Sometimes, I get a little carried away.  I go through periods in my life where I feel like I don't have enough to do - so then I take on too much.  When I started QotC, I was having one of those moments.  While I've loved sharing ideas and getting feedback from everyone, this project is just a little too much right now.

Business has been booming over at the Dumplin Design Studio - so much that I even opened up my own online portfolio to keep up with all the work I've been doing.  Staying busy with my on-the-side business, a personal blog, a home management blog, and my crazy life has just become too much right now.  For this purpose, I'm simplifying. 

Don't worry, though.  I'm not going off the grid completely.  For home management, parenting, and baby/toddler/kid ideas and articles, you can follow my personal blog, Randomness by Shay.  For freebies, productivity hacks, and web finds, you can follow my portfolio, shaybocks.com.

I hope you all will stick with me as I simplify and make things a little bit easier for now.  I've got some big things to share soon - including Ronnie's 2nd birthday party and more toddler learning activities, so keep reading, just not here.  :)

From time to time a wife and mother must evaluate her priorities and make a few changes here and there.  At this time, my family requires my undivided attention, so I will be taking a break from blog-world for a couple of weeks.  I apologize to all of our readers for leaving ya'll hanging the past couple of weeks, but a lot has been happening around here and I haven't been able to focus on blogging.  For a quick overview:  my husband found out last minute that he had to go to Louisiana for 3 weeks, my son will be having surgery on his ear next week (while the hubs is gone, of course!), and I have recently developed sciatica - unfortunately.

So, we're dealing with things as they come and I'll be back soon.  Stay tuned for more royal content in the near future!

Monday

Orange Day: Focus on all things orange for today.  Some ideas are:

• Wear orange.  Dress yourself and your toddler up wearing orange clothing.  Make a big deal about your ORANGE shirt!
• Add to your Color Book.  Using a blank book (like a scrapbook or journal), allow your toddler to create an orange collage on a 2 page-spread.  First, allow him/her to color the pages with crayons or markers, then have him/her paste pictures of orange things onto the page.  You can either find orange pictures in magazines or print them from your computer.
• Serve orange snacks - like oranges, cheese, carrots, cheese puffs, or goldfish.
• Play with orange play-doh.
• Cut or tear orange paper.

Photo from sonictk

Tuesday

Cooking Bagel Smiles:  Take a bagel and cut it in half.  Allow your toddler to spread peanut butter on the bagel with a knife - but stay close and supervise accordingly!  Put some marshmallow "teeth" along the bagel and then place the two halves into a smile shape.  Enjoy!

Wednesday

Painting with Oranges:  Slice an orange in half and then dip the flesh side into some red, yellow, or orange paint.  You could also use a paint brush to apply the paint to the orange.  Press the orange down onto a piece of card stock and repeat until you get a fresh piece of art.  Talk about how red and yellow mix together to make orange and how the orange paint is the same color as the orange fruit.

Thursday

Why do we brush our teeth?:  Try out this cute little activity at Our Montessori Story to show your toddler why we brush our teeth.  Dip an egg in soda and leave overnight.  When you wake up the next morning, the egg will be all brown and yucky.  Have your toddler use a toothrbush and toothpaste to brush the egg and get it clean.  Now have him brush his own teeth and count to 5 on the bottom and 5 on top.  Now your turn to brush his teeth - count to 5 on the bottom and 5 on the top.  Repeat 4 times.

Photo from Our Montessori Story

Friday

D is for Duck: Follow this tutorial at No Time for Flashcards to make an adorable duck out of the letter D.  Added bonus, she has a little video to show you how to sing a catchy song about ducks!

Photo from No Time for Flashcards

Photo from *Ann Gordon

Stick to A Routine

One of the best things you can do to be more productive is to get into the rhythm of a daily routine.  A routine doesn't have to be strict - its purpose is only to serve as a general guideline for how your day should go.  I rarely ever do everything on my routine right on time.  We all know we've got to have a little give in our schedule to allow for all the little distractions of our day.  Although, it does help to sit down and create an outline of what you need to get done and when.  You'll find that you actually have more extra time in your day while getting more done.  Here's what our daily routine looks like:

• 6:30 - wake up, diaper change, cartoons, check emails
• 8:00 - breakfast
• 8:30 - morning dash, weekly tasks
• 10:00 - errands, appointments, or outside time
• 12:00 - lunch
• 12:30 - nap time / design & blog
• 2:00 - snack, learning activities & crafts
• 3:00 - free play
• 4:30 - afternoon dash
• 5:00 - start supper
• 6:00 - supper
• 6:30 - bath time / family time
• 7:30 - story & bed
• 7:45 - design & blog / time with hubby
• 11:00 - bed time!

Use the "dash" system

When I was in college, I was going to school full-time and had two part-time jobs, so the time I actually had off was precious.  Take away the time I spent studying and there wasn't much left.  Because of my hectic schedule, I had to have things perfect all the time.  I needed to know exactly where everything was and have a serene peaceful place to concentrate.  But when did I have time to clean?  I quickly came to the realization that I needed to get things done fast and so the "dash" system was born. The idea behind this quick system is that you choose a time, once or twice a day, and do everything you need to get done as quickly as possible.  Basically, you're dashing around the house to get it all done.  Of course, living on my own in a little apartment only warranted 20 minutes of dashing.  Now, I spend at least 1 hour twice a day.   It may all get destroyed five minutes after I'm done, but my house was actually clean for five minutes.  I also conveniently complete my afternoon dash just before my husband walks through the door - I like him to come home to a clean house.  Here's my "dash" schedule:

Morning Dash (around 8:30am - just after breakfast)

• make beds
• empty dishwasher
• reboot laundry
• tidy bathrooms
• get dressed

Afternoon Dash (around 4:00pm - just before I start supper and my husband walks through the door)

• tidy living room
• tidy bedrooms
• reboot laundry
• load dishwasher
• wipe counters
• sweep
• take out the trash

Weekly tasks

To keep on top of the things that don't need to be done everyday, I use a weekly tasks system.  I complete these tasks along with my morning dash so I get them done before I get sidetracked through my day. 

“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” -Mark Twain

Simple Mom has a great article on this technique.  Get those dreaded chores out of the way so you can enjoy your day.  Here's my weekly task schedule:

Monday

• change towels & bath mats
• change sheets
• wash dirty linens
• wash couch & dining chairs
• vacuum bedrooms

Tuesday

• clean toilets, tubs, and sinks
• flush sinks with boiling water
• wipe microwave and stove
• sweep and mop all floors

Wednesday

• dust surfaces
• clean mirrors and windows
• wipe hand prints off doors
• vacuum living room
• reorganize 1 closet/cabinet

Thursday

• clean out the fridge
• wipe down fridge front
• pay bills
• file/shred paperwork

Friday

• plan menu/grocery list
• clean out the car
• prepare for date night

Saturday

• grocery shopping
• create blog posts

Sunday

• vacuum living room
• weekly planning
• clean up home management binder (this tends to get pretty junked up throughout the week)

Give yourself a break

The last tip I have is probably the most important.  You have to know that you're not going to do it perfectly all the time.  Some weeks are better than others and that's okay.  Find out what works for you and stick to that.  If you've got little ones running around, there's no way that your house is always going to be clean and picked up.  Just do what you can and don't get discouraged.  Even if you follow all of my guidelines, you'll probably have a slump from time to time.  I do.  I needed this week to get my house back in order.  But now that I have a clean slate, I can maintain it for a while without getting overwhelmed.

I hope my tips were helpful!  If anyone has anything to add, please do so in a comment.  :)