If you are someone who has ever tried to plan a time to get together with me, you probably have heard me say that working my schedule is like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle.
The kids are on the bus, I have an appointment at 9:00 (which means laundry, organizing, cleaning, etc. can be dealt with for a couple of hours beforehand), I can fit in a quick lunch on this date before the kids get home from school and still have time to run to the library, the bank, and the store, before coming home to fix dinner and get whichever child off to practice before coming home again and needing to wind down and make sure everything is ready for the next day.
I am not the only one. Were you nodding your head in understanding as you read that description? Were you wishing I had given an example on one of my work days (because those are even trickier)?
This time of the year is always the worst for me. The school year starts, and the calendar is pretty fresh. No major commitments out of the ordinary. Then daughter #1 asks, "Can I play volleyball?" and daughter #2 asks, "Can I run cross country?" Another child needs "cab service" to do this or that, etc. Since we have a one sport per child per season rule and practices and games/meets do not conflict, we say, "yes."
Something happens in my brain at the end of summer/early fall when I feel invincible. I am not.
I will come back up for air mid-October, just in time for the holidays. :)
Oh, Leslie, I feel your pain! My situation was worse a couple of summers when the kids had different things to attend to avoid full time day care. One year I drove for two hours before arriving at the medical school at 8:00 am, to give you an idea. The thing I loved most when my last child at home (middle daughter, not youngest who'd gone to live with her dad) graduated from high school was no more 4 pm phone calls "I need ____ tomorrow" that would require yet another stop on the way home. Errands + kids + working is a killer, all right. Take time for yourself so you don't get so exhausted you're not able to function.
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