September 1

Finally, it is September. I've always loved September, for many reasons.

• My birthday is in September (the 27th).
  
• Fall officially starts in September (this year, on the 22nd).
  
• Leaves begin to turn color in September. 
  
• I start to wear my warm, cozy sweaters in September (the evenings do get cool, if nothing else!)
  
• School begins (or has just begun) in September.
  
• Life returns to a predictable rhythm in September.
  
• I feel the undeniable urge to take stock and get organized in September.
  

And that's where I'm at today. Getting organized. We'll be starting our new school year tomorrow -- our ninth homeschooling year. I've got the books ready. Our basic plan changes little from year to year at this point...we have a rhythm that works for us, and it only needs tweaking here and there to accommodate new activities and other scheduled elements outside of my control. 

I clearly remember those day-before-school-starts butterflies I felt as a child. I don't know if my kids experience the same thing (I should ask them), but I still get them. They're borne of anticipation for getting back to a comforting routine, for what we'll learn, for how my kids might possibly surprise me (they always do). 

September also makes me take inventory of my own personal routines and what changes I might make that will benefit both me and my family. One clear change is my bedtime. I've slipped back into the 2 a.m. habit. I need to go to bed earlier. I always feel better when I do. It's just such a hard pattern to establish because it does not come naturally to me. I also need to put firmer boundaries around our weekdays. It's so easy to be flexible with our time since we homeschool, and when the kids were younger, it wasn't much of an issue. But now, our school work takes more time, and flexing our schedule too much becomes detrimental. 

I need to run less. Run, run, run. That's all I seem to do. And it's my fault, I know. I've allowed it to be so. Some running is clearly necessary. But I feel like I am always running anymore. I'm tired of running. I want to be home. Related to this is wanting less temptation to spend money. When I run, I spend. A few dollars for a mocha. Another tank of gas. Grabbing lunch on the go. Buying things we don't necessarily need just because I'm at the store anyway. I need to slow down, run less, and spend less. 

I need to prioritize my time when I'm home, too. There are so many things I enjoy doing, things I want to be doing. I want to knit. I want to write. I want to scrapbook again, at least a little bit. I want to have time to read. The #1 thing that keeps me from spending time on these things I enjoy? The computer. Yep. My pretty little MacBook with its wireless internet connection...such a wonderful thing, yet such a temptation, too. A total time-suck. Like many people, I've battled with this for years. I remember back when it used to be e-mail that took my time away. Checking it every few minutes. Now, it's web sites like Facebook and Plurk and Ravelry. Nothing bad about these sites in general...I just spend too much time on them. I need to adjust that. 

So...September 1. A lot of changes are brewing. And I love that. It's time for some change. We'll see how it goes!