I woke up this morning with many things rolling around in my head that I wanted to do. I’ve actually struggled with this in general lately on the weekends- lots of random things to do, but none of them necessarily time sensitive, exactly, or urgent.
So, on some “free” weekends like this one (i.e. not all tied up with kids’ activities), I find myself floundering a bit, trying to balance some things I want to do (exercise, read, maybe blog, family time, etc.) vs things I/we have to/should do (cleaning, groceries, home projects, organization/ decluttering, etc.).
It can be easy to glance up and be like, Dang, it’s noon…what have I done and why is the house a big mess?
I don’t usually time block my time on weekends, mostly because I’m not a solo entity on the weekends. We are a family of four, and although sure, I can plan out my time, things just often come up and derail it, anyway.
After I dropped Ethan at work at 7 a.m this morning, I actually debated time blocking the rest of my Saturday today, though. Time blocking is effective.
But then I was like, Eh, that seems a bit like an exercise in futility.
Instead, I decided to list out everything I’d like or have to do (I did this on paper, in my Sprouted planner!), and then assigned them each a number. Then, I decided I would just start working my way down the list, systematically. I’ll get through whatever I get through… and I guess just roll the rest over to tomorrow.
Numerical To Do List (and current status)
1. Read my book ✅ Done- I’m almost done with Building a Second Brain. On deck: The Art of Gathering (already picked up from library, for BOBW Patreon, non-fiction) and The Kite Runner (I own this but haven’t read it yet but have heard wonderful things about it, fiction).
2. Update my time log ✅ Done. I do this every morning. I realized I hadn’t updated it since like, 8 a.m. yesterday, so I had to fill in basically the whole day. You’d be surprised how easy this actually is to do retrospectively… try it!
3. Crawl back in bed and watch x2 episodes of Emily in Paris with Ivan while Charlie took his morning nap on our bed. ✅ Okay, this was not on the original list and I just added this. lol. But what good is a rainy, cold, January morning for if not for occasionally lounging in bed and watching TV at 9 a.m. with your husband?
4. Go for a run. ✅Finally able to run outside! So I ran 3 miles. And they sucked. 😦 Not sure why, but I just felt… bad. And sluggish. And slow. I had lots of self-doubt thoughts creep in like, “See, this is why you quit running before… it’s just not for you. You’re not good at this.” And, “You’ve been back to running for a while now… you should be doing better with this by now.” Etc. I’m sure that was just Grumpy Kaelyn talking, so we’ll just ignore her and carry on.
5. Walk Charlie. ✅ Done. After a quick lunch, we walked about a mile. He was happy it’s in mid-30’s and climbed every snowbank he could and tried to drink from every run-off snow puddle.
6. Shower. ✅ Done.
7. Write a blog post. (In process….).
8. Email cleanout.
9. Help Asher declutter room, part 1. He is currently cleaning his room (the boys do this weekly, just your basic dust, vacuum, etc.). But his room and closet need some serious deeper attention. I told him we could split this into two parts- Part 1: Drawers/ Desk and Part 2: Closet. He said he wants to do Drawers/ Desk today, so, that’s coming up soon.
10. Do some personal decluttering. I had listed a few areas on my daily to-do lists this week that I wanted to address, but…. have not. Sigh. a) my top office desk drawer b) my “under the bed box” c) my sock drawer! and d) our upstairs desk file cabinet (it’s only 2 drawers, not as bad as it sounds). Yes, these are random, but I’m trying to embrace the idea of just getting started and tackling smaller areas to get the momentum going. (Not claiming I will declutter my entire kitchen this weekend, for example.)
11. Gym?? My run was really a make-up workout that got shifted from Thursday. Today is supposed to be Leg Day #2 at the gym… going to try to get up the gumption for an evening gym sesh, possibly with Ethan.
12. Work catch-up ~1-2 hours. Well, this is not happening today. Let’s be real. LOL. But I got a little behind on a few things this week due to several appts during my workdays. So, I’d really like to wrap up some things this weekend before the new week starts Monday. This will likely push to tomorrow!!
Not on The List, but I’d also like us to, at some point soon:
- Dive more into our summer travel planning!! Hawaii lodging is booked but we don’t have flights yet OR rental cars. Or any activities figured out yet. We don’t go until June, but I’d like to get the flights and car done. Ivan will help with this part.
- Do some financial updates
- Make next week’s meal plan
- A lot more decluttering type stuff/ other household things
- Photo work! (Ongoing project I keep ignoring…)
And, because I apparently no longer take pictures of anything besides Charlie, here are some from today….
#1: Napping on sunroom chair while I drank my tea and read.
#2: Trying to sit like a human so his belly would be exposed for a belly scratch.
#3: Informing me that he waited long enough while I went for my run, and it is now Charlie’s Walk Time. 😅
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that the snow and ice has finally mostly melted from the streets, thus allowing me to RUN OUTSIDE and walk Charlie much more comfortably.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Charlie is so darn cute!! I am usually kind of scared of dogs but I think I’d get along just great with him!
