First, my apologies Mrs. G - if your day is predictable and routine, mine is... the OPPOSITE of that. There is NO typical day in the life of MamaMo, so sit back and imagine the endless possibilities. [This post should be just a simple and clear as the info on health insurance options I just slept read through on-line; yes, we're contemplating joining the world of the "insured"!]
Wake up WAY too early (I don't know how you do it, Bossy).
Get the youngest one on the bus.
School lunches - if you're organized & on top of things, you prepare school lunches the night before. If you're me, you frantically throw three lunches together whilescreaming at gently encouraging your middle child to get ready for school. If you're successful, and there are no other distractions (papers to sign, jackets/socks/shirts/clean underwear to find, permission slips to return TODAY!), you won't have to bring lunches in later.
Did I mention I'm not a morning person?!!
Drive the middle one and her best friend to school.
Luckily the oldest one is pretty self sufficient.
The only constant in my day - walking the dogs.
Check blogs for my daily dose of funny.
[see "Places I Visit" on left]
Choose one of a sprinkling of school-related duties [help in class, take care of critters, chaperone field trip]
Pick one or two household errands:
Add a chore or two (or more!):
One thing you won't find me doing any more - dishes! I got "fired" for lack of even trying. [See chores later in evening]
Hopefully, I remember to fix myself lunch - this usually is tied to whether or not I remembered to fix myself breakfast.
Realize I only have another hour or two before the "afternoon shift", and frantically: [organize something, get dinner going M/T/W, and/or prep for soccer]
Meet the bus (and any extra children I may have coming my way - child care, playdates possible only on Tues. or every other Fri.)
Snack, which I sometimes get a reprieve from fixing when the right friend comes over for a playdate:
Shuttle off to one of the following:
Every other Friday - Girl Scouts!
For dinner we have a choice between a lovely home-cooked meal and last minute drive-thru/leftovers/sandwiches (they're not just for lunch any more!)
In between any/or all of that - there's my supervisor/beat-cop role [making sure the youngest 2 practice violin, the oldest 2 do their homework, everyone does pet care, keeping the peace (managing access to radio/computer), enforcing whose turn it is in the shower, chores] and sometimes we have a meeting to go to.
If all goes well - a half hour of QUIET TIME!!!
Followed by reflections on the day and prayers
and bedtime, which is usually delayed by one of the following: need for bandaid/medicine, forgotten homework, urgent need for a particular item/outfit for school the next day.
Then I finally get to sit down with my husband, but I have to watch:
Maybe we sneak in a TiVo'd Daily Show or Colbert Report before he falls asleep - then I get the remote and watch one of MY shows:
A quick pee for the dogs.
One last check of the email/blogs/facebook.
Off to bed (way too late, usually - clock reads 1:37 a.m.).
But through it all - most important is to remain detached and open enough to always have time to scrap all this (or add more to it!) in favor of helping out a friend and/or neighbor in need.
Wake up WAY too early (I don't know how you do it, Bossy).
Get the youngest one on the bus.
School lunches - if you're organized & on top of things, you prepare school lunches the night before. If you're me, you frantically throw three lunches together while
Did I mention I'm not a morning person?!!
Drive the middle one and her best friend to school.
Luckily the oldest one is pretty self sufficient.
The only constant in my day - walking the dogs.
Check blogs for my daily dose of funny.
[see "Places I Visit" on left]
Choose one of a sprinkling of school-related duties [help in class, take care of critters, chaperone field trip]
Pick one or two household errands:
Add a chore or two (or more!):
One thing you won't find me doing any more - dishes! I got "fired" for lack of even trying. [See chores later in evening]
Hopefully, I remember to fix myself lunch - this usually is tied to whether or not I remembered to fix myself breakfast.
Realize I only have another hour or two before the "afternoon shift", and frantically: [organize something, get dinner going M/T/W, and/or prep for soccer]
Meet the bus (and any extra children I may have coming my way - child care, playdates possible only on Tues. or every other Fri.)
Snack, which I sometimes get a reprieve from fixing when the right friend comes over for a playdate:
Shuttle off to one of the following:
Every other Friday - Girl Scouts!
For dinner we have a choice between a lovely home-cooked meal and last minute drive-thru/leftovers/sandwiches (they're not just for lunch any more!)
In between any/or all of that - there's my supervisor/beat-cop role [making sure the youngest 2 practice violin, the oldest 2 do their homework, everyone does pet care, keeping the peace (managing access to radio/computer), enforcing whose turn it is in the shower, chores] and sometimes we have a meeting to go to.
If all goes well - a half hour of QUIET TIME!!!
Followed by reflections on the day and prayers
and bedtime, which is usually delayed by one of the following: need for bandaid/medicine, forgotten homework, urgent need for a particular item/outfit for school the next day.
Then I finally get to sit down with my husband, but I have to watch:
Maybe we sneak in a TiVo'd Daily Show or Colbert Report before he falls asleep - then I get the remote and watch one of MY shows:
A quick pee for the dogs.
One last check of the email/blogs/facebook.
Off to bed (way too late, usually - clock reads 1:37 a.m.).
But through it all - most important is to remain detached and open enough to always have time to scrap all this (or add more to it!) in favor of helping out a friend and/or neighbor in need.
7 comments:
Boring? I think not. Looks like a wonderful day to me.
I like the multiple choice approach. I'm going to do that for summer. And thanks for reminding me what evenings were like before my oldest quit club soccer...I think I'm going to have to link back to an oldie but goodie.
Boy, I related to the bit on the lunchboxes. Also the panic upon realizing that the afternoon shift is almost there.
Brilliant.
Wow! What a day - I'm tired out just reading about it. I am not looking forward to the run around years at all. What I can't understand is how come I go to bed between 12:30 and 2 every night (morning?) and yet I don't ever seem to get much done? I once considered myself an over-achiever. I'm not sure what happened....
Thank you for the tip on the book - sounds interesting. I'm going to put it on my amazon list (I just did). It's funny - I was just talking about it with friends while we worked on collages tonight and started talking about a study I read 10 years ago that said people often had no idea how they'd ended up at a car lot to buy a car - they'd just been moved that way by commercials without even realizing it. My friends and I were talking about how that's been demonstrated in politics.
You are a great mom...even to the dogs! I am trying to get to bed earlier....that feels so decadent to me these days!
Wow--you go to bed late. I could not cope. I have never been a morning person. I used to be a night person, but now I joke that I'm really just a middle-of-the-day person!
Love the new hair.
I'm going to read this post again next time I feel like my days are too busy.
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