SOMWaD: Schedules

I keep getting sick...or do I?  I have the post nasal drip and the nagging cough.  I was miserable last Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday only to feel pretty good on Monday (a day I took off of work AND took my husband to the doctor for the third time because HE can't seem to get better).  I'm pretty good when I get up in the morning (which has gotten earlier:  my alarm may go off at 4:52, but I've been getting up at 4:20 or so), but I keep getting mid-morning cough and runny noses.  I can't seem to figure out if I'm getting better or worse. If this is the cold I had at the end of last week or a new one.  Right now I don't have time to be sick; my schedule will not allow it.  And my schedule is relatively crazy!

I've always considered myself a relatively organized person.  With a family of (only) three, how hard can it be?  Maybe it wasn't hard when my son was in elementary school.  Maybe it wasn't hard when I wasn't on the Pastoral Search Committee at church. (That's a blog post unto itself.) Or when I didn't have regular church choir rehearsals. (Good for the sound of the choir, bad for a tired person in the middle of the week.) Or...The list goes on and on.  I think I've gotten in over my head!  (And I fully admit that I am a person who needs her "down time/personal time").  Why don't we take a peek at what my "schedule" looks like next work week?

Monday:  If I want to do an hour walk (although lately I've been going more than an hour; I'd like to think that I'm going slower because it's darker in the morning now and I can't see as well when I walk), I need to get up and back to the house before 6.  (Translation: I need to get out of the house at least by 5.  Which means getting up at least 15 minutes prior to that to throw on clothes, get my phone and make my way out of the house.)  Have from 6:00 - 6:30 to get showered and dressed for work. (And somehow those thirty minutes go by faster than any other 30 minutes in my day) At 6:30 make sure my son gets up and dressed.  (He is NOT a morning person).  Get him breakfast (or help him get breakfast).  Make sure that he has his water bottle filled (unless he's left it in school AGAIN!) and a snack.  Make sure I have lunch for the day. Try and sneak in a cup of coffee before getting him out the door and into the car at 7:28 with his backpack and trumpet.  Pick up his friend (who lives a few blocks over.) and get them to school by 7:35 (give or take) for band which starts at 7:45.  Head to work and start the work day early (because what's the point of going home for 10 minutes only to turn around and go back out again?).  On the drive to work call to check in on my parents. (Don't worry folks; I use Sync to talk hands free.)  Work till 5 (with the occasional check in at home to see how the school day went and what family crisis might have arisen.)  Check back in again on my parents.  Once at home, make sure son has snack for the next day.  Set out clothes for myself (and sometimes for my son) for the next day.  Make dinner (unless my husband has handled that...it's kind of a tag team type of thing) and eat.  My husband is the "homework dad" so I don't have to worry about that, but I do like to go through my son's folder to see what's going on (and review any notices that have come home. How do you think I found out about the reading log?)  Make sure my son has practiced his trumpet.  "Free" time from 6:30 - 7:30 (when I can check email, work on a blog post, do the general fussing around on the computer etc.).  Somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00, if the kid is outside I drag him in and get him to shower and brush his teeth.  (This takes longer than you might expect.)  If he's inside, I'm getting him to clean up his Lego mess. (This also takes longer than you might expect) before doing the shower and teeth brushing routine.  I TRY to get him into bed with the lights out between 8:30 and 9 (remember, there's always time to read, especially when you have to fill out a reading log every day!), but...Sometime between 9-10; I try to get to bed because I'm wiped out.

Tuesday; same basic routine as Monday, except this time I pick up a different friend in the morning because it is chorus day. Also on Tuesdays I generally make sure my son packs a lunch instead of buying in the cafeteria.  (Came up with this strategy after I saw how expensive his lunch habits were!  I want him to have the experience of being able to pick and choose what he wants to eat, but I also need to maintain a budget.)  Lately my Tuesday AND Thursday evenings (and this upcoming week is no different) have been dedicated to the pastoral search committee meetings.  They generally run from 7:00 - 9:30.  So needless to say, when I get home all I want to do is crash for the night, even if I'm wired from the evening's meeting. (I'm sure many of you can relate to the "I'm exhausted by wide awake syndrome.)

Wednesday:  The only difference from the past two day is that I don't have to rush my son out of the house by 7:30.  It's a "regular" day at school (meaning no early morning music class).  The big question of the day is will my son walk (which means he needs to leave the house at the same time I would "normally" leave the house for work) or is another parent willing to drive him.  Once again, my evening is kind of rushed, as I have choir rehearsal from 7:30 - 9:00.  Usually when I get home my son is still awake so I can give him a good night cuddle (which I can't do when I get home from my other meetings.)

Thursday:  Same routine as Monday...only with a pastoral search committee meeting to end off the day.

Friday:  Here's where it get a bit more confusing (really??).  Every OTHER Friday I need to get my son to school early for a Chorus sectional.  Unfortunately, his other friend who I drive on Tuesday is in a different chorus sectional group, so I only take him and only every other Friday. Despite making sure this particular class is in MY Google calendar, I'm sure I'm going to end up forgetting more than once and ending up rushing out of the house.  Friday nights are also "family" nights.  That means we all go to the grocery store together.  My son hates it; my husband tolerates it.  At this point, I'm looking forward to it because it seems like it is the only time we will be together for any amount of time for the week.  It also signifies the end of a crazy week and the beginning of a somewhat relaxed weekend.  (I never thought I would be so profoundly grateful that my son was NOT interested in sports.  Can you imagine what my schedule would look like if he did???)  Once we're done with that we can sit down for a relaxed (no time constraints) dinner. (And I can have a glass, or two, of wine!)

I realize that compared to larger families, my schedule really isn't all that crazed.  And thankfully for the most part my weekends are relatively unscheduled. (I'm sure that will change soon.) Which leaves me just enough time to plan for the next crazy week ahead?