Wonder Wednesday

[Deleted]

In the interest of getting the board going today:

Share something you've wondered about someone else on the board (here or TB), you can keep the person anonymous if you want.

[never2amazing]

Great question! I wonder this about a lot of you. How do you do it... work, Kiddos, family, cleaning inside and outside the house, take trips, etc., and still manage to cook, read, watch a show, read your mail, and make love, (to name a few)?

Anyone care to share their game plan?

[ct]

I wonder how SSG is doing with all the changes over the past couple weeks!

[hlke]

I definitely wonder the same thing as N2A a lot.

I wonder about the backgrounds of the "old timers" who I am just getting to know on this board.

[ct]

Sept 12, 2012 14:19:04 GMT -5 never2amazing said:

How do you do it... work, Kiddos, family, cleaning inside and outside the house, take trips, etc., and still manage to cook, read, watch a show, read your mail, and make love, (to name a few)?

Anyone care to share their game plan?

I dont!

The house is a disaster all the time (clutter-wise, thankfully we have a cleaning person who gets rid of the actual dirt and dog hair 2x a month...very helpful), there are pretty much always dishes in my sink, I rely on frozen chicken nuggets way too much, thank you notes get sent out embarassingly late, weeds are taking over my gardens, I never read any more (literally, never), it looks like a laundry volcano erupted ALL OVER my house, and the to-do list in my office is in sad shape.

But, my kids are loved and happy. I manage to do special projects with them weekly (this contributes to the disgusting state of my house). We travel a decent amount. I follow a few tv shows (thank you DVR). And, I make love to my wife regularly. Its just in the priorities

Also, multitasking. I am never just doing one thing at once (as I type the laundry and dishwasher are going and I'm wearing Daisy and bouncing on a yoga ball in an effort to get her teething butt to fall asleep...and maybe even burn a few calories!).

If it interests you at all I detailed a day in my life here: ctworkingmoms.com/2012/07/12/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-working-mom-elise/

I always find it interesting to see exactly what a day in the life looks like for other moms

Mostly, though, i think moms (working moms esp) are way too hard on themselves. I get the impression that everyone thinks other moms have it together way more than they really do.

[2brides]

Ditto CT.

The reasons my house is relatively clean is 1) I have a very clean wife and 2) we have cleaners that come 1x a week. But there is still clutter around. Laundry gets done on the weekends and gets put away immediately or else it would have cat hair all over it.

My kids don't get homemade meals, they get chicken nuggets, pasta, and fish sticks more than they should. And we go out to eat FAR more than we should.

But everyone is happy and healthy and taken care of.

[twotrue]

Sept 12, 2012 17:58:44 GMT -5 ct said:

The house is a disaster all the time (clutter-wise, thankfully we have a cleaning person who gets rid of the actual dirt and dog hair 2x a month...very helpful).....

I've been to your house several times and the word 'clutter' never would have entered my mind when describing your home. You either hide it well for guests or you need to re-adjust what you think cluttered is

N2A - I don't think any working mom ever thinks she is doing enough or that things are done. Our to-do lists will never be cleared. Like CT, it's about priorities. And for me it's also about little stuff. The more little things I can knock out the more manageable the big stuff feels.

My day goes like this:
-Wake up way too late, take the dogs downstairs to be let out and fed, shower, dress, make-up.
-Wake up DD. Fight with a 2 y/o about her clothes. She'll force me to iron them (WTH did this kid come from?), K will still be in bed.
-I stumble down stairs w/ DD in an attempt to get her breakfast.
- Let the dogs in and out again
- Put any stray cups from the night before in the dishwasher
- Get DD and I out the door (most likely late)
- Drop DD at daycare and then head to work.
- Work, work, work.
- Usually at work I try to schedule one or two personal calls or emails that I need to do . Or if I need to purchase something online I try to do that first thing in the morning.
- Oh, and obviously I log on here to see my friends.
- After work, grab DD from daycare.
- Get home, DD gets 5 minutes to play her games on my phone. That 5 minutes is usually when I get to pee alone.
- Let the dogs out/in
- Take cell phone from DD and set her up with paint/art/playdough/etc
- Madly panic about what to cook for dinner. Realize I have the jitters because I skipped lunched and haven't eaten anything more than a bag of popcorn all day.
- In my panic I sweep the floors, load/unload the dishwasher, straighten up the couch (like fold blankets that were used the night before) etc.
- Open/sort mail
-Let the dogs in/out
- Finally manage some sort of dinner
- Feed the dogs
- Let the dogs in/out
- Yell at the dog for begging
- DD yells at the dog for begging
- Cuss about not having any malibu rum in the house because it would go really well with my mango lemonade.
- K walks in the door, changes into work out clothes and goes downstairs to run.
- DD Skypes with her grandparents. I clean up dinner, sweep/mop the floors.
- Take DD upstairs for bath. While she's in the tub I scrub down the bathroom.
- Get DD into pjs, teethbrushed.
- Realize I'm still in my work clothes. Strip off my bra and find a comfy pair of pants.
- K comes up stairs, kisses/plays with DD, then DD kicks her out and she goes downstairs to find herself dinner.
- I get DD to bed.
- Now it's somewhere between 8-9:30pm.
- Go downstairs, let the dogs in/out. Move any laundry or start loads as needed.
- Finally, plop down on the couch next to K. Open my lap-top. Do any work stuff, hop on here. Start up the DVR.
- Wake up sometime around 1am, drag my ass upstairs to bed for the day (oh, but only after letting the dogs in/out one more time ;-) )

So as you can see, I clearly don't have everything together but I'm rather okay with that.

[ct]

Sept 13, 2012 8:49:45 GMT -5 twotrue said:

Sept 12, 2012 17:58:44 GMT -5 ct said:

The house is a disaster all the time (clutter-wise, thankfully we have a cleaning person who gets rid of the actual dirt and dog hair 2x a month...very helpful).....

I've been to your house several times and the word 'clutter' never would have entered my mind when describing your home. You either hide it well for guests or you need to re-adjust what you think cluttered is

I take the day off before any company comes over and clean in a sweat-inducing panic. If you ever drop by unannounced I will pretend not to be home

also, i find it hysterical that JB demands you iron her clothes!! My kids dont even know what an iron is...

[2brides]

Sept 13, 2012 9:47:47 GMT -5 ct said:

! My kids dont even know what an iron is...

This. I ironed their dress clothes for something last year and it was hysterical (and sad) that they had no idea what an ironing board or iron were. My mother ironed EVERYTHING (hello, the t-shirts my father did yard work in) and I think I have overcompensated by not ironing anything (unless absolutely necessary.)

[twotrue]

Sept 13, 2012 9:47:47 GMT -5 ct said:

also, i find it hysterical that JB demands you iron her clothes!! My kids dont even know what an iron is...

It is all K's fault. She irons everything. Pants, shirts, undershirts. Everything. So the ironing board sits at the top of our stairs and never gets put away (well unless company is coming) because it is used that often. I, on the other hand, do not iron. I suck at it and well, I just don't care.

If JB pulls out a dress or shirt that has wrinkles she says "You iron." I've tried to explain to her that I'm not the mother that irons but it doesn't seem to matter.

[bluedaisyus]

What? Where did my post go? I think my browser ate it...

Anyway, I wonder what people sound like, if they have accents, how they laugh, what speech patterns they have.