I’ve been feeling a little frustrated lately. It’s been one of those phases (which I get in quite frequently, honestly) where it just feels like everything does not really FIT into my life the way I wish it would.
In an average day, I am always trying to finagle ways to fit in (not in this exact order):
- some personal/ admin time (i.e. tea + computer + organize my life time + email etc.)
- reading (at least a little?!)
- walking Charlie 1-2x (*others can and do do this, too, but I “need steps”, too…and I generally like it)
- shower + get ready
- work 8 hours
- exercise
- make dinner
- clean up house/ dishes/ general household maintenance
- drive Asher somewhere and/or pick up, sometimes multiple times
- an inevitable appointment or other “chore” (i.e. pharmacy run, phone calls, dealing with stuff)
- talk to my family?!
- oh yeah, and my blog + ideally a little blog reading!
- SLEEP
Like, these are ALL things that I would really love to have present in every single day. (Or, need to, in some cases,)
Sigh. Obviously, the “math doesn’t math”, or however that current saying goes.
It’s logistically impossible to fit every one of these things every day. And I know, some of them don’t have to happen every single day. But really, I feel like most of them work best as a “nearly daily activity”? (exercise, walking, shower, dinner, house maintenance, personal admin, driving Asher to practice, talking to family…oh yes, and sleep).
Ivan obviously can help with some things, but he’s not THAT much help in some arenas, given that he’s not home until usually at least 6:00. If we’re lucky. Not super helpful if Asher has practice at 5:00, for example. Also not really very helpful with making dinner… unless we push dinner late, I guess. He will often do swim pick up, so that helps. And he’s always willing to walk Charlie, but then again, some days my steps are SO LOW. So I actually want to walk in the evening….
Weekends tend to feel like an equally frustrating Tetris game. I end up with this huge list of things I want to do, a huge list of things I/ we need to do, and often, I just end up feeling semi-exhausted and like…. I want to do nothing. Ha.
Definitely think my changes at work have contributed to some of these feelings. First, I’ve just experienced heightened stress at work compared to before. My brain is TIRED at the end of the day. Also, my job used to be more flexible, so I was able to fit more “life maintenance” into my workday before, or I could end earlier… now it’s more of a strict 8-5 schedule, sometimes 5:30, and that means the evening goes…. fast! Also, it’s late to first start making dinner + driving + cleaning up + chores + walking + exercising and…. oof. It’s just a lot? No? Or am I just getting old and turning into a wimp. I honestly shudder to think if I also had a long commute!
I do try and utilize my lunch break for either exercise or dinner prep etc but sometimes I have an errand or an appointment or it seems fairly often that things get in the way.
Anyway! I keep feeling like I just wish I could have a few more hours in the day. Or a few more hours less of a certain something else…. ha.
Other Misc.
In other misc news, Charlie got a haircut yesterday! He was way overdue. I forgot to schedule after his last appointment, and didn’t end up calling until after we got home from London. Which was about when he needed a cut, but that was over 2 weeks ago now. So, his curls were super long and I knew he had some matted spots. Ugh. So, as I expected, she basically had to shave him! Poor Charlie. Haha. My cute, sweet boy now looks like a skinny little skinned pup.
He asked me to not share his picture. 😉 (He’s a little self-conscious right now, LOL.) But at least he came home with a cute Easter egg bandana! And his ears are still fluffy. Sweet Charles, you’re always cute to me, buddy!
The other day Asher texted me and said that he put Charlie’s photo into Chat GPT and asked it to create a picture of what Charlie would look like if he were human. This is what it generated:
😅 Hahaha! So funny. I love that he’s wearing a little flower. lol!! Totally captures Charlie very “sunny” happy personality. 💗
*No idea if this is a real kid?! Sorry if I just posted someone’s child on my blog!! I am assuming it’s just a computer-generated image, I think…?
I’ve been making a half-hearted effort to eat a little better. Half-hearted being key words… lol. I don’t know, I seem to go like, one day eating all the protein and all the veggies, and then the next day, I’m just like… meh. And then I eat a big PBJ and pretzels for lunch and eat like zero protein or veggies. Ha.
