Evenings

Evenings are a magical time of the day. In the Far East it is believed that how you spend your evenings will set the tone for the next day.

How can we create a relaxing, peaceful and inspiring evening with our family?

“Just as there is a reassuring rhythm in nature, so should a comforting sense of rhythm be restored in the home through daily rituals.” -Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions

Winter changes into Spring and Summer to Fall and Fall back again to Winter -- the cycle forming a complete circle that embraces us.

So creating Order and Structure helps to nurture us and hold us up. Think of the basic things you want to have happen in your evenings. Keep it simple. Then write it all down so you won't forget. That's what I have to do. : )

Now to add the Spice!

Winter:

After a quick tidy up of about 20 minutes in the main rooms, snuggle in front of your fireplace and read on your own or with your children . If you don’t have a fireplace, lighting candles works too. : )

My children love to have me warm there favorite stuffed animal or blanket in the dryer before heading off to bed. They so enjoy the warmth as they crawl into bed.

Sweet Dream Potion: Warm milk, a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, and just enough honey to make it sweet. Then warm it up in the microwave 'til warm but not too hot. Its also nice for the little ones if they have a cold. Just remember not to give honey to children under one year. I also wouldn’t give this to them every night, just when they need a little extra help.

Here are just a few ideas to help in starting creating an encanted evening.

I would love to hear what some of the things are that you do to help create a special moments in the evening time?

 

March Planning Pages

Here are the pages for March. I hope you enjoy them!
I have also add a weekly schedule sheet with this set.

Creating a One of Kind Planner

I was sharing in my last post about the importance of planning out your day. So I thought it would be fun to share with you some free resources to build your own planner. I like to start out with the binders you can get at Wal-mart the ones with the clear pocket in the front.
Then I like to get the file folders and I cut them in half, then I place a lined loose leaf paper over the top of that and cut it down so it will fit better in to the binder. You just have to make sure that the tap you want is in the right place before cutting. Then I have fun decorating them with some of my favorite pictures that match my dividers. I have one for Spiritual, Family,Home Education,Domestic Goddess(Home Caring), Home For the Heart Academy(Personal study,Art Projects). Here are some pictures to give one an idea, but they are just to give you an idea, Im sure you will want to personalize your Dividers and have fun decorating them.
I am also including some daily planning pages. I just have February done but Im hoping to post March soon. A wonderful resource in helping build your planner is donnayoung.org she has all kinds of wonderful Schedule and calender pages to help you on building your own planner.
Good Luck and I hope you have a fun time creating your own one of kind planner.

Home

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition,
the end to which every enterprise and labour tends. . .
Samuel Johnson
The Rambler, November 10,1750

Enchanted Living 101 : )

The foundational step to living an enchanted life is to create a schedule for your self and stick to it!
Look over what needs to be done and select the things that are of up most importance to you. Take time to priorities what you really want to happen in your day. Then put in one fun thing that you would really like to do each day it doesnt have to be a huge thing just a little some thing that will add some magic to your day : ) Perhaps curling up with a wonderful book and some hot chocolate, or perhaps you have wanted to pull out some watercolors and do some painting, just some little thing that will brighten your day.
The next step is to have your home in order. Oh this one is hard for me with five children and homeschooling our home looks like a bomb went off in it by the end of the day, and being organized is not one of my strong points : ) But as I have been pondering how to live more creatively and bring a little enchantment into our everyday lives one of the basic building tools is to have my home clean and tidy. Other wise it just causes stress and disharmony with in our home. I just go around feeling flusterated and annoyed. One site I joined at the first of the year to help me with this effort was FlyLady.net I have been kind of letting it slide a little to much so I need to climb back in the saddle and really focus on the Morning and Evening Routines. A wonderful book that I consider one of my own personal classics is Living a Beautiful Life 5oo ways to Add Elegance, Order,Beauty and Joy to Every Day Of Your Life. By Alexandria Stoddard. Just some fun ideas I hope they are helpful. Well its time to get the troops moving and start a good half and hour cleaning session. : ) Good Luck with your endeavors to create a little more magic in your days!

The Good Witch

Did any of you see the show The Good Witch and The Good Witches Garden done recently by Hallmark. I really ended up liking these two shows. They were just fun. I liked how the main character encouraged those around her with a little creativity to find ways to solve the challenges that they faced. To me that was the magic of the show. She had such a creative way of working with the children. I would like to try and be more creative in how I work with my children. As the years go by its easy to get in to a rot or simply survival mode. I think one thing that is needed to create an enchanting home life is for me to become more organize my self. That I stick to my personal daily schedule. That will be my goal for the rest of this month and for the coming month. Those shows of the Good Witch reminded me of some of my earlier dreams of how I wanted to add a bit of magic to my every day. I am hoping to share the fun thing I find in helping with creating a enchanting home life.