Leading Up to Vacation

I need to blog about my recent vacation, but one thing I started doing before vacation was taking notes on how I spend my days. I've had a few people talk to me about time management stuff recently. Yes, I am a mom who stays at home, I only work out of the home a few hours a week (at one "real" job, at one "fun" job, and two volunteer jobs), but it's amazing how time fills up even being at home all day! With four part-time jobs (mentioned previously), one of which is running our food pantry at church, having a 27-month old and 10-month old, running a household basically on my own, and also just trying to get normal grocery shopping/other errands done, my 24-hour days seem to go incredibly fast.

I left for vacation on July 15. This is from July 7 until that day, so about a week. A very typical week. Someday I will show you my chore schedule. It's a spreadsheet. I'm just cool like that.

If anyone else wants to do this I would love LOVE LOVE!!!! to see what your typical days are like! I am always so curious about what other stay-at-home moms do during the day with their kids, and working moms - I'd love to know how you get everything accomplished, and retirees I'd love to know what I have to look forward to. :) Give me some comments, people!

P.S. Sorry that some days there are WAY too many details and some days are really lacking in details. I hardly ever remembered to put in baths, and I never added in times I was sitting down just feeding Hunter, so some of these times may seem weird or a little off, but that's because some details are missing.

July 7, 2011

6:00 am - wake up, feed Hunter

6:30 am - put him back to bed

7:15 am - finish with workout, shower and get ready for day (I'd like to note this is the first and last time I worked out this month...)

7:35 - finish devotions

7:40 - work from home

8:45 - stop working, put laundry in washing machine

9:00 - leave for a mystery shop; Walmart; pay water bill at town hall

10:40 - get home, play time

12:00 pm - cook lunch; start heating water to make baby wipes solution; transfer laundry from washer to drying rack

12:45 pm - clip coupons while Bri finishes lunch

1:00 pm - clean up from lunch, start cooking Hunter's squash for dinner

1:15 - play time

2:00 - start cleaning up in preparation for Bri's nap; vacuuming whole house and picking up toys. Play one more game before nap time.

2:30 pm - Bri's naptime

3:30 - Hunter's nap time. My free time - putting together a future shopping trip for Fed By Faith, eat a snack, upload pictures from camera to computer and chat on the phone

5:00 - Bri wakes up; snack time, then play time

6:15 - start dinner

7:05 - stop cleaning up from dinner because Brianna wants me to play the piano and sing with her. Who can resist? We sing Farmer in the Dell at the top of our lungs and she does the Hokey Pokey on top of the piano bench

7:30 - stop being distracted by piano, turn on music and finish cleaning up the kitchen and dining room

7:40 - hear thunder, rush Hunter to the bathroom so I can squeeze in his bath before the rain starts

8:30 - finally get around to listing one thing on ebay

9:00 - work from home

10:00 - fold and put away laundry, sweep, make sure all dishes are washed and counters are clean, put away toys, complete the baby wipe solution

10:20 - spend 10 minutes winding down by filing some coupons, get ready for bed

July 8, 2011

6:00 am - wake up, feed Hunter

7:15 am - put Hunter back to bed after play time

7:40 am - get interrupted during devotions by Brianna waking up

8:30 am - stop playing long enough to start breakfast and coffee

9:30 - Bri and I play outside and clean out the car some while Hunter naps

10:45 - run errands - go to the dump, work at Classy Paci to pick up FBF items, go see the box turtle that Mom and Dad found at their house

1:00 pm - home; lunch time; I file coupons when I'm done while Bri finishes up

1:45 - clean up from lunch and play time

2:30 - nap time for Bri; do devotions, unload dishwasher, put away laundry that was not dry last night, dust our bedroom, play with Hunter

4:45 pm - run errands - Walgreens, Harris Teeter, bank, and drop off stuff at Goodwill

6:10 pm - start dinner

7:15 - sidetracked from cleaning up by the beautiful weather outside. Brianna and I weed the garden and pick blueberries!

8:15 - finished playing and have given Bri a bath. I encourage her to play by herself so I can finally clean up from dinner

8:20 - sidetracked from cleaning up by doing string tricks and singing songs with Bri

9:00 - work from home

10:00 - sweep and clean counters, enter all receipts from the day into my budget tracker, list one item on ebay, dust living room

July 9, 2011

6:45 am - play time with Bri, get ready for the day, make beds

7:45 am - make breakfast

8:00 am - start making fruit leather, work from home

8:30 am - put a load of laundry in the washing machines

9:00 am - play time (painting nails is definitely on the agenda today according to Bri)

11:30 am -Lauren has just left so Bri and I start going through items for FBF, transfer clothes from washer to dryer

12:00 - lunch time

12:30 - clean up, work on FBF items again, clean out car and vacuum it, sweep garage

1:00 - play time

1:45 - finish fruit leather process, start sweet potatoes in slow cooker for dinner, make a snack for me and Bri to share

2:30 - nap time for Bri; play with Hunter, fold laundry, general clean up

4:30 - leave for Cindy's house and a run to Harris Teeter

8:00 - home; dinner, wash dishes, set dishwasher to run later, write a couple of letters, sweep, finish making sweet potatoes from crockpot for Hunter, work from home

