Congrats to everyone who made it through the work week! I hope you got lots of insights into your weekdays and where the time goes.
Tracking weekends can be a little more challenging, but it is doable and I think it is worthwhile. After all, weekends are real time too. This time really counts. Why treat it as an afterthought?
Anyway, I worked until 5 p.m. yesterday, went outside for a brief walk (there was still a little light almost a month after the solstice!), worked another 30 minutes, then commenced cooking dinner. This was “breakfast for dinner” night. Theoretically the big kids could be helping me with this one, but I didn’t really feel like tracking them down. So I cooked bacon, pancakes, eggs, and fruit (B was driving the 10-year-old to art class — if I had been on driving detail, she would have cooked, we often swap this night). I ate with the big kids around 6:15 (and the 5-year-old was in and out). The 10-year-old had a plate as well when he came home at 6:30. I cleaned up, got ready, cleaned off my car (it was snowing!) and drove in the snow to choir.
Choir rehearsal is 7-9 p.m. every Thursday. It was tracking my time continuously many years ago that convinced me I did have time for this. My eldest has been singing with me the last 1.5 years but he is taking a brief sabbatical through February due to illness and midterms. We had light attendance last night with the snow, but I always enjoy singing. We got out a few minutes early, so I was back home at 9. I said goodbye to B (she worked late since my husband wasn’t back until late) and went upstairs to go sit with the 5-year-old (he was in bed but not asleep so as soon as I got home he popped back up). I sat with him and scrolled until he was down, then talked with the other kids, shut the house, and enjoyed an hour of me time before I crashed too. I just looked at random stuff online. My brain was fried!
I went to sleep at 11. I know I woke up at 2 and found my husband back home (he’d been in San Francisco all week; I guess I was sleeping deeply enough that I didn’t hear him). I fell back asleep until 5 minutes before my alarm, which was set for 7.
I got the 13-year-old up (20 minutes later this morning because Daddy could drive her). I made my coffee then took my turn in the shower, then got the 15-year-old up (7:30) then had my breakfast. I woke the 17-year-old up and let him know he was the adult on duty for the youngest two, and then drove the 15-year-old to school (7:55-8:15 more or less). When I got home I made sure the little boys were up, and I got their breakfasts and made their lunches. My husband came home from the middle school run, and he and the 17-year-old went to an 8:45 doctor appointment. I drove the little boys to school from 8:45-9:15.
Once home, I got my coffee and went to my office while our house manager (G) met the HVAC contractor and then another contractor dealing with a door issue. This is exactly why we have a house manager! I worked pretty much straight through 9:15-2:15. During this time I did two BB podcast interviews, talked to my virtual assistant, talked with someone who’d tracked her time for 8 years (!) for Big Time, and did assorted other things.
The big kids had a half day, and my daughter had gone home from school to a friend’s house. That friend’s dad had then brought the crew of 5 to the district’s Martin Luther King Jr. day of service event that was running in the afternoon. He had then dropped all their backpacks and instruments at my house, since I was picking them up. The plan was 3:00 but then my daughter started texting at 2 that the event had kind of run its course (it was so well-attended that a lot of the projects were done a short while in…) so I left at 2:20, and got them at 2:30. Since it was earlier than expected the girls suggested coming back to our house instead of me driving them all home, so I brought them back for an impromptu 5-person hangout. The backpacks and instruments came back out of the van. Parents picked them up at various points, but they had all left by 4:15 p.m.
I then went for a 15-minute walk and now I am writing this. We’ll do the 10-year-old’s family birthday celebration tonight.
I hope you have a fun weekend planned! I have a few events though there’s also a lot of random kid stuff (like a full day tech tournament, and a swim meet…) so we shall see how many adventures I actually have. I did a lot last weekend and next weekend will also be a full one so this may be more low key for me. So it goes.
I hope your time tracking is going well! Here’s my time in log form:
Thursday
4 pm work
4:30 work
5 walk outside, work
5:30 work, cook dinner
6 cook, eat w/kids, clean
6:30 ready, clear car, to choir
7 choir rehearsal
7:30 choir rehearsal
8 choir rehearsal
8:30 choir, drive home
9 kids, B, sit w/H
9:30 sit w/H, other kids, shut house
10 relax/scroll/etc.
10:30 relax/scroll/etc.
11 sleep
2 (bathroom, back to sleep)
Friday
6:30 6:55 up, R up
7 coffee, shower, make-up
7:30 R, S, b-fast, talk J, drive
8 drive S, home, little boys
8:30 little boys, drive, A
9 drop H, home, coffee, email
9:30 work
10 work (BB)
10:30 work
11 work (VA), snack
11:30 work
12 work
12:30 work
1 work (BB)
1:30 work
2 work/call, go get girls
2:30 girls, home, work/girls
3 work (also girls here)
3:30 work (also girls here)
4 all go, walk outside