We survived week two working from home full time with the kids! Let’s celebrate how far we’ve come! Who knew a couple weeks ago that would be such an accomplishment?
 
Trust me it is.
 
Dare I say, this week even seemed a little more manageable as everyone gets a little more accustomed to this new routine. The level of urgency in some work requests were not at the “hair on fire” level. Hopefully this new level of rationality will continue.
 
Next week our kids begin their school assignments. Not only will this add another stress, but it will also add two more devices onto our already stretched thin WiFi. (On a conference call Wednesday, “internet unstable” flashed on my screen and I had to start banning Netflix and Xbox, not my most popular moment.) I feel fortunate to have a 6th grader and a 10th grader, who can work on their own without my help. I’ll check in next week to tell you how our transition to “home schooling” went.
 
This week, you have seen me around noon every day, popping onto Facebook Live and pulling a card from my new quote deck. The quotes are some of my favorite reminders taken from my blog posts. What I never could have predicted was how deeply they would resonate with all of us during this time.
 
A few months ago, when I was pulling together items to put in the Working Mom Survival Kit, I wanted to include a few encouraging messages along with the essentials. As a working mom, I’ve found it’s easy to start the day with good intentions, calm, cool and collected, ready to face the day. Inevitably, at some point, the stress starts to build, and I shift to autopilot, leaving all my good thoughts and intentions in the dust. If I had a reminder I could refer to throughout the day it would help me stay on track. I had tried setting reminders on my phone, scheduling breaks in my calendar and keeping a gratitude journal. They all worked to some level, but weren’t enough to keep the stress away. Having something on my desk, next to my monitor would catch my eye throughout the day and help me keep it front of mind. The idea for the quote deck was born.
 
Over the last couple months, I found forty of my favorite quotes, painted the design for the cards and the box and found a game company to produce them. Choosing the name was the hardest part. I posted a poll in my mom’s group to vote on the name and the feedback was great, something was missing. One day it came to me - Working Mom S.O.S.: Reminders to Save our Sanity. There are many moments throughout the day, when I feel like sending out that S.O.S. signal. Now, all I need to do is pull a card as a reminder to reset. I had no idea of knowing, the name would be equally as appropriate and prolific self-quarantined in the times of a global pandemic (words and phrases I never thought of before).
 
I have to say I was a little nervous to get on Facebook Live to start, but I really love these cards and was excited to share them. Coming on Live each day has “forced” me to take a quick break and I’ve avoided falling victim to my autopilot. Here are the reminders I picked this week:
 

• Plan your day knowing it’s going to change.
  
• Work-Life Flow allows you to ride life’s waves.
  
• Amidst the daily chaos, there is always love.
  
• Open your heart to the joy surrounding you.
  
• Simple sanity check, pause, breathe and reset.

 
If you’ve been watching, you’ve probably seen the surprise on my face when I pull some of these cards. It’s like my hands are magically pulling the card we all need to hear during these crazy days. Some days, it appears I’ve written the cards just for these times. My blogs have always carried a message, but in light of new circumstances we are seeing the messages differently, with a new sense of understanding.
 
Thank you for all your likes, hearts, comments and support on the Facebook Lives. If you want your own set of cards, you can order them by following this link. In the meantime, I’ll continue to pull cards and share them each day as we help each other through these unpredictable times.
 
Heart-FULLy yours, 
Kacey

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About a year after my daughter was born, I decided that I was going to start scrapbooking.  I could match together cute paper with the pictures and add a few stickers or embellishments here or there.  It would be a good creative outlet and I would have albums that we could enjoy for years to come.  I started off great, got all the stuff and enjoyed pouring over the pages for hours on end getting them just right.  Slowly I started to fall behind.  I thought if I group the holidays together I can do three years of Christmas all at once.  While that helped, I now have 4 years’ worth of books in various states of completion.  The photos, paper and supplies are neatly stacked and have not moved in a number of months.  My desire is still there to get them done, we all love looking through the books and remembering.  What’s been holding me back is this feeling that I don’t have enough time to do it – getting it all out, organized and put onto the pages is not something that can be done in an hour or two.  I picture a day where I have a big chunk of time to lay it all out and get a bunch of it done, but until that day, the project sits and waits.

My scrapbooking project is a very simple example of a scenario that everyone can relate to.  You would like to create a photo album/work out/make a new recipe/tackle a home improvement project/organize the junk closet/etc. but you never get around to it because you have subconsciously created expectations around the activity that are holding you back.  You may think I’m being over dramatic, that expectations don’t have anything to do with it, but expectations are a sneaky thing and may be present without you even realizing it.     

Expectations simmer under the surface of nearly everything that we do every day.  We have expectations related to situations -if I go to a restaurant, I can get food.  We have expectations related to friends, family, spouses, co-workers, fellow drivers on the road, our children and nearly every other person we come into contact with.  And of course we have expectations of ourselves.  Expectations can influence your mood, for better or for worse.  When something meets your expectations you are happy and excited.  When something does not meet your expectation it can make you angry, frustrated, disappointed, etc.   Many times expectations lie dormant.  You don’t realize they are secretly influencing the things you do, or do not do.

When I started thinking about the scrapbooks I realized I had inflated this expectation of the time I needed to the point where it was insurmountable.  I also realized I had an expectation on the amount of effort and “bling” that had to be on every page, which also made the task seem more daunting.  In the end, what is most important is that the pictures are in a book that we can all look at and enjoy.  Once I acknowledged these points, I had an idea – why don’t I get the kids to help me?  Will the pages look the exact way that I would have done them?  No, but, they are old enough to do a good job and will be excited that they get to help…….at least that is my expectation.     

Heart-FULLy Yours, 

Kacey