I don’t time block but my weekends kind of follow a rhythm. We don’t have much in terms of activities yet because swimming for Paul on Sunday. I get up with the boys and Phil sleeps in. Then when he’s up I workout (current Caroline Girvan workouts since I’m not running this winter). On Sat he goes to the grocery stores after my workout and I usually take the boys to the library. I couldn’t do that this am since Paul was sick so we watched a movie. It’s been a day full of screen time since Paul is sick. Then I usually get naptime to myself to read/nap since Phil gets to sleep in.
Sometimes we have bad runs! It doesn’t mean anything. You just had an off day. So try not to let it get to you. I know that is easier said than done. I am feeling so sore this evening as I did a CG workout at 3 yesterday so I think the workouts were done a bit too close together and had so many squats and lunges and such. I will make sure I do ann arms workout tomorrow!
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Oh, trust me, you wouldn’t be scared of Charlie!!! He’s literally the sweetest thing on the planet!
I hear you on workouts too close together. When I first started this new program, I did a leg workout and was sore like 4-5 days!! I definitely felt it on my other workouts that week, big time. Now I’ve settled in and am not really sore anymore. Usually just the first week or so of the new month’s program I get sore.
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Oh, my goodness! Charlie’s face in that last photo! What a handsome gentleman!!
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He sure is. 😉
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I should do some time blocking. I can definitely relate to the feeling of…. there’s all the things I want and need to do and then it’s noon and I haven’t done anything. Where did the time go?
Of course that’s not true that I haven’t done ANYTHING, but I probably worked out and then dabbled on my phone and had coffee and checked emails and blogs and BAM, the morning is over. Time blocking would definitely hep with efficiency.
And I have to say, your list is LONG. I am amazed how much you already checked off your list!
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I know… I really do enjoy just puttering around and dabbling in things because so many weekends I just can’t do that! But then I feel like I am probably not utilizing the open weekends to the best of my ability, either… oh well I guess!
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Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the run. Those negative thoughts can really get to you. I’ve been learning to deal with negative talk during hard runs, it’s to talk back, saying that maybe this mile sucks, but let’s go through it and it will turn better. Another thing that could help is to ignore the watch, DO not check your pace. Just run with the feel. I swear that it makes a huge difference to start almost 2 min/mile slower than the pace I average at the end. For non workout runs I don’t check watch every time that it marks a mile. It makes me tune in with the effort level better. I could write a novel when it comes to running. Hahahah…
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I’ll take any running tips! It’s always fun to hear from you, SHU, Jenny on this…. I think maybe because I have long legs, but I often find running really easy and slow to be almost awkward for me. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like I feel like I either need to walk or run a little faster to feel at a comfortable gait. But, my cardiovascular fitness and running endurance isn’t necessarily able to keep up! Haha. I did try today though to really take it easier even though it can feel a little awkward. Thanks for the insights!
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Oh I’m trying to track my time this week. Let’s see how I find out.
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Charlie. Gah. It’s just too much, Kaelyn. Like how could you ever say no to those eyes??!!
I have JUST started time blocking for like, the first time ever. So far I am loving it. Just little tweaks because I had rough time blocking in place, but I’ve written out a time blocking “template” and put it on the front of my – wait for it 🙂 – Sprouted planner. It’s surprisingly comforting to have this in place.
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I didn’t realize you hadn’t tried time blocking! I have taken to doing it on my Google calendar. I just made a separate calendar (within my main account) called Timeblock. I love it there because I can so easily drag blocks to a different time slot or change the time, etc. I tried this on paper and all the crossing around and rearranging was driving me nuts. I also love that I can then “hide” the timeblock calendar and just see my actual events. (When I first started doing it digitally, I was just adding time blocks to my main calendar. But that was so cluttered! So this separate calendar just for time blocking, while still on same screen as my other calendars, is just so perfect for me!
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Omg. Charlie. I think my favorite part of your day (so far) is when you and Ivan watched TV while Charlie napped on the bed. That just sounds SO COZY. And, I have bad runs all the time. And then I think “HOW in the world do I think I’m going to run 50 miles when I can barely run 4???” Hopefully your next run will feel amazing. I’ll be impressed if I find out you did that decluttering AND made it to the gym on Saturday night! That’s hardcore.
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Well this is reassuring to me that even you with your incredible mileage still can even find a 4 mile run challenging!! I guess I figured that after the whole, um, month that I’ve been running now (lol- that’s nothing!) it should be super easy by now.
Oh, and never fear- I did not get to the gym last night, and the only declutterring I did was part of Asher’s bedroom drawers (but way less than we had originally intended- though still solid progress).
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Kaelyn, your Saturday sounds like it was a perfect mix of productivity and relaxation! I love how you balanced the must-dos with those moments of joy, like watching “Emily in Paris” with Ivan and those cozy naps with Charlie. It’s such a great reminder that weekends don’t have to be all about ticking off tasks from our to-do lists; they can also be about enjoying the little moments. Your approach to just listing things down and tackling them one by one is so relatable. It’s a gentle nudge for me to maybe try something similar, especially on those weekends that feel overwhelmingly open yet somehow fly by without much to show for them. Plus, the way you shared about your run resonated with me. We all have those days where things feel tougher than usual, but it’s all part of the journey, right? And let’s talk about Charlie – those snapshots you shared just warmed my heart. It’s amazing how pets can add so much light and laughter to our days. Thanks for sharing your Saturday with us, and here’s to finding that perfect balance between doing and just being!
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