July 10, 2011

7:00 am - breakfast and play time with Bri

8:15 am - start getting ready for church

10:15 - leave for church

1:15 - home from church, start lunch, play time

2:30 - both kids napping - devotions, put away laundry that was not dry yesterday, general clean up, work from home

11:00 pm - realize I didn’t have time to update this at all since 2:30 pm. Left at 5:00 for choir practice. Got home at 9:30 pm, fed Hunter and put him to bed. Bathed Bri and made her dinner, put her down at 10:00 pm. Now I have free time. Clip coupons and eat a sandwich, wash dishes, sweep, clean counters, pack my gift for tomorrow night’s Christmas in July party at church, make my errand To Do list for tomorrow, call in a prescription refill, create a shopping list for Rite Aid (where I will go to get my prescription)

July 11, 2011

6:00am - up with Hunter, feed him

7:00 am - play time with Bri

7:30 am - make breakfast

8:00 - clean up breakfast, play time

9:50 - morning chores - clean bathrooms, change sheets and towels, start one load of laundry

10:30 - clip and file coupons while Bri snacks, change laundry from washer to dryer, pack up ebay items to ship

11:00 - play time

12:15 - errands - mystery shop, bank, Harris Teeter, drop off stuff at Goodwill, Rite Aid, dollar store

2:00 - play time, prepare for kids' naps

2:45 - work from home, unload groceries (there was nothing perishable purchased), blog about grocery trips, make zucchini cookies for Christmas in July party tonight

4:00 - play time

4:30 - clean up kitchen and pack cookies for tonight's party during Bri's snack time, wash dishes, puree and freeze food for Hunter

6:15 - leave for Ladies' Group at church

10:00 - home; work from home, laundry, wash dishes, sweep

July 12, 2011

6:45 am - play time, start a load of laundry

7:30 - start breakfast

8:15 - play time

8:45 - work from home, put laundry from washer to drying rack, fold laundry that wasn't dry last night

9:30 - get kids and me ready for day, cut Bri's hair

10:15 - snack time

10:50 - while kids play, I unload dishwasher, put away dishes in sink, fold laundry, put together a grocery list

11:30 - leave for Walmart

1:30 - get stuck coming home from Walmart - a train is stuck on the railroad tracks!! Start lunch, put groceries away

2:00 - bathe Hunter

2:30 - naptime for kids, devotions, cook lunch for tomorrow (mom and dad's), list items on ebay, package sold items on ebay, put some laundry away, clean up kitchen

4:00 - play time and snack time

5:30 - leave for funeral home

7:50 - get home, start dinner

8:45 - Skype with our Georgia family

10:00 - wash dishes, clean counters, clip and file coupons, sweep

July 13, 2011

7:00 am - breakfast and get ready for day

8:30 - Skype with family

9:15 - play time

10:00 - clean out and sweep garage, start packing to take kids to parents house for the day, start packing for upcoming trip, clean hallway bathroom

11:20 - leave for parents' house, take trash to dump

9:15 pm - home after work and church; start dinner, start packing for rafting trip and GA trip, freeze produce from today that I won’t eat before leaving town, plan recipes for GA that involve the produce that won’t freeze well, wash dishes, sweep, put away some coupons, clean out car, clean refrigerator, work on reunion stuff

July 14, 2011

6:15 am - up and feeding Hunter

7:00 am - play time, getting ready for the day

8:30 - packing for trips, dust house

9:30 - run errands, ship ebay items at post office, get supplies for upcoming trip from the dollar store, go to doctor to pick up extra formula

10:30 - snack time, start cooking dinner for a friend who just had a baby, work on reunion stuff, transfer laundry to dryer, vacuum bedroom, turn snack time into lunch time, finish packing up dinner for friend who just had baby, make an extra lasagna to freeze with leftover ingredients, mop floors, clean our bathroom

1:00 - play time

2:00 - snack time

2:40 - unload dishwasher and wash dishes, get kids ready to go

3:15 pm - take trash, go to Brooke's house to meet Anna Rae!

6:00 - home, start dinner, work from home

7:00 - clean up from dinner, start second load of laundry, dust again

9:05 - trying to finish packing, getting ready to dry rest of laundry (pretty sure I worked until passing out from exhaustion this night...)

July 15, 2011

5:15 am - leave for Tennessee


And the rest is history! Yes, I started keeping this journal again when I got home - well, actually the beginning of THIS week, the 25th.

I would seriously love to know a typical day at your house! I bet you accomplish much more than you think you do. Or if you don't, maybe after you start taking notes, you'll figure out why. :) Also, looking back at it, some of the days seem to only have a few hours of "play time". Rest assured, Bri and Hunter play by themselves some too, but many times when I am doing chores, I am teaching Bri how to do them to help me out. So although those hours are not included in "play time" they certainly qualify as "quality time". :) (She helps with unloading the dishwasher, cleaning up after meals, loading the washing machine, moving items to the dryer (but I do the drying rack), moving items out from the dryer, putting things on hangers/putting away diapers/putting away her underwear or socks, sweeping, vacuuming, general clean up, and gardening.... I may have missed some! The chores I refuse to let her help with are cleaning the bathroom, mopping, cleaning the fridge, dusting, cleaning the windows (can't reach), changing the sheets (although she tries), cleaning the microwave (can't reach) and cleaning the counters (can't reach).)

Oh my gosh, I feel like I just gave you way more details into my life than you would ever want to know...