If you’ve read Tranquility by Tuesday, you know that I aim to do three things on Fridays. I plan my upcoming week (and revisit the upcoming weekend), I do all my batched “little things” and I try to leave the day as open as possible. That’s so that if something is left undone from earlier in the week, I can get to it then.
This Friday sort of featured those things, sort of…After I posted yesterday, I left at 3:50 p.m. to go get my 13-year-old from an after school activity. He was not out until about 4:25 (I got there 4:05), but if my 3-year-old sees me, getting out the door takes a lot longer, and involves a lot of drama. Since he + nanny + 7-year-old return from the elementary school run around 3:50, if I’m going to need to leave in the near future, I try to slip out by then. I drove to the middle school for the third time of the day, parked, and walked around outside for 20 minutes since it was a reasonably balmy January day. He got in the car at 4:25 and we drove to a nearby McDonalds to grab him an early dinner — two cheeseburgers for him and I will admit that I ate the fries. Then it was over to fencing, where we arrived at 4:50 and sat in the car until it opened at 5. Then I drove home, arriving around 5:20.
I went to find the 7-year-old, given that he had seemed to want some more mommy time earlier. We hung out for about 15 minutes chatting, and then I went to go chat with the 3-year-old. I put in two puzzle pieces and we ate dinner (tacos – nanny cooked dinner) at 5:50. We were done by 6:10, at which point I signed on to an online teacher conference (6:15-6:30). Then I changed a diaper, got ready, and drove to choir practice. (Nanny + 3-year-old went to pick up the 13-year-old at fencing at 7).
This is my weekly “night for me” — I have choir practice every Thursday night. We rehearsed our songs from 7-9 p.m. Then it was home to deal with the bedtime routine. The 3-year-old was theoretically asleep, so I went to read with the 7-year-old again, but we only made it 10 minutes before the 3-year-old was screaming for me. So I went in, settled him down, printed something for the 15-year-old, resumed reading (Dog Man again…), learned I had printed the thing wrong, then turned out everyone’s lights at 10. I shut down the house and did a few more pieces in my puzzle from 10:15-10:45. It took me slightly longer than usual to wind down but I did turn out my light at 11:10 p.m.
I was up with the alarm at 6:30. I got the boys up, showered, and was out the door at 7 to drop the 15-year-old off at school (7:14…there was more traffic) and the 13-year-old at jazz band (7:22 alas – we were late). I drove home, read to the 3-year-old, then drove the 11-year-old to school (raining, with the trumpet). When I returned home at 8:20 I grabbed some cereal, and sat down to work.
I again thought I might go to the gym at some point in the day, but I knew I was waiting for a fridge repair person to come. I thought he was coming in the morning, but then I got a text saying it was afternoon…so I decided to go for a morning neighborhood run instead. I worked from 8:20-10:20 on various things, including my weekly planning. Then I ran outside for 3.6 miles. I came back, made myself presentable and then the workmen showed up before noon anyway. I talked with them, left to get the 15-year-old at 11:45 (it was a half day) and we were home 12:05 or so. I grabbed lunch and ate it at my computer while working.
At 1:00 I had a call with my new VA, then I did an email triage until 1:55, at which point I drove my daughter to a nearby playdate. My 13-year-old came along because he announced that he needed super glue to finish his project for a competition he’s in…with the picture needing to be submitted by 3 p.m. He couldn’t find the super glue in the house, so we stopped by the local hardware store after we dropped my daughter off and he ran in to get some. We were home at 2:15. Now I’m writing this and hoping to get through a few more things. I know there will be another Starbucks trip this afternoon. There’s just no point in fighting it anymore…
As I was reading this, I thought – Laura needs an assistant (completely forgetting you had mentioned this was happening) and then I read the line about your call with a VA! Hooray!
Wow, that’s a busy day. I ended up having a slightly funny day – in for haircut (I haven’t tried the salon in our new town so schlep into the city) and then met my co author at my old uni to discuss some ongoing work. Which ended up being 4 hours with lunch, 25% work and 75% catching up as she’s going through it at the moment – people are always a good use of time, right? I felt quite chuffed I could be a sounding board. Then I ran a few errands, got the bus back home (bus driver took pity as my Amex doesn’t work on my bus, and the debit card was in the pocket of my other jacket). My mother in laws are visiting, so I came home to find kiddo playing with them and husband making dinner. So I kept him company. Dinner and kid bedtime, and then chatting.
I need to work a day this weekend, due to someone else’s screw up and I’m salty about it, but at least the grannies are here to entertain T.
Long-time follower but recent blog reader here, just chiming in to say that this is so refreshing to read. I have 4 kids in a similar age range to yours (13, 12, 8 and 2) and really appreciate seeing a concrete break down of how you manage all the moving parts of a working mom week day. I’m inspired!