No, my life is not that interesting but I do wonder where the heck all of my time goes! In days gone by, I could get amazing things done in very little time...a product of deadlines, I suppose. If you give me a deadline, I will nearly kill myself to get that XYZ project done 30 minutes before it's due. So I guess you could say that this post will be more of a time management exercise for myself.
What do I 'do' currently? Technically, I'm a stay-at-home mom and full-time college student. Here goes.
M-F
0530 - Alarm goes off for the first time. I usually hit snooze at least once.
0545 - Force my lazy arse out of bed, stumble bleary-eyed to the coffee maker and turn it on. Bathroom stop then boot up computer.
0600 - Coffee is (mercifully) ready for consumption. Start waking up while catching up on blogs, checking the weather, etc.
0615 - Start to wake munchkins up, fix their breakfast, finish second cup of coffee, get dressed, brush teeth and hair, etc.
0700 - Doggie potty-break time.
0715 - Start yelling at children for 'forgetting' to brush their teeth, put their shoes on, brush their teeth or hair, etc. Help them find missing shoes/book bags/homework/belts.
0725 - Warm up the truck. Find out that there is a permission slip to sign that was supposed to be turned in yesterday. Scrounge for pen, sign form, tell them to make sure they don't forget to turn it in.
0740 - Drop kids off at school with 5 minutes to spare, phew!
0815 - Pull into barn, thanking the Lord above that the crazy Florida drivers haven't yet managed to take me out. I remember being shocked when our car insurance jumped by nearly 75% when we moved from CA...I understand completely now.
0830 - Help Heather feed all 17 horses. Manage to get them all into their respective pastures. Reset Ruby and Abby's feed.
0915 - 1130 - Groom both mares, work with Abby, clean both stalls, throw hay, run to feed store if needed, sometimes take Ruby for a walk on the road in an effort to create more concavity in those front feet (horses here are surprisingly flat-footed due to the soft ground - unfortunately, I haven't been able to get on a schedule with these road walks so they just end up being a time for us to hang out and not actually beneficial to her tootsies).
1200 - On Mondays, I make sure to stop by my grandmother's house to check up on her and see if she has any appointments scheduled for the week - if so, I enter reminders in my phone because I drive her to all appointments. All other days: grocery shop if needed, head home, do dishes, take dogs outside, start laundry, quick-clean the house, figure out what to cook for dinner, take shower, take out trash, take dogs to neighborhood dog park, do other random stuff.
1430 - Pick kids up from school. Talk about their day on the drive home.
1515 - Get home, make snacks for munchkins, help them with their homework, hound them to get their chores done, more laundry if needed, more cleaning, start dinner.
1615 (Wednesdays) - Head back to school to pick up daughter after chorus practice.
1730 - Greet hubby as he walks through the door after work.
1800 - Serve dinner. Listen to kids grumble if it's not pizza, hotdogs, etc.
1830 - Tell kids to pick up dinner dishes. Make sure they are done with their homework.
1900 - Start running shower for kids (one at a time, of course).
1945 - Tell kids to pick out clothes for tomorrow, ask if they've put their homework into their book bags, remind them again to pick up their dinner dishes, ask them if their shoes are where they're supposed to be, listen to grumbling as they brush their teeth about how they aren't tired. Quick note here: my kids are 11 and 9 years old and know that they wouldn't have such an early bedtime if they'd get themselves up on time. Some mornings it takes a good 20-30 minutes to get them moving.
2000 - Kids tucked in, log back into school in an attempt to at least start on homework.
2005 - First kid gets up and asks for glass of water.
2010 - Second kid gets up and asks for glass of water.
2020 - Child comes into the living room to tell us that they are still hungry...Remind them that they should have eaten more dinner now go to bed.
2030 - Begin threatening children with bodily harm if they get out of bed ONE MORE TIME.
2035 - Realize that I'm too dog-tired to get any homework done. Give up and watch Netflix with the hubs while knitting/crocheting/reading horse stuff on the computer. Pick up the kids' dinner dishes *ahem!* pile dinner dishes into sink, fill with hot water and dish soap. Plan to do dishes before I go to bed, but tell myself they need to soak first. Riiiiiiight....
2100 - Bleary-eyed but still watching shows...damn you Netflix!
2215 - Finally go to bed.
Saturday and Sunday generally consist of getting out to the barn at 9 am, getting home at 11 am, and frantically trying to finish all of my homework before midnight on Sunday.
Things get a little crazier if my daughter has a choir performance, my grandmother has appointments, or I have to run errands, but this a usual week. On days that the kids get out early (a surprising number) or have the day off, we try to do something special like go fishing or bake a special treat together.
So, why stay home? When I worked, my kids really got the short end of the stick. I worked long hours, in rotating shifts, was constantly on-call and had to go back to work; my husband's job was similar. This left very little time for helping with homework (my husband is a great dad, but does not have the patience for this), cooking healthy meals, keeping the house clean, etc. On work days, we got to see our kids for around two hours total. So now, I go to school, take care of the home and kids, and my husband is cool enough to not give me any grief for having an expensive manure-machine of my very own. And as much as I joke about the grief my kids give me, which is ALL true lol, they are the best part of my life. I will never have a job more important than being their mom.
We were shocked when we moved to the DC area and our car insurance went down by at least 60%. We had been expecting it to be the same or higher because of the snow in this area, but apparently not. FL drivers are special, but the ones in South FL were a breed apart...when driving to Fort Lauderdale from Orlando or Tampa, we always knew when we had entered "South FL territory" because drivers were suddenly going 40 mph above the speed limit and zig-zagging in front of one another...
ReplyDeleteYou have a busy, busy day! I truly admire moms that are able to maintain a balance with both children and horses in their lives like you do.
Aren't they though (FL drivers)? I suppose it's because Florida is such a melting pot of tourists, the elderly, and people from different countries and areas of this country.
DeleteI certainly feel very busy, but when I look at it, it doesn't seem like I get much done, lol. I wouldn't be able to have nearly this much horse time if I had to hold down a full time job as well. Even when I kept my first mare on our property, it felt like I didn't have any time for her...but my kids were very young then. One of these days I'll re-enter the workforce. For now, I'm enjoying watching my kids grow :)