A Perfect Balance

Today after he preached the sermon at our church, my husband took our children to his parents' house for the afternoon.  During my free time I:

*read my devotional and prayed (about twenty minutes or so)
*napped for about an hour (I typically would not, but I'm battling a cold)
*enjoyed a very early, leisurely supper (not quite an hour)
*spent roughly two hours cleaning a bathroom, tidying the main room and our bedroom, decluttering the kitchen, and purging/tidying my daughter's room--the bulk of this was my daughter's room, which needed some attention!  And finally, after all that was done and I was feeling tired of working--
*spent one episode of "North and South" doing some applique onto a skirt I'm making

By the time my family arrived home I was rested, the upstairs was immaculately tidy (don't look at my son's room), candles were lit on the dining table, and I had even gotten some sewing done.  It was the perfect balance of activity and rest!

I record this here so that I can reference it when I'm planning my Friday afternoons.  On Fridays I have a babysitter who comes to care for our children from 1-5pm.  So I think, based on today, a good balance for Fridays would be:

*devotional time (20 minutes)
*writing/poetry time (40 minutes)
*a brisk walk (45 minutes--includes 5 minutes to drive to and from my walking destination)
*vigorous housework or house project work (60 minutes)
*sewing time (45 minutes)
...with a little buffer of about half an hour.

I am going to try this out on Friday!