I had a “healthy day” yesterday, though. I ate a big greek yogurt bowl with fruit and oats for breakfast + some cubed ham and cheddar on the side, a big salad with tuna and celery and almonds for lunch, and for dinner a ground beef/ potato/ pinto bean mix simmered in salsa verde.
For a snack I had the below: 2 everything rice cakes topped with pepper jack laughing cow cheese and a very normal, standard amount of raw jalapenos (🤣), some mini peppers and a few turkey bites on the side.
Let’s see if I can go for another higher protein + veggies day today. hahaha.
I saw Ethan’s keys laying on the counter and they made me smile. He already had this cool “lucky” keychain that he got in Ireland (I think? Or maybe my sister/family gifted it to him when he got his license? I honestly can’t remember! Anyway, it’s from Ireland). Now he added this Believe keychain (from Ted Lasso) that he got in Richmond. 🙂
I love how they’re both really positive. I mean, I want him to have all the good vibes while out driving around, so this works for me. 🙂
And finally, more on this another time, but I did reinstall Facebook again this weekend, after a week away. It was fine. I mean, I did enjoy looking at all the “updates” I missed. But not that much, either. I posted the remaining pics I wanted and my own couple updates, and I think now I’ll stay off again until Saturday. Maybe that will be my cadence? Delete it during the week, have it back on the weekend?
I did manage to find a couple things that made me laugh out loud:
Alright, swim pick up time. Asher has impressed me lately! Since he started lifeguarding, he has opted to work a couple evening shifts during the week… DURING his evening swim practice time! (Like, he’s lifeguarding for his peers… haha.) But this means that he’s obviously not doing the practice then. So, he’s opted to get up and go to 5:30 a.m.-6:50 a.m. practice some days so that he can be free to work at night. (And still get 5 days of swim practice in.)
Totally his choice, and he’s gotten himself up without me having to say a word! Proud of him. 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for an early bedtime last night. Asher was in bed and asleep by 9:30! And I wasn’t far behind.
GRATEFUL KAE 
“Keep on keeping on” is a motto that I used when I was in your season of life. May you find peace with your schedule. God bless.
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Aww thank you so much for these kind words. That is a great motto! 💕
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Yes, I often joke that I would have time for everything if I just didn’t have to go to work. It’s truly impossible to fit everything in with a work schedule like yours. I wish I had a solution, but sadly I don’t. Well, I guess I’ll tell you my “solution”- let your house completely fall apart instead of spending time cleaning. Our house is really a wreck right now, sigh.
Ha, “Charlie as a human” is HILARIOUS. Now I’m inspired to do that with Muffin.
Good for Asher! We can both look on the bright side- it’s not hard to get our kids up in the morning. My daughter also is very responsible about getting herself out of bed (although not for a 5:30 am swim practice, of course!) One of my friends has a daughter who has to be dragged out of bed in the morning and is frequently late for school. Think how much that would suck!
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Haha, yes, exactly!! I mean… it’s undeniable that work takes up a lot of time!! I always feel like I wish I just had “one extra day off” to catch up and take care of things. But I’m sure that would zoom by anyway.
Ok please do turn Muffin human and share!! Haha!! And Asher is not a morning person, but despite that he has done quite well getting himself up! It would definitely be a huge drag to have to fight someone every single day on it. Oof.
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That evening lifeguarding shift where he is watching his incredibly skilled teammates swim is the easiest money to make! Good for him for having the drive to make some extra money even if it means getting up at a ridiculously early time. Oh to be young and have all that energy!
Your list of to dos makes me appreciate that we are in a less busy stage of life. Paul is the only one with activities and it’s only seasonal and typically only 1-2 nights/week – which Phil tends to handle since he’s the sports guy in the family and I am often traveling so he would have to handle it anyways. But I know this will change as the kids get bigger and more into their various interests. We are still in the stage of figuring out what they are interested in/good at!
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Well, the thing is- we actually have LESS driving right now!! When they were like 10-12 age range and both in club soccer in different directions plus multiple sports it was way worse. So I am confused why I am struggling now so much even though life “should” be a lot easier! Ethan can drive, they can stay home alone, they are more self-sufficient… I think it must be my job. Before I often would work shorter days and then catch up on Saturday morning for a while, etc. I can’t really do that now. Getting done at 5-5:30 versus 3-3:30 does make a big difference!
