Today's Goals

I awoke to the smell of coffee brewing, still half dreaming of a relaxed day reading and writing. When I heard the chaos in my kitchen, I lowered the goal to reading a few chapters in my most recent "how-to write" book.

My son's coughing told me he would be staying home from school for the 6th day in a row.

"You didn't wake me up!" my seven-year screamed at her older brother, her human alarm clock. She was running late for school and we'd all overslept. Bliss.

After driving her to school, delivering my 4-year-old to preschool, and administering cough medicine to my oldest, I promptly sent him to bed with Harry Potter in his hands and saddled up to the computer.

I edited a few lines of my book and remembered an email I needed to send to a teacher. I read a critique of one of my chapters from my online critique group, which somehow reminded me to call my daughter's school. Going down the stairs to retrieve the phone, I noticed large clumps of missing leaves on a houseplant as I simultaneous heard my dog throw them up on the carpet. Nice.

Clean up dog puke. Feed whining cats. Change the laundry while in the laundry room. Call daughter's school and field two more phone calls pertaining to various carpools later in the day (three today).

Edit one chapter and discover nagging writing question. Formulate email to online critique group. Remember email I have put off sending to the school principal and superintendent (separate blog for that).

Time to pick up the preschooler. Drive into town to return library movies. Make lunch. Change laundry. Run dishwasher. Move book out of the way as I wipe down the counters. Medicate child. Throw ball for dog.

Time to pick up daughter and run carpool to Girl Scouts. Upon returning, I make an afternoon snack of pumpkin bread and PICK UP THE BOOK!

"Mom? I need help."

Assist son with homework, push daughter out door to gymnastics carpool. Fix bathroom toilet which will not stop running. Plunge other bathroom toilet which will not start running. Change laundry. Feed snacks to kids. Help with additional homework. Fix problem with computer. Pick up book. Think about how it's now 6 p.m. and wonder what happened to the day. Decide to share the chaos of it with fellow moms on my blog for proper appreciation, using aforementioned book as desktop for my spiral notebook as I write.

Maybe I'll get to that book after dinner, or showers, or bedtime stories. Maybe tomorrow. And who can guess when I'll get this blog entry typed up.

Refueling the Cells

I had a great day. After a casual effort to supervise the older two kids prepare and exit for school, I spent a little time performing yoga and strength training on the WII before showering and leaving my husband as the PIC (parent in charge) while I sat through two hours of cut, color, and conversation (none of which involved the words 'potty' 'stop that' or 'I'm talking, please say excuse me')

With a box full of girl scout cookies which needed delivered, I used the afternoon to take an extended lunch with my sister, niece, and friend, followed by short visits with a few other friends and some shopping (the kind where I spend a leisurely hour in Kmart where I only walk out with a handful of things and a relaxed smile on my face.)

At length, my two hour hair appointment earned me six hours of "me" time. I arrived home shopping-weary, but rejuvenated. So here's the rub. My recharged motherly patience lasted a net of about an hour before I was raising my voice and threatening extra chores. Shouldn't there be some sort of reserve where we mothers can put all the good intentions that pass through our minds as we get a pedicure so we can pull them out when our child faces us defiantly and screams, "No. I won't do it and you can't make me!"?

Division of Time

It started when I had my first newborn in the house. All of a sudden, my time was not my own anymore and it was a fuzzy line between the time that he owned and the time that was 'mine'. Well, not so fuzzy now that I think about it. All of the time simply became his. As he got older though, I somehow managed to etch out a spare hour here or completely steal an hour there, thanks to video entertainment. Mostly though, that time was spent cleaning something.

Then I had another child and I realized that it was my perspective that was wrong. It wasn't that I didn't have ANY time for me, it was simply that that time was being used up with a shower and (possibly) sleep. Out the window was recreational reading, hobbies, concerts, and movies and what a revelation to realize how many hours can be consumed by such activities. Equally time consuming and undoubtedly more rewarding than any of those activities though, were the endless hours of nursing, comforting, burping, tickling, bathing and staring in rapture at my offspring.

Fast forward to my life today with three kids. Diapers and nursing are a thing of the past, but somehow the time constraints are just as tight as they are replaced with Brownies, gymnastics, homework, and classroom volunteering. As for those PK (Pre-kid) activities that I enjoyed so much? Well, I just finished reading a six book series by Diana Gabaldon, even though it took me three months. I've written the rough draft of a novel and still manage to be there for every important activity the children participate in.

With the flux of activity in this house, it is not that I have more time than I did a year or two ago, it is how I divide that time. Early on I felt the need to strive towards supermom status. (See related blog entry). Once I realized, however, that the kitchen was not going to stay clean even if I swept three times a day, I allowed myself a little of that time to research, read, or write. With each segment of perfection that I released, I gained a segment of time for myself.

So now that alien weeds have all but consumed my backyard and I wouldn't dare anyone to lick my dining room floor, I find that I have chisled out enough time for my writing (most weeks). Even at that, I am forced to divide what time I have...novel, blog, research, query letter...

I am inspired by fellow authors (eww, not sure I can claim that title quite yet) who manage to raise kids, maintain friendships, and continue regular blogs and writing assignments. In that thread, I am going to try to recommit myself to my blog and I hope you find the time to come along on the ride.

Just One Good Book...Please?

The seemingly simple task of picking out a library book is anything but with three kids in tow. Gone are the days of lingering in the new book section, reading the cover and giving heavy consideration to each book summary. My current technique is more of a quantity over quality method in which I quickly grab several books that grab my attention at any level while holding one child and keeping the other two from dragging books off the shelves. The problem with this technique is that when I get home and find an opportunity to peruse my hasty grabs, I usually end up with an eclectic blend of choices along the lines of “Benjamin Franklin, the School Years”, “The History of Egypt” and “One Woman’s Journey; a Transsexual’s Story”.

Sorry if I'm Neglecting You

I've been working on my other two sites and adding articles to my ehow account. Check out my "how-to" articles at www.ehow.com. Above the search box, click on the 'members' then type in ehowwriter (that's me). Click on ehowwriter when it comes up and it will list all of my articles. Let me know what you think and send me ideas. It could mean money in my pocket. Thanks for your support!