“Where Do You Find the Time?”
Posted on February 2, 2010 - Filed Under Mom Stuff, Personal, Simple Life | 4 Comments
People keep telling me that I must have so much energy or wonder when I sleep. It’s really not that I have a lot of energy, in fact, I’m tired most of the time! (though that might be partially due to the fact that I’m anemic and keep forgetting to take my iron!) So before you think I’m SuperMom or something, here’s why I get all this stuff done:
1. I nap. My big secret is that I usually sleep for an hour in the afternoon. This used to be only when Irving was home, but since he’s home all the time now, I usually crash from 1-2pm. That lets me stay up til midnight and then get up again with the kids around 5:30 or 6am.
2. I start early. I am NOT a morning person, but my boys force me to get up and be semi awake in the mornings, soooo . . . I make the most of it. When I get up, I make breakfast for everyone, then we usually start school at 7 and go until 8:30. After that, I head into my “office” to work. On the days when Irving gets up with the boys, everything goes off because I’m getting up when we should be halfway through school and it just throws the whole day off.
3. I drop certain things. When I was younger, I read anywhere from 60-100 books a month. I rarely read these days, except for the occasional blog online. Once in a while, I’ll get an ebook or find a novel in English and devour that in a day or two, but for the most part, magazines and books are not a part of my life anymore. Neither is television. I do download episodes from my favorite shows but I watch them when I have the time, not just because they are on and we don’t even have a TV signal or cable anymore, so that saves a LOT of time. When I think about how many hours I used to spend watching cooking shows or TLC, I realize that I now use that time to actually cook, hang with the kids or work!
4. I have help! Most people don’t realize how much it helps to have a maid. I’m so grateful that I’m able to hire Mirna for four hours a day. Without her, our house would be a total disaster and we’d be naked, I swear. Not only does she clean, she also does sweet things like bring me oregano plants and flowers that she’s started for me in her own garden. Her dad sent me the oregano and a basil plant when he heard that I am trying to start a herb garden.
5. I rarely leave the house. Call me a hermit, but until recently, I hardly ever left the house. With the car, I’ve been going out more because we can fit all of us in it. Also, I’ve been doing a girls’ day out and we’ve been meeting up with friends on Sundays lately, which is fairly new. When you don’t go out too often, you have a lot more time, let me tell you! Just that run into the market for veggies can take up two or three hours of your life.
So, that’s where all my time comes from . . . no TV, no going out (well, not much, anyway), no hobbies, lol. Someday, I hope to achieve a better balance, but at the moment, this works most of the time!
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4 Responses to ““Where Do You Find the Time?””
Talk to Me, People!
Even so, I’m still amazed at all you accomplish! But I am envious of you having a maid, oh to be able to pass on those tedious household chores to someone else… lol.
you ARE a ‘SUPERMUM’… You are raising two AMAZING boys, running a house, a business and still enjoying what life brings…
So enough already, you crazy mumma you!!! ;p
I know, I feel so spoiled, Leiani! My friend and I used to shake our heads at people with maids, thinking how rich they must be . . . but the truth is that it’s very cost effective for me to hire a maid because I can earn her wages in just a few hours of solid work. Plus, it affords me more time with my boys, which is definitely worth it. We still teach them to pick up and we clean when she’s not around in the afternoon (though Dorian, on more than one occasion has said, “Mirna can pick it up” . . . we tell him that she’s there to HELP, not do everything for us, so he has to do his part still).
I am considering hiring a maid again. I am also considering going back to work. I think it will only be part time though as I will still want to be home when the kids get home from school. Maybe by next fall, stay tuned
. You’ve got to set your priorities and stick with them. It’s the reason I quit in the first place. My job and commute took too much away from my kids, and my kids come first. Period. Here, I could work 5-6 hours a day, 10 minute commute, and have before and after school with the kids. A maid to keep the house, and I’d be good. Of course, I’ll have to think how school vacations will go… not sure I want the kids sitting around the house with a maid when I should be there. I don’t know yet!!! As they get older, they get more independent, but we’re not that far yet… although they do let me get more reading done these days, crafts too!
oh… and yes, naps. I don’t nap every day, but I no longer feel guilty for taking one when I know I need one!