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I think this stage of life with the boys extracurriculars are just…so all-consuming. Everything happens later at night, further away, etc. The last few weeks we have been riding the high of not having basketball 3x/week. There was one evening a week with nothing. ONE EVENING.
I don’t work a full-time job so I can never compare myself to anyone else, but I barely feel like I can keep up with everything I want/need to do, so hats off to you for juggling all that you do AND planning super awesome trips AND working out faithfully AND being present with/for your kids. You can’t fit every single thing in that you want, but you’re fitting in SO much, Kae. Gold stars ❤
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I feel like walking is a such a good multitasking exercise – do you ever have grand rounds or zoom meetings you could watch while walking? or sneak in a walk post sports practice?
i also think reserving your lunch break for exercise most days is great (obviously sometimes there will be appts or other things).
I feel like this is a time tracking opportunity 🙂 or maybe you kind of already do that in your google sheets!
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I have to get up really early to make it all work. Like 5 am early. I aim to be worked out, have all 3 bathrooms wiped down, and be done with dog walk 1/3 by 6:45 when Minnie wakes up.
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I love your bathroom wiping routine. 🙂 And yeah, I think I may need to rethink my workout routine a little. Working out in the morning would really be a game changer. I do also get up pretty early- usually 5:15/5:30, but i probably don’t utilize that hour to the best of my ability. I sometimes tend to sort of squander away that first hour, though I often use it for household admin time or just personal time, or often even some actual work, depending on the day. I usually have to end my “morning routine” time by 6:45, too- but I usually first walk Charlie at 7:00 and then still need to shower and get people out the door. If I had a workout done and Charlie’s walk in by that point already, it would be pretty amazing! And might really impact the rest of my day, in a good way.
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my comment was deleted, here it goes again.
I can relate to this Kae as I’m also feeling falling behind in life organization because I don’t have space during the day anymore and when i get home I prioritize spending time with the girls (not even husband) before my energy reserve tanks and need to go to sleep. It’s a phase I hope.
can I get the app to generate human charlie pic? He looks so sweet! I want to see what Cookie would look like.
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I feel you! First of all, if there is a dog walk happening, I want to be in on it. Second of all, I don’t even like rice cakes but your snack is speaking to me. Anytime that I can pile jalapenos on something I am in.
I don’t have the answer for how to get more time in the day, but I have the problem. When work is good I have so much extra energy, and when it’s not, then it’s just totally draining and it eats into the rest of my day.
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Kae, this is so relatable. I am in a similar boat, except I work in-person, from 7:30 till 3, with no flexibility. R has jiu jitsu on Tuesdays but other than that, everything else is on a weekend (piano, gymnastics). I wake up relatively early, but sometimes I sacrifice my “me” time for sleep… Then I am also supposed to be a wife, a friend, a daughter. A mom of course. Ugh, never stops.
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I do not have children I need to take care of NOR do I have a partner, and I STILL feel like I am constantly underwater with everything I want to do. I’ve been thinking recently about what my life would look like if I didn’t have a blog (and thus, didn’t feel like I needed to spend copious hours of my week reading blogs, responding to comments, and writing posts), and I know I could get more done but it’s the part of my life that I love so much, and I don’t want to give it up AT ALL. But it does feel like if I lean more toward the reading side of my hobbies, then I get behind on blogs. If I learn more towards blogging, then I’m suddenly not reading at all. It’s a neverending cycle of feeling like we just don’t have enough time to get it all done.
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Yes!!! You nailed it on this comment. Blogging does end up taking up a good amount time of time, between writing and reading and commenting and responding to comments… but it’s so fun! I have tried what I think some people do and will say, ok, I’ll just allow 20 minutes for blogging stuff in the morning. But that’s nothing! I’ve tried this and I might get through a handful of posts, even fewer if I comment, too. And it’d be very rare for me to be able to write a coherent post and publish it in only 20 minutes… also agree on the part about reading vs blogging. My morning routine window only holds a certain amount of time and I can NOT fit in everything I’d like to do then….
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