Happy Wednesday everyone! We are still going strong with the 168 Hours Challenge. Congrats to Angela, the winner of a copy of 168 Hours from Day 2. A gentle reminder to please tag me or 168 Hours in any Facebook posts (or @lvanderkam or #168Hours in your tweets) so I don’t miss anyone for these drawings.
Yesterday was slightly exhausting. I’m glad I’m not normally commuting an hour each way at this point in my life. I met several inspirational entrepreneurs at the Make Mine a Million $ Business competition in Newark, however, and I hope to write about many of them in the future (and I’m getting a column out of it). I enjoyed going to Borders with Jasper and eating fruit from a street vendor, and Sleeping Beauty was certainly a fantastic spectacle. Lush costumes and staging, though of course all of this is mostly a vehicle for showcasing the technical prowess of the dancers. The double pas de deux at the end may have pushed me past my bed time.
Now, on to today:
6:55 wake up (sleeping in for me these days!)
6:55-7:15 feed baby
7:15-8:00 play with kids
8:00-8:45 work
8:45-9:15 walk J to school, pick up packages
9:15– 11 – work, mostly emails following up on 168 Hours publicity. Also posting on Facebook about what makes people buy a book.
11:00-11:15 feed baby
11:15-11:30 – puttering around. Was getting jog clothes on at some point, realized the water was turned off in apartment, etc.
11:30-12:30 run
12:30-2:15 – pitching book to different people, phone call with publicist, signed up on Goodreads, ate lunch in here somewhere.
2:15-2:45 – radio interview, Circles of Change in AZ (airs 7/3)
2:45-3:45 – work (pitching book again…)
3:45-3:55 – shower
3:55-4:25 – track down Make Mine a Million $ Business info, send email to Women’s Health fact-checker, pitch book, email/FB/twitter
4:25-4:45 – feed baby
4:45-5:10 – random other email. Realize I am not happy because I haven’t actually been writing all day, and I like writing. Not pitching book. Publicity is not a core competency, arumph.
5:10-6 – work on novel! Will probably never see the light of day and I don’t care.
6-6:30 – play with kids
6:30-6:50 – kids dinners
6:50-7:35 – playground
7:35-7:45 – run to grocery store for bbq sauce for dinner
7:45-8 – start dinner while M is giving boys bath, but get distracted as bath is kind of 2-person job.
8-8:30 – try to get Sam down, long feeding
8:30- 9 – some cooking, some puttering as I wait for M who has gone to talk with landlord
9-9:40 – dinner, talk with M, some with Jasper who is still awake
9:40-9:45 – start getting J down (teeth brushing, pull-up change…)
9:45-10:00 clean up from dinner
10:00 – 10:40 – work
10:40-11:10 or so, talk to M, get ready for bed.
Links to other days
*sigh* Got a smidge off track last night & deviated from intended schedule…
7:00 am – Returned home from cash game at casino… PUT COFFEE ON… quick shower
7:30 – 10am – Read & cleared emails & feed reader
10 – 11am – Poker training
Agenda for remainder of day:
11 – 11:30am – Get Dressed
11:30 – 12:00pm – Play with dog outside in yard
12:00 – 1:00pm – commute to casino
1:00 – 8:00pm – Play poker at casino – possible multi table tournament early
8:00 – 9:00pm – commute home
9:00 – 10:00pm – dinner/catch up with roommates
10:00 – 12:00am – freelance projects
I’ll check in and let you know how this pans out!! 🙂
THANK YOU Laura, I can’t WAIT to read your book 🙂
Most productive hours are usually when kids are at school (8.30-3.30), but this week has me at school with all of the year-end field days, breakfasts, picnics and ceremonies. The planned one hour, always turns into two. . . .
Tracking time this week is only reconfirming what I know but don’t practice: get up an hour before the kids to get day aligned or to get a head start!
Love Nancy’s comment about getting up before the kids. Sleep is important but this is often the key to the working mom’s sanity. Article idea Laura?
I can try to get up earlier, but often they beat me to it and move their wake-up time! It is all over the map right now. Literally, could be 5:30AM or could be 7:30. I definitely prefer the latter.
This is so try about moving the wake up time. It’s like they have little instincts, oh mommy is up, I must get up and engage her !!
I also relate to the not happy thing. Right now my job is sales and growing a small business yet I get stuck days on other things that aren’t that… small back and forths with clients who haven’t paid or didn’t get their Invoices etc. etc. insurance today for example.. the bla bla.. and it can take you over. I think it helps to look at the big picture… ok well am I basically on track and also use these logs to see what you did get done Here’s mine.. it is 11 :10 not 11 as my log implies and I need to get better at “putting myself down for the night” I’d like to go back to work b/c it is so quiet at 11 p.m. and almost easier to get work done but the burning the candle is not healthy
WEDNESDAY
wake up, actually got up at 7 but laid there, got about 7 hours sleep whih is not terrible.. oriana getting up earlier up at 7:50 , great for her for her nap schedule and for early morning time, a challenge for mommy to keep her a.m. quiet time, or at least 10 minutes of coffee time, i refuse to drink my one cup of coffee a day (these are prego years) with a screaming kidin front of it or a giggling one or any kind of kid !!
oriana sat on front porch, chilled with my kid, let her stay in her pajamas longer since today is day with grandma no daycare
play read drink second cup of coffee for motivation, prepare library books and proper (cover bug bite shoes) so o and grandma can walk to library
have to ask hubby who also works from home to help o transition to grandma… when I spend extratime with her in a.m. (or maybe it’s the pajamas?!!) she thinks I surmise that it is a weekend (still that hour in the am. just being with her is so precious to me and helps me get going — I think and since no daycare today and no car ride we have to work on a smooth transition to grandma.. Daddy a great solution distraction to pass her ot grandma
start work
work, get another ad ready for graphic designer
work, try to find graphic designer to commit to sales presentation, talk to new state client for estimate on project, deal with other state client who hasn’t gotten invoice at 60 days confirm payment is in the mail (love beauacrac) some email
work, putting out fires, one of ou clients is going on maternity leaves is demanding all of the invoices, others calling back
work still working on ads , getting items for community calendar to guy who works on thatb/c of interruptions
work
work
work, the day kicked my butt a lot of interruptions and “urgent” fire putting out
work struggle to get all the thigns on the to do list event hough worked a full day hour wise
lunch for 10 minutes, did facebook while lunching but was aksing friend about texas, can this count as work, umm no!
lunch
work
spent a lot of time in collections and billings with clients and not sales frustrating
work
work
take call from health insurance call accountant about this call, get annoyed husband doesn’t’ have to take any of these calls.. Realize I am going to need more time to finish this up consider this a work interruption but since we are self employed I guess this is kind of a a work thing
did time log fool ar ound a bit
fill out paperwork for new tenant for rental property
tenant rental property paperwork
tentant rental property paperwork
finish, take call from realtor who is older and doesn’t have kids so thinks 6 is the only good time to reach me (and she is right talk to her)
play outside w oriana sit wth her and neighbor girl on back porch as they eat ice cream, mentally transition
take walk w oriana pick up some grocercies
let girls go on rides
make bank deposit with girls
play in fountain
walk home
eat snack w o, realize have a few minutes to conference call w graphic designer working on prese
daddy takes over, so nice and love him, gives oriana her dinner, and bath
lay on bed with excuse that I am on the call, no guilt as daddy is on duty, let mind wonder relax for a few mintues.. This and this kind of meditative moments are quite healthy and I need to find more time for this guilt free
do call w graphic designer
end this call, do bedtime
straighten up
bed
3:30 Alarm for morning prayer goes off–actually get up an hour later
4:30-4:50 morning prayer, back to bed
6:00 Alarm of morning–snooze again!
6:30 jump out of bed, shower, dress etc.
7:00 downstairs, prep lunches
7:25 start commute to work
8:00 start work
(most of the day on work stuff, sneak in a couple of hours on Career Cruising….)
3:00 leave work –head to p/u kids from school
3:30 p/u kids, head to border to fill up gas/some groceries
4:45 return home, make dinner, bake cake with kids, clean up
6:40 pray at home and p/u mom from her place
7:00-7:30 dinner, finish cleaning up
8:20 ice cream snack with kids
8:35-9:30 watch documentary with kids
9:35 bedtime routine, settle kids in bed, pray
10:47: sleep–to exhausted to do any personal work
I wish I could just get up when my alarm goes off and not snooze…. or lay thinking, I will get up any minunte or in 5
Wednesday
6:30 wake up, check personal email (boyfriend makes me coffee, yay!)
6:40 start work
6:40-9 work for primary job (from home) (+ 10 min on facebook, +10 min making breakfast)
9-9:10 crawl back into bed w/boyfriend, who is still reading in bed
9:10-9:30 random scheduling, list-making
9:30-10:50 researching, writing
10:50-12 work
12-12:45 put away groceries that were delivered, clean kitchen
12:45-2 blogging (re-designing one of blogs)
2-2:30 walk around neighborhood for break
2:30-2:40 make lunch
2:40 -3 work
3-3:15 water plants (fire-escape garden going strong)
3:15-4 read google reader
4-4:15 help boyfriend with distilling whiskey
4:15 – 4:45 email
4:45-6 working at coffee shop patio down the street
6-7:20 make dinner, eat and clean up with boyfriend
7:20-9 read fiction
9-10:30 hang out with roommates, boyfriend
10:30 bed