I'm so sick and tired of being a slave to my calendar. The whole point of putting together a schedule is to manage our time more efficiently, right? I think I missed the boat on that. It ALWAYS feels like I am rushing out the door to get somewhere, and we never has time as a family to just veg...and Chuck and I NEVER have time as a couple to just cuddle. I decided that come May, it's time to streamline and strip-down.
This morning, I wrote out a typical weekday schedule to try to figure out where I could find some movement. I'm sure most of my friends who stay at home with their children will find it VERY familiar:
6:30-7:30am-Morning Rush and Craziness, Christian and Chuck head out to school.
7:45-8:45am-Log-on to work email, check to see what craziness is going on in the office.
8:45-10:30am-Head to gym in an effort to bring sexy back, sometimes race home to get a shower, give snack to Lily before pick-up.
11:15-Head to pick-up at preschool, sit in traffic, listen to Martha Stewart radio to get ideas for dinner that night.
12:00-12:30pm-Fight for parking spots at school, fight traffic on Massachusetts Ave, attempt to keep both kids awake by singing Lady Gaga and Madonna songs.
12:30pm-3:00pm-This is what I call the sketchy area of my day. Sometimes lunch, naps, work, and housework happen in an almost creepy seamless way. Other days, it's lunch, screaming by both Mom and kids, while I attempt to work.
3:00pm-6:00pm- Therapy, playgroups, grocery shopping, errands, prepping dinner....all the while counting the hours until Chuck gets home to rescue me and the kids.
6:15pm-Wine poured while putting finishing touches on dinner.
6:15pm-7:15pm-Dinner served, one or both kids in bath, then bedtime for the munchkins.
My daytime schedule really can't budge. I have found that in the past few weeks, I've had evening after evening full of obligations for volunteer groups, dinners for friends, errands, and the million other commitments that I have. Now don't get me wrong, I LIVE for my evenings out. But, they were getting to a point where they were just piling on top of each other, one by one, week by week, and I just couldn't get a grip. How is it that the things that were supposed to de-stress me turned into the source of my stress? So, I'm stripping down the evening schedule. I'm leaving wiggle room, and I am going to play more things by ear (no pun intended). I'm going to cherish the quiet time. I'm going to use it as a time to recharge, repair, and rekindle. I think when I do have my time away in the evenings to grab dinner with my girlfriends, volunteer, or even head to get my nails done, that I'll appreciate them MUCH more.
2 comments:
I totally "get" this one. I've been going crazy, and I feel like I'm constantly badgering/nagging and pushing kids out the door. We have a few too many daytime activities (library story hour runs right into speech therapy time, with little time left over for lunch/my MOPS group runs right into Nolan's 2x2 program time, also cutting into lunch).
We're paring back a little next year- I'm not going to do the library story hour (Matt will be in preschool 5x per week and Nolan will be in speech 3x with preschool 2x per week). I'm also backing off of the MOPS steering team.
Sometimes cutting back is a good thing- too many activities can be a stress rather than enriching/relaxing.
wow ... our schedules are SO similar, except when Kailyn doesn't have gymnastics right.after.school and Ryan doesn't have a Lacrosse game (or practice) from 5 to 7:30 (which throws everything else WAY, WAY off), I'm pouring my wine much earlier! LOL! AND I'm SO proud of you for fitting in that GYM time! Good for you! I've gotta find a way to do that!
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