Sorry I haven’t been blogging much lately. Although on the blog it looks like I stopped blogging when I hurt my foot, the real reason I am not blogging is that working simply sucks up what extra free time I used to have. There just isn’t time to be good at being a mom, being a good PTA president, and being a good blogger and being a good worker. Something had to give. Blogging and the 20 mins it took a day is simply gone. I need to not have the mental worry about updating here. I will update here when I can, but it simply isn’t on my radar much these days.

Work has been a real growth opportunity for me. Not in a career sense, but in a sense that it’s forcing me to really prioritize my life. Before, when I had things come my way – lunch with girlfriends, time with friends, volunteering opportunities, parties, things to do around the house… I just did them. I didn’t really give it a second thought. Time is a delicious luxury. Now, I need to pick and choose more what I want to do and when I want to do it. It has been difficult to adapt to the new conditions. Any idiot can grow when they have nothing else to do … but can I do it when I am really really busy? I don’t know yet.

Here’s the daily snapshot.

From 7am to 8:15 I am getting myself up, kids up and out the door and doing carpool. Then I come home to work. I work pretty much from 8:30am to 12:30pm. That gives me 2 ½ hours 4 days a week (Weds is a half day so I get 1 hour there if I start work early or work late one evening) to do all my errands, PTA extra meetings (about 4 hours per week) and handle all appointments. It’s almost impossible to make it work. Throw in the unexpected flu, travel, start of school pta madness or sick children and it really just becomes almost overwhelming

From 3-4 most days I am doing homework with the kids. I have made this now a priority in my life to work especially with Dinara who needs the extra help coming up with strategies and processes to deal with her issues. We have already seen tremendous pay off… but it’s a huge time commitment. On the days I am not helping her, we have mommy carpool to kids activities. Then I have dinner prep and dinner from 5 to 6 each night. I’ve been trying to engage to do PTA email every night from 6 to 7pm. 7-8pm I have been working on household stuff like bank deposits, getting stuff ready for tomorrow, paying bills, etc. From 8-10pm I usually clean up the kitchen, put stuff away, fold laundry, etc. And watch TV. If I don’t engage on the household stuff in the evening hours… everything tends to go to hell in a handbasket – so Im learning the hard way that this time must be scheduled in, or I just don’t do it.

That is my new life.. I am in the process of trying to work things around so that I can get 3 to 4 workouts in a week when I feel better. That is going to require me moving one of my work days to the evening so I get an extra 4 hours a week free without kids.

So… being that busy begs the question: Is it worth it? I’m not sure I can for certain answer that yes right now, but I think it’s yes. I’ve committed to this job till early spring and I will see it through and then determine if this is a pace I can keep up or not. My goal is to remain present in my life and prioritize things well so I still have personal growth. Can I do it? I admit I do love the challenge of it all. Sick. I.know.

Oh sure… we could just focus on money as a metric. But that is too easy. From a purely economic standpoint, working is a no-brainer. I get paid well and I work from home. I am putting away more than $500 per month which adds up to over $300,000 in retirement. Plus, I am paying off our home equity loan which covered our new patio. I love love love growing my savings and it ‘s a real rush for me to do it. Me working keeps more money in our investment account because we don’t have to draw out as much to live. So on many levels, it’s wealth building. For me, focusing on this aspect of my life is VERY rewarding on many levels.

But there is a personal cost having your hours completely booked up. You know how people who have to scrounge and look for food and shelter don’t really have a lot of time to be focusing on emotional growth? When you are so very busy that your time is spent focused on survival … you simply don’t engage in other pursuits. And life isn’t as fulfilling. I’ve had it both ways and trust me, it’s better with lots of time!

In other news, my foot seems fine. I biked today and it went well. No pain. So I am thrilled about that. I haven’t walked on it extensively or run yet. I’ve been a bit out of commission with the flu here lately for the last month. Kids have all been sick and I have been sicker than a dog. I think I’m coming out of it now. But man it’s been brutal. It will be interesting to see how the foot does when I go for a short run.

I went to Vegas this past weekend with a girlfriend and had a great time. We went to see Celine Dion before her show ends in December. But can you believe it — She was sick so the show was canceled. Apparently she is sick a lot. Caesar’s Palace is none too happy with her. At breakfast at the Bellagio we saw her husband and “French speaking guests” that looked like family. I’m thinking she wasn’t sick but maybe was just taking some time off to be with family? We went and saw the show Ka instead by Circ de Soliel. And we went and saw Mamma Mia which is the musical of Abba songs. It was very cute. I dreamed about those songs for the next two nights. And the spandex. Good lord. And we did spa treatments. That was lovely. I want to work just so I can do spa treatments.

In other news, my sister adopted a baby girl. So I am a new auntie! I also traveled for that. I was with her for a weekend while the paperwork was being processed. It was a grueling trip in a lot of ways. We met the birth parents and it was just “hard” to see their pain. It’s such a contrast in adoption… to feel so much joy but be surrounded by so much pain at the same time. It’s difficult.

We are getting ready to go to Florida in a few weeks. We are going to spend a few weeks down there with family and then go to Disney for a week. I am really looking forward to the trip. I hope it’s nice and warm down there!

Kids are all doing fine. We’ve been battling the flu but everyone seems to be on the upswing. Here’s a picture of me and the girls that came out great from Sept.

smkedsept07.jpg

Patio construction is moving along. I think we are pretty much “done” with it till spring now. It’s a slow long process now that we are doing it ourselves, but the rock looks fantastic. I’m very happy with it and I can’t wait to get to use my new outdoor sanctuary.
Im sort of back in a reading phase right now. Reading a few books on Taoism and Buddism. Always thought provoking… but I don’t feel as engaged with it as I normally do.

Anyway… that’s the update. To set expectations, my posts here will be VERY sporadic. Sorry I can’t promise anything regular!

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