidays
Menu Planning – check that we have everything we need for upcoming meals
Garden Planning – check what needs to be transplanted, seeded, started, and bought.
Other Planning – Pi Day, St. Patricks Day, National Down Syndrome Day, and possible outings/vacation; check for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries
Grocery Shopping & Errands
Desk Work/Paper Work/Bill Pay/Budgeting

Some of the monthly chores this month are:

cleaning light fixture
changing out any seasonal decor
cleaning the tops of the fridges
cleaning windows and doors
wiping down the cabinet doors
cleaning under the sinks
wiping down canisters and small appliances
deep cleaning the sinks and dish drainer
deep clean the oven
declutter coffee suppliies
deep clean freezers
deep clean the vacuum cleaner
replace the AC filter
deep clean the porches
deep clean showers andtubs
wipe down bathroom walls

We usually tackle one or two these every day or every other day to get them knocked out.

Spring Cleaning With Easy DIY Cleaners

Some of the yearly chores for this month are:

pressure wash house – we didn’t get to that yet
wash outside windows
new batteries for smoke detectors

Sometimes the kiddos are tempted to skip over chores, but it catches up to them later on when things break down or run out. We are trying to teach them important skills that they will need later on in life, skills that will hopefully make them successful in all that they do.

Homeschool

We are currently finished with our 2025-2026 homeschool year so we just do our Morning Meetings right now.

I note when we plan to start back.
I add the appointments to the monthly lesson plan calendar as well, so I can plan accordingly. I realize that I may need to alter our start date and just use that as a Home Blessing day to get the house back in order, so I just swap a few things around really quick.
I also go ahead and update the sites for our lessons so everything is set to go for Monday!

These quick changes will keep us from having a very frustrating week back to school… at least I pray it will.

This month, I will be focusing on adding Science tasks to our homeschool routine, so I will look over those tasks to see what I can work in with our lessons.

Science (April)

Nature is usually wide awake around this time here, so we get to spend a lot of time outdoors. This makes for the perfect opportunities to do some Nature Journaling. I also want to participate in the ONE SEED CHALLENGE on YouTube, so this would be a good time to get started.

April is also the month that Earth Day falls in, so this makes a great time to talk about stewardship of our natural resources.

Some ways we are doing this are:

Creation-based worldview:
- look at science from GOD’s perspective as the CREATOR
- study the complexity of the world around us, including the universe
- check out some meteor showers during the month of April and jot down the dates for future showers, if this interests you
Stewardship of creation:
- talk about environmental stewardship and conservation
Research Bible verses on taking care of the earth:
- ex: Genesis 2:15, Numbers 35:33, Psalm 24:1, etc.
- Take nature walks and start a nature journal

Devotional

We have a new devotional for the month as well – I did make it for 31 days, so it could be used at any time of the year.

Clothed in KINDNESS Devotional

Bill Paying

I usually sit down to pay bills on Fridays.

Pay the bills due, pay more if money allows
Check accounts to see what payments have cleared, and highlight them on the worksheet
Note any bills still left to pay

I usually do this first, so I know what I have left to spend. My bill pay worksheet makes things much simpler as I can see what I have paid, and what needs to be paid.

Meal Planning & Grocery Shopping

I normally do my menu planning on Wednesday or Thursday. I print out a couple of meal planning sheets and a grocery list so I can fill them in as I look over our Spring Meal Plan.

I write in the birthdays and special holidays for the month, and then add those ingredients to the grocery list. Clicking on the link will give you a ready-made list of holidays for the month and links to recipes and menu ideas to make them special.
I look over the planned meals and pencil them in.
I note the days when we have appointments and swap those meals for easier meals, if needed.
I check the grocery list that the kids have been filling out on the fridge, and add items to the main list.
I also check my pantry restock list to see what I need to add to the list, if money allows.
I make sure I have the ingredients to preserve the produce that I plan to pick up this month as well. I will add supplies to the grocery list, if needed. Some of these posts have not been published yet, but you should be able to find the printables in the library.
I will either schedule a time to go shopping or place an order for groceries and set a delivery or pickup time that works for us. When I go to town, I usually plan to take care of several errands at once.
At the beginning of the month, I will also place a Sam’s Club order for bulk supplies to be shipped, as well as any supplies we need from Amazon.

Special Holiday Meals: APRIL Edition

Some of the pantry restock items I added to list are:

Canned Fruit
Canned Veggies
Oil/Shortening
Canned/Dry Beans
one other item that I choose

Some of the produce I’d like to buy for preserving:

Strawberries
Blueberries
Herbs
Dried beans for canning

If money is short, we can skip the restock and the preserving items until next month. I don’t like to skip things too often, but we do have our pantry pretty well stocked, and as long as we replace what we use, we should be fine.

Garden & Animals

I usually try to get feed and garden supplies once a month to cut down on the number of trips I make to town. The feed store is in the opposite direction of our normal grocery store, and I need all the space in the back of the van for feed, so I can’t really combine these tasks, or I would.

I go out to the greenhouse and garden just about every day, so I keep a running list of things that I need. I will also check my monthly list of tasks that need to be done. I went over my lists this weekend, and I have:

placed online orders for seeds and plants

I need to:

get some more seeds started for the Spring
continue transplanting plants
direct seeds some crops
deep clean the coops/pens

Some of the tasks are also listed with my yearly tasks to make sure that I don’t forget them 🙂

I also check with the kids to see what animal feed we have, check that against my master inventory list, note down what we need in my phone, and then I will make time to go get the feed. I try to combine a few tasks during the same trip.

When I go to get the feed I will:

get feed and animal supplies
pick up seeds or plants at the Farm Center
check with the nursery to see what they might have available
stop at the grocery store, if there is anything we need before the next grocery order
fill up with gas on the way home

When I get home, I always have the kids unload the feed right away, mix anything that needs to be mixed, and put the surplus in the old freezer that we use for storage. Once the feed is taken care of, they will clean out the back of the van 🙂

I try to make sure to do this mid-week, as Fridays & Saturdays are a bit crowded at the Feed Store. It’s always a bit stressful when we get too low on feed as well, so by making sure we have a regular schedule, we can alleviate some of the stress and replace it with PEACE and JOY, as we know we have what we need. We can also use these tasks as ways to show LOVE & KINDNESS to one another.

To-Do List

I also like to start a To-Do List because things always pop up that I can’t fix right away. I also find things when I am out in the garden that need to be taken care of, I will usually snap a photo and then add it to the list if it can’t be taken care of right away.

This is our list so far:

Master Bathroom
~~Fix Master Bedroom Floor~~
build new garden beds – we finished the first ones, but then bought more
add solar lights to chicken coops
finish chicken tractor
~~hang cameras~~
put the StarLink on a pole
~~add trellises to garden beds~~
create a sensory garden and/or integrate sensory-themed activities into our existing garden – we do have a special surprise coming for this area!
~~Finish our new poultry area~~
Build a new area for our ~~bunny~~ bunnies
Add shade pergolas to the garden

It isn’t too long yet, but it will grow longer the further we get into the year… hopefully, we can stay on top of it. We are checking things off… a little slower than I like, but progress is progress.

This is just a quick look at my weekly plans… I have all month long to work on some of them, and I will try to knock out as many as I can. I know that by handling the smaller things now, it will free up time I might need in the future for BIGGER and BETTER things. A little maintenance helps to keep things running nice and smooth… it also helps us to appreciate all that we have been BLESSED with.

I pray that you will find something useful in these links.

God Bless!