I’m posting this around 5:30 p.m. eastern on Thursday. If your time tracking week — like mine — started at 5 a.m. Monday, then you are more than half way through! I hope you’ve managed to stick with it. If you lose track of a few hours, it’s fine. Just approximate and keep going. Having a decent record of an entire week is more useful than a perfect record…of a few hours.
Anyway, here’s how I spent the past day. After putting the 3-year-old down and posting on this blog last night, I shut the house, made sure kids were in their rooms with no electronics, then did some more foam rolling. It does seem to be somewhat helpful for the vague-but-excruciating leg pain.
I read (more Ken Jennings) until 9:50, then went to have chats and turn out light. The 8-year-old was already asleep again, though he’s been getting up quite early. Not sure why he’s on that schedule but as he doesn’t wake me up, it’s OK.
The 3-year-old is a different matter. After I went to bed (10:45) I was in an extremely deep sleep when all of a sudden someone was standing in my room. I woke with a start and saw my little guy announcing that he needed milk. After checking the time for logging purposes (12:15) I got him milk in a bottle (he still really likes that) and thankfully he didn’t fight being put back in his bed. I fell back asleep, though I woke around 3:30 again for the bathroom, then slept until the 6:20 alarm.
This morning was a repeat of the past few mornings. I showered, then took the 16-year-old to school. I made it back in time to grab a quick breakfast before getting the middle schoolers to their bus. The 8-year-old had been up since 6:30 watching TV (Bluey, of all things), but the 3-year-old woke up around 7:50. I got them breakfast and new clothes and then they decided to play a game together on the computer. They were happy enough with this, so when B came at 8, I went to start work.
But not in my office! The cleaning crew was here doing the first and third floors, so I worked in my husband’s office (a corner of our bedroom). I worked there from 8:15 to 9:45, at which point I put on my sneakers and got in my car to drive to the local park.
This was this week’s little adventure! I joined a local trails association (and a friend I’d invited) for a hike. This particular hike went down my street for a while so I was curious where the official trail entrances were. I’d let the kids just kind of cut through the neighbors’ yards to get to the trail, but it is good to know where people are expecting it. The weather was lovely, and I enjoyed talking with my friend and another fellow preschool mom who showed up. We chatted after for a bit, and I got home at 11:45. I ate lunch, then resumed work at noon.
I worked on various projects until 1:45, at which point I took a 15-minute break to do some of the strength training exercises that my trainer did with me on Monday. I probably should do this at least 2x a week, but one additional time is better than nothing. I went back to my office, but the 3-year-old was playing at home and so the next 30 minutes were a little in and out. Eventually I wound up putting my choir music (and my son’s choir music) in order and I practiced for rehearsal. I went down to collect one of the trash cans (texting the two older boys that they were responsible for two each — and they did bring them up), and then needed to open four separate Amazon boxes (this household goes through a lot of random stuff).
I was back at my desk at 3:15, working until about 4 when my daughter came in to my office and we had a chat. I finished a few things, then drove the 13-year-old to fencing practice. We chatted for about 2 minutes in the car before he put in his earbuds. Hmm. I dropped him off at 5, then hit a lot of traffic on the way back (arriving home at like 5:25) but it was OK because I multi-tasked by listening to myself talk.
I know a lot of people don’t like the sound of their own voices, and I am not in love with mine by any means, but I find that by listening to myself on various podcasts (other people’s podcasts when I am a guest or my own) I can work on verbal tics and on vocal quality, and transitions and everything else. I do believe it’s been helpful over time.
I’m posting this now before heating up my dinner. I’m having turkey meatballs and squash noodles. Everyone else had fries and chicken nuggets…and fruit. At least there was fruit! Tonight will be a full one with various activities, but the marching orders are clear. Here’s hoping all is executed well.
Here’s what my log looks like in table form.
9:00 work, shut house, foam roll
9:30 read in bed, kids lights out
10:00 read in bed, ready bed
10:30 sleep by 10:45
12:15 – H, get milk, sleep
3:30 bathroom
6:20 up- J, shower
6:30 ready, coffee, kids, drive J
7:00 home/pod, make eggs, S+R down
7:30 home, A, puzzle, H up, boys
8:00 boys, B, work (upstairs – cleaners here)
8:30 work
9:00 work
9:30 work, drive to park
10:00 hike
10:30 hike
11:00 hike, chat w/friends
11:30 chat, home, make lunch
12:00 work (+eat)
12:30 work (record BB)
1:00 work
1:30 work, strength train
2:00 work (+ deal w/H)
2:30 practice music, work
3:00 cans, packages, work
3:30 work
4:00 chat R, work
4:30 work, take S
5:00 drive/pod/work
Thanks for these blogs! The accountability helps. Today is my off day. Today I journaled 6-7, got my kid read and did drop off 7-8:30. (I love drop off. I love seeing all the kids and teachers and parents hugging their kids goodbye. Most days I still get a hug. It’s such a great way to start the day.) Then I drove to New Bedford to see an art exhibit, about 40 minutes away, and walked around town; my big adventure. I got back around noon. I wrote a creative writing piece for about 1 hour. From 1:15-3, I had a BOGO coupon for Starbucks and a gift card from a blood drive so we got fancy fall “coffees” before picking up the kid. We scoped out good places for the Garden Box that they’re hoping to build near the school and chatted briefly with other parents. 4-6pm I picked up the car from the autobody shop (it was hit while parked) and picked up a few groceries. I didn’t differentiate the evening hours much, but mostly feeding the boy and reading bedtime stories and cuddling in bed while he reads “Noodleheads” to me and reading your book (finished!) to 9:30. I didn’t do any worky-worky but I did think through the next kids coding session I’ll be hosting at the library in my errands, some tweaks that might make it a little smoother. It’s the first nice day in a long string of rainy days so I don’t feel bad about not working. As I log, I’m noticing that I mostly eat meals as I work, which is a bad habit, but one I’m not sure I’m ready to break. Thanks for the accountability!
I’ve had 3 days in the office this week, as it’s the start of term, but I’m hoping I’ll be in 2x til the end of term, and then 1x after that, as it’s quite a trek. I’ve been enjoying the cycle from the train station though – we’ve got hire bikes available on campus and at the station, so it’s a nice 2.5 mile cycle ride now that I’ve found the safe/quiet route.
For some reason, my son’s school and husband’s work are closed today so they drove down to meet up with the cousins, and I’ll get the train down to join them once I finish teaching this afternoon. So that will be our adventure for the weekend.
Laura have you gone into detail about what your household manager is doing/why you decided to hire one/how it’s been helpful? This is relatively new right? If I missed it would love to go back and read that post.
@Amanda – I’ve mentioned it here and there…a former nanny who has been doing property management (like running a few rental properties) was open to doing a few regular hours for us. She did a wave of organization at the beginning (unpacking everything we hadn’t unpacked, decluttering and getting stuff in coherent storage systems), and then random stuff like installing curtains and hardware (and fixing my tub!) that we hadn’t gotten around to. She got the junk truck to come take some stuff, and did stuff like make our front entranceway more presentable, and installing cafe lights on an outdoor patio. She got bids from lots of companies and then chose two to do some work for an additional renovation we were doing. We try to set up service people to come when she is here so I don’t have to watch for them all day (which drives me crazy not knowing when I am going to get interrupted). She cooks dinner for Thursday night. Etc.