Being Productive

For some reason I’ve been pondering my “things to do” lists excessively this week. It’s been busy at work and at home. Band camp is wrapping up, and Hope and I will be sliding into the last week of summer “vacation” this weekend. I’ve got some R&R sans Hope overnight on Saturday and have really tried to keep the rest of the weekend unplanned.

With each week of my life with Hope, I develop a greater appreciation for how hard parenting is and especially how hard single parenting is. In exchange for being the sole decision maker, I am the sole decision maker and sometimes, when big ish is happening, that sucks. Sometimes it’s not even about being a decision maker…sometimes I really just wish someone else was here to listen to Hope drone on about something I find coma-inducing. It’s hard.

I’m blessed, but this blessing has a rough side of the mountain.

Sometimes I feel like I accomplish nothing all day, every day, but I know that’s not true. Just look what I’ve managed this week:

Google Searches

• Why does my dog eat poop?
• How prevalent are heartworms in my area?
• Should I take my poop eating dog to the vet?
• Is clutter a reflection of emotional state (It can be)?
• Can you still buy Calgon Bath Beads (you can, for a ridiculous $12!)?
• Was the Louis Lester Band real? (Currently watching Dancing on the Edge on Netflix.)
• Hope’s new high school’s colors

Pinterest Searches

• Oreo balls (you need these in your life.)
• Punctuation cheat sheets
• Corn chowder recipes
• Crockpot recipes
• Cocktail recipes
• Grammar worksheets
• Natural hair tips
• Other miscellaneous, random stuff.

Scheduling

• Renewed Hope’s library book (failed to pay existing $9 for other late books)
• Called Absurdly Hot Therapist a day early to reschedule appointment due to band related conflict only to find we missed the appointment which was really scheduled for yesterday. #fail
• Volunteered to participate in several band parent related functions in hopes of logging my hours early so I don’t feel guilty for ditching them later in the semester.
• Studied the fall calendar to see of Elihu and I could jet off to the Bahamas for a few days.
• I called ahead to Costco for this week’s pizza order and got there right in time to get a chicken fresh off the rotisserie.
• Made my iced coffee the night before three days this week.

Fitness & Self Care

• Hit my fitbit fitness goal every day and generously exceeded it on most days.
• Used my new faux Pilates toning bar thingy with the stretchy bands.
• I fantasized about spiking my slurpees but didn’t.
• Had a slurpee everyday
• Only 3 glasses of wine this week, and they weren’t even tumbler sized.
• I cooked every day.
• I took walks at work every day.
• I took Yappy to the dog park 3 days this week (he’s so fun to watch that I count this as fitness and self-care).

House Stuff

• The AC in the living room is finally being repaired.
• I painted the door to Hope’s room; still needs another coat.
• I have picked up and tidied Hope’s room a little each morning because I realize that she simply can’t manage it this week.
• After 2 weeks I tackled Yappy’s lair under my bed; the things I found under there are unspeakable.
• I found Hope’s latest food hoarding stash.
• We have nearly finished school shopping.
• I wrote the band director a nasty gram about his comments about Hope’s hair not fitting under the band cap.
• I only deleted 3 of the mazillion band parent emails.
• I vacuumed and mopped.
• I made desserts for the band camp finale dinner.
• I put a fresh bottle of pinot gris in the fridge for Friday night.

I’m tired, a wee bit grumpy and looking forward to a lazy weekend. We are all way more productive than we probably think we are.

Life is hard. Parenting is hard. We all probably should give ourselves a bit of a break, right?