Work and Play with Nancy Ray

I've had three best friends for over 20 years: Jess, Heather, and Sam. And the four of us are called The Minkies, and I invited them to do a special episode of the podcast, just me and my best friends sharing our story, sharing our favorite memories and what it's taken for us to maintain a long lasting friendship for over two decades. So it's a very fun, different episode today. There's a lot of laughing and joking and storytelling, and when it comes to work and play, these ladies, they definitely know how to work hard, but when we're together—it is 100% play. They are my idea of fun and having a good time, and they have been for the better part of my life. What a gift it is that I get to share them with you today! Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon Jess Ray Music Instagram - Jess Ray Samantha Ray Writing Instagram - Samantha Ray Barefoot Dreams Robe Indie Lee: Clean Beauty Skincare Products

Here's a job description that life handed me that I just didn't really see coming. I have to be a cook like every day and I have to be a fairly good one because the tiny humans that I feed around my table are fairly opinionated about food. Actually, they're very opinionated about food. Also, with that job description, it will affect my mood, whatever I make, whatever I cook, it's gonna affect my mood and theirs. Also, if I feed them and myself unhealthy things, it affects our mood and our weight and our overall health, how much we get sick, and it just so happens that the food that they love are the things that are terrible for you. So when I'm having a hard day, all I want to do is feed them goldfish and gummy snacks and ice cream and nothing that has any nutritious value because I'm gonna be honest, it's just a lot easier to give them what they want for that moment of course, because the cycle just continues. Food, our health, our moods on repeat, not to mention it affects the clarity of my own mind. If I eat, when I eat, how much I eat, what I am eating, it affects how I discipline them because I get very cranky and I am quick to anger when I'm hungry. And also I just wanna enjoy life and I want my ice cream and gummy snacks too sometimes. Listen, it's just a lot to balance all of this. And here's the deal: I'm just supposed to be good at it. I'm supposed to be good at it and I'm not. I'm not normally good at this whole cooking thing, but it is a skill that's required of me as I have to feed my family and it's up to me, and this year I put some new habits into place—nothing huge, nothing massive—that have changed everything for me. They're small changes that I've put into place just to help me stay sane, to help me stay on budget and to help me bless my family. So, I'm not a great chef, although I really love to pretend to be one with my kids and they like to call themselves sous chefs, especially because we're watching Ratatouille on repeat lately. But here we go. Here are some habits that I have recently put into place, just the last three months really and I've committed to them and I'm gonna share them with you today. Take them or leave them, but maybe just take one or two because honestly they've all served my family really well and served me in my sanity well, and I feel like at least one is gonna serve your family well, too. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/184. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon

Alright, it's time for the Nancy Ray Book Club 2023 edition, and in these episodes I'm gonna share my three biggest takeaways from the books that I'm reading. I keep a pace of about a book a month, and it's usually the last episode of the month that you'll find me sharing about that current book on my list. Today I'm gonna be giving an honest review of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mere Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/183. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon 2023 Book Club Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman Affiliate links have been used in this post! I do receive a commission when you choose to purchase through these links, and that helps me keep this podcast up and running—I truly appreciate when you choose to use them!

Now that two of my four kids are school age, I get asked a lot about their education. Where do they go to school? Do you homeschool? And the answer is that they go to school and they homeschool. They do both. We have chosen the route of a University Model Christian School, which means they attend school two days a week in person, and then I homeschool them three days a week. It's a bit of a different take on education, and there aren't a ton of schools out there with this model, although it is growing a lot more throughout the US. But today I'm just gonna share our philosophy on educating our kids why we chose this route, and a little peak into what a typical day in the life looks like for us on one of those homeschool days. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/182. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon Classical Education Youtube Video

This episode is simply a day in the life of Nancy Ray. This feels a little bit mundane, maybe a little vulnerable to share a day of my life with you, a bit of a peak into our crazy world with raising four kids and work and all of that. But so many people have requested it. So here I am, listen at your own risk or enjoyment. But I'm grateful that so many of you are interested in the simplicity of my life, and that's what I'm gonna share with you today. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/181. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon Barefoot Dreams Robe One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp

