Today’s Forecast: Scattered Mom Likely

Original Post Date: 8-1-11

A peek inside the frenzied mind of an everyday mom:

Ah, my coffee.  We’re almost out of Splenda.  I’m going to have to remember to put that on my grocery list.  In fact, I need to make a run to Walmart today.  Let me start a list.  Where is the paper?  I thought I’d just put it in this drawer yesterday. 

What do you need, baby? Well, we’re having breakfast in about 10 minutes, just let me finish cutting these grapes.  Should I cut these grapes in fourths?  I’m going to just cut them all up now, then we’ll be good to go the rest of the week. Oh yeah, my coffee.  We’ve got plenty of cream to last the next week or two, that’s groovy.  And thanks to my dad for giving us a whole bag of his home-roasted Kona coffee beans.  That reminds me, I need to send him a thank you card.  I wonder if I have any cards left over from the last bunch I bought?  I’ll have to remember to look for one later, before I head over to the store. 

No, you may not have any chocolate.  If you eat your breakfast, I’ll think about giving you some chocolate milk.  Waffles!  I wonder if I should just go ahead and make a waffle for myself?  I know I was going to try and eat healthier today and cook up some scrambled egg whites, but this will save me time on cooking and dishes and well, it’s just easier.  What the hell, right?  I’ll make it up at lunch time with a salad.  I’m going to have to buy some fresh spinach though because I think what’s left in the fridge is bad.   As always, I’m so awful at letting vegetables spoil.  I know it drives Zac crazy.  Why isn’t he up yet? 

What happened to your clothes, young man?  You are supposed to go on a doggie walk with your father and I just got you dressed!  Go grab your undies!  There he is.  Good!  I’ll get five, maybe ten, minutes of quiet when he takes the boys and our dog for their morning walk.

No, seriously, I had him dressed just a minute ago.  I’m not going to spend my morning chasing him down 17 times to get him to keep his clothes on. Luke!  Grab your undies if you want to go for a doggie walk.  Otherwise, you’re going to stay here with me.

I’m so not going to stick to that threat!  I cherish these peaceful minutes.  I’ll check my e-mail once they leave.  I can start breakfast as soon as they get back.  I also need to look up our play date for today; I can’t remember if it’s at 3:00 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.  I hope it’s at 3:30 p.m., that always gives us – okay, bye, have fun. Be safe! – what was I just thinking?  Oh, I can’t remember.  Doesn’t matter anyway, I guess.  I have to go potty.  Did I just say potty?  But first, let me check my bank account to see if my little tiny paycheck went through.  I need to make sure my wallet is in my diaper bag too before I leave this morning.  I think I had it last when I met Susie at the movies and I really don’t remember transferring it back to the diaper bag.  Okay, good!  It’s in there.  I better go ahead and throw a couple of diapers in it now also.  I’m pretty sure I have to pick some of those up, too.

List!  I’ve got to start a list!  Finally!  Here’s some paper.  Milk.  Maybe a thank you card.  Diapers for ZZ.  What am I going to have for lunch today?  Oh, yeah, a salad.  Spinach.  I think I have everything else I need for lunch here. I could use some more Cherry Coke Zero.  Cherry Coke Zero.  Awesome!

My paycheck has gone through; I have money again!  Maybe I should buy Luke some new pool shoes from Once Upon A Child.  Does he really need pool shoes?  I can’t believe his birthday is coming up.  Well, it’ll be here before we know it after vacation in September.  That’s just eight weeks away.  And his birthday will be about six weeks after that.  What kind of party should we have? What’s he really into these days?  His daddy’s Jeep.  Can I have a Jeep party? What would that consist of?  I could get Diego plates and decorations but make his cake a Jeep cake and, well, then it’s a Diego party and not a Jeep party.  But I want it to be so special for him since we had a small affair last year.  What about a pool party?  In November?  Maybe a slight possibility since we’re in South Carolina, but nothing to count on.  I should see if there are any indoor pools in town.  I’m sure there won’t be since we are in SC, but maybe.  He loves the pool so much; he’d be in heaven!

Hey!  You’re back!  That was fast!  What happened to my quiet time?  I didn’t get anything accomplished.  Now I won’t have another moment of quiet until naptime and I’m not sure I can make that happen since Zealand woke up an hour before his brother.  I must try!  I’ll go to the grocery store right before lunch time and keep him awake!  What would you like from the store?  I hope my two favorