Well, today, I was just getting started at the shop when I got a call from little one’s school.

She kind of threw up all over herself and her desk.

Of course, work halted and mama came running to the rescue.

As I should.

Speaking of roles and responsibilities, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about our schedules and how we’ll adjust to running a physical location.

31 Days to OPEN | perfectly imperfect

I’m also getting questions about homeschooling & how that fits in–how we are and will do it all.

As I’ve said before, there’s no way to do it all.  

We are so the neighbors whose yard is full of little weeds.  Grayson is pretty excited about the new “flowers” out our front windows.

Poor, beautiful kid.

So, when I say “this is how we’ll do it all,” don’t be intimidated or feel like we’re super-human.  We’ll just choose what’s important for us, work on those things, and leave the rest to the wind.

I’ll confess.  It is a lot.

Our days are CRAZY right now, working ridiculous 12 hour days & eating way too much takeout.  I’ve not been properly dressed in 23 days.

Paint splattered yoga pants for me.

31 Days to OPEN | perfectly imperfect

This current schedule wouldn’t work long-term.  I’m barely moving each morning I’m so tired, we’re not eating so healthy, yada, yada.

And you know the thing about homeschooling a kindergartener?  It’s not as intimidating as I thought it would be.  Sure, we’ve had our days and weeks of fun fall crafts and lots of formal math and reading lessons.  But the beauty of these last few weeks?  Gray has been right by my side as we’ve swept every pile of dust, and painted shelf after shelf after shelf.  We’ve read boxes and invoices and talked about business and profit.  He is the best helper I could have imagined–and it is pure joy to share this with him.

There will be many, many more days of sit-down reading lessons.  I know, though, that I will look fondly back on these days of watching Grayson on his blanket in the middle of the shop, building lego spaceships and sounding out words out loud.

It makes me tear up just thinking about it.  He told me today that I was his absolute best friend–because we get to spend every day together.

Lord, have mercy.

As far as what our days will look like once the studio opens, I’m sure it’ll be a breeze compared to these days of getting the space ready.

As always, Gray and I will start our days with school.  After a couple of hours, we’ll head in to the shop.  Here’s where I digress:  I would have never, ever opened unless our business could financially support an employee.  Natalie will be at the shop full time, running it day to day.  I’ll be there most days, too, but I knew I could never be a wife, mom, homeschool Gray, run the blog, write a new book, etc. and run a shop all by myself.

When I began thinking we might head in the retail direction, I watched for several months–and we could afford to hire someone.  It’s so much more doable this way, and while I know I’ll be there most days and will handle all the major decisions, etc., Natalie will be there to help me manage all those daily responsibilities.

We’ll then be at the shop the rest of the day, on and off.  It was important to me to still be flexible for field trips, doctor appointments, and family time.  I’m working on a desk/blogging area for me in the shop that will also serve as a great schoolwork spot for Gray.

I’m already thinking ahead on how we’ll deal with things like dinner and grocery shopping and my workouts.  We’ll fit them in, but it’s high time to implement some consistent systems to keep us more organized.  I’ll let you know what works for us in the coming months.

For now, it’s working for us, though tired we are.

While it will still be busy in another month, it won’t be quite this exhausting, as we’ll be done scaling rafters and painting 60 foot walls.  As I get older, I’m (slowly) learning to enjoy the busy seasons and recognize them as that–just seasons.  We won’t be eating burgers and fries forever, and my yoga pants are soon going to be traded in for a slouchy sweater and pretty jeans.

Can I get a resounding YAY from all the yoga-pant wearing mamas out there?

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this post was written in a 31 day series to open our shop.  Click here to read all the posts in the series!