My most downloaded episode, maybe ever, was Episode 007 called You Can Do Hard Things. Today, I'm gonna introduce her sister to you: You Can Do Fun Things. I've decided that this year I wanna make more of these Work & Play episodes about play, and I'm gonna try to be a little more lighthearted, which can be kind of hard for me. But that's the goal for this year, and that's what today's episode is all about—encouraging you (and me) to incorporate more play in your life and to do fun things. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/180. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon Episode 007 - You Can Do Hard Things

It is the first podcast episode of 2023. I'm so grateful for you. I'm so grateful that you're listening right now, that you keep listening, and that somehow my voice has found a place in your life. One thing's for sure: you keep me coming back. You keep me coming back to record podcasts again and again. The fact that you're listening keeps me coming back and I just want to say thank you. I wanna thank you and just let you know how grateful I am to have like-minded friends out there to connect to in this format. Now, today's episode is gonna be kind of different. It's gonna be a little behind the scenes of the podcast itself, where I've been, where I think I'm headed, and what you can expect for this upcoming year. It'll be short and sweet with lots of resources thrown your way, hopefully helpful ones. And I just wanna give you a heads up too, that I'm taking the whole month of January off, so I'll see you back here in February! For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/179. Resources from this episode: The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon Work & Play 2023 Survey! Nancy Ray Book Club The Contentment Challenge Apply: Part-Time Podcast Assistant

Today I'm sharing my top 10 books of 2022, and why I love them. Listen, I had a great list of books I was gonna read this year, and I read a lot of them, I did, but then I kept getting sidetracked with recommendations from friends, and I would read other books instead. And let me just pause and say I'm so glad that I did. It led to some of the most wonderful books, and I cannot wait to share them with you today. Resources from this Episode: Join the Contentment Challenge! The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon The Little Pilgrims Progress, by Helen Taylor The 12 Week Year, by Brian Moran The Self-Driven Child, by William Stixrud The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel How to Get Paid For What You Know, by Graham Cochrane The Great Blue Hills of God, by Kreis Beall The Maid, by Nita Prose Just Do Something, by Kevin DeYoung Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon Honorable Mentions The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis The Four Disciplines of Execution, by Covey, Huling, and McChesney The Confident Mom, by Renee Swope Take Back Your Joy, by Nicole Jacobsmeyer Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis Wintering, by Katherine May Walking with Barbara, by Barbara Hemphill Loving the Little Years, by Rachel Janokvic Try Softer, by Aundi Kolber Redeeming Your Time, by Jordan Raynor

Just a few months from now, in the start of 2023, that will mark 10 years since I did my first Contentment Challenge, where I give up shopping for three months straight to pursue a more content life and a closer walk with the Lord. 10 years! That's a long time, and you may or may not know this, but it had such a great impact on my life that I have done the Contentment Challenge almost every year since then—I think I skipped one year, maybe two. So, today I'm gonna share the lessons that I have learned through the last 10 years of doing the Contentment Challenge, and I'm gonna invite you to pray about doing it with me again at the beginning of 2023. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/177. Resources from this episode: Take the Contentment Challenge USE CODE: 5OFF2023 to take $5 off The Contentment Reset! The Work & Play Weekly Checklist (Free Download!) Episode 003 - The Contentment Challenge The Work & Play Patreon

At the end of every year, I plan time to do three simple things to plan for the year ahead. I take time to look back, reviewing the previous year. I set aside time to celebrate the previous year in God's faithfulness, and I take time to look ahead and set goals for the year to come. This episode's gonna give you more of a behind the scenes look at what that actually looks like for me. For the full show notes, head to nancyray.com/podcast/176. Resources from this episode: "Finish Your Year Strong" Worksheet (Free Download!) The Work & Play Patreon The Contentment Challenge (starts Jan. 1!)