i mean, seriously, where does it go? i know what i do all day, i just don't see how it eats up every moment like it apparently does. at least 3 different days last week, i thought of topics to write about, and i just never got to doing the actual writing because of other things. and i guess that means i'm busy, it just doesn't seem like it. but i guess it's true that you're busy when you have to get creative about when to take a shower. :P
i am up at 5:30 every morning, getting the kids up and keeping an eye on them as they get ready for school. if froggy didn't have sticky fingers and i didn't need to make sure taz did things like put on deodorant and a belt, this might not be the case, but they do need to have a watchful eye on them in the morning. and in taz's case, we have to go through a checklist. once they are off, i go back to bed for a few hours.
the next time i'm up is at 9:30. between the two times, i actually get about 6 to 7 hours of sleep a night, just not all at once, which seems to work since i'm getting more than 4 or 5 hours (which is not enough -- i end up too tired to do anything). the little nap also allows my comp to finish its virus scan. so at 9:30, i get up, usually get dressed, and am out the door (without breakfast, i might add) between 10 and 10:15 to take kitten to work. i get back home at around 10:30 or so, put baby cat in her playpen with tv disney for entertainment, and try to get some work done in the morning. this means throwing a load in the washer, starting the dishes soaking, and opening whatever document i'm working on for lilley. most days i think of having breakfast. because of taking care of baby and all the other little things, i usually don't actually sit down to work until about 11 or so, which gives me about an hour and a half to get any lilley stuff done.
about 12 or 12:30 (closer to 12:30 these days since noon seems too early for her), i warm up lunch, change her diaper, and we settle in to eat. it takes her about a half hour. i eat and catch up on email and other things. then it's time to rock her to sleep, which usually takes 10 to 20 minutes. once she's down, i have just over an hour to do a little more work before kids start coming home. taz comes in first, and, of course, he needs to be managed or he'd sit and hum, and spin toys/fingers, and generally stim all afternoon, so i've been getting off the comp at that time to work on my own writing stuff and keep an eye on him. at least until recently. i'm trying an experiment to get extra work time and setting up either dvds for him or setting up the tv so he can change it to appropriate programming (which i suspect is about to be lost because we need to pay the cable bill and i just don't have it...again). i still try to manage the stimming, just not sitting next to him. if i'm lucky, i get another 2 hours or so of interrupted work time.
actually, all my work time has been interrupted because, even when the baby is asleep, i've got other things going -- laundry, dishes, etc.
around 4:30 or 5, i need to get off the comp for at least a little bit and just take a break. i usually just doze a bit at this time since i'm usually really tired, but there's days when i just sit and watch the news or something. the point is to let my brain just drift for a bit before i have to do more stuff. about 5:30 or 6, it's time to start dinner. between 6:30 and 7, we eat. around 8, we settle in for some tv. i do occasionally check email and whatever, but in general i'm pretty much off the comp. if i'm lucky, i've managed 3-5 hours of actual work. between 10 and midnight, i'm getting dinner dishes into the dishwasher (it's very hard for me to stand and just do them all at once because of my back, so they get done in stages) and making the next day's lunches. i'm in bed by 12:30 and usually asleep by 1:30. that sounds like a long time (and, yea, it is -- i wish i could drop in 5 minutes like saxy, but i can't, especially when going to bed before 2 am), but it's the time it takes for my adhd brain to settle enough for me to actually get to sleep. most nights, i manage about a half hour for reading in there, but there are nights when i'm too tired to think about reading, which is sad because i love reading.
that's a typical day during the week. atypical days include errands like grocery store trips and picking up medications or taking a kid to a doctor's appointment. i also occasionally have other online duties since i run dii and am involved in a few other things )in fact, today will involve taking care of online things other than lilley, though i do also have some slush to read as well). most days i manage an update over at my lj at least once (but not always, some days end up too full, or i'm not feeling well, or something), which makes it a good place to check in on me if you're concerned, but it's also mostly about writing and editing. i'm supposed to update my official author blog, journeys, at least once a week, but it usually ends up being on the short end of the stick and ignored far too often, which really is sad because both it and my lj are supposed to help when i finally sell my book (can't have too much publicity).
the really sad thing about all of this is that there are good things i want to journal about. yea, we've got the things i want to vent about (you know, the usual -- finances...and finances....and, umm...saxy's job! and umm...stuff), but there's been some good things too, and the time to really sit down and celebrate them just isn't there. by the weekend, i have so much left to do for my own writing (since i can't seem to find much time to work on it during the week most days), that all that time gets taken up too.
so, i really do a lot of stuff, it just doesn't seem like it should eat up as much time as it does. i know most people would say they need another couple of hours in the day, but i suspect even that would end up gone. there are too many days when i'm playing catch up, you know? and i'm usually already tired enough by the end of the day; giving me a few more hours would end up wiping me out even more. so, while i seem to be constantly doing something, no, i don't really want more time so i can get more done in a day. i mean, really, i could stay up instead of getting more sleep once everyone's out the door if i really wanted to, but i'd be a wreck in no time.
speaking of which, kids and husband are off, and my warm bed is calling. time to get what extra sleep i can before a new day of stuff that shouldn't be taking up so much time begins.
~*~
word of the moment: presentiment
a feeling that something will or is about to happen : premonition
