Welcome to Beyond the Books. This post was inspired by Lexxie @Unconventional Bookviews' Up Close and (Un)conventional, who was inspired by Cuddlebuggery. It's meant to be a way for y'all to get to know me better on a personal level - Beyond the Books. ;)
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I recently described myself as a stay-at-home mom who rarely stays home. As I thought about that description, I realized how accurate it is. As y'all know, I'm a mom to 3. And each of my kiddos are involved in various activities requiring me to drive to various places. Add to that the fact that we live rurally and have an hour round-trip drive just to and from school? Yeah, I'm not at home a lot during the day.
My typical day looks like:
- Up at 4:30 a.m. to comment on friends' blogs OR get ready for work
- 6:00 a.m. - get kids up and start breakfast
- 7:00 a.m. - get kids out the door and drive them to school
- 8:00 a.m. - I'm either back home working out or at the rec center to do a class
- 10:00-2:30 - I'm back home where I'm either commenting on blogs, responding to email, doing blog posts, or reading. Depending on the day, I also am cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, etc.
- 2:30 - I leave to pick up kids. Depending on the day, I pick up one kid from school, get them fed (dinner) before running said kid to a rehearsal or lesson, and then running back to pick up the other kid from rehearsal or lesson. Depending on the time of year, I am sometimes running dinner to at least 2 of my kids because they have after-school practices which prevent them from coming home for dinner. My oldest is now driving so I no longer have to drive her to her lesson/rehearsals but I still take dinner to her on certain days.
- 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. - I'm back home and start dinner...make sure kids are working on homework
- ~8:30 p.m. - I have a little time to work on my computer - either blog stuff or writing
- ~10:30 (sometimes later, if a kid needs me or I'm reading a good book) - I head to bed to rest so I can do it all over again the next day.
Now, if I am working, this adds an extra hour+ drive to my day. There are days where I spend 5 to 6 hours in the car. Since I live rurally, I have a 20 minute drive to the grocery store...and at least a 45 minute drive 'down the hill' to doctors' offices, malls, etc. It's a lot of driving and I try very hard to group all my errands 'down the hill' so I don't have to make multiple trips.
This also doesn't take into consideration any meetings and/or school related events we might have in the evenings. The last few weeks, our evenings have been packed with orchestra rehearsals and concerts (down the hill) and high school information meetings. (both my youngest kids start high school next year. Yikes!)
All this being said, I must say that I LOVE where I live. Yes, it does mean that I spend a ton of time in the car. But I'm 3-10 minutes away from hiking, depending on what trail I want to take. I get to see deer, elk, foxes, etc., on a daily basis. Plus, the peace I feel when I am at home is something I wouldn't trade. I am definitely grateful to be able to stay home with my kids! ;)
What about y'all? Does your day include a lot of time away from home? I'd love any tips you might have to offer in keeping me organized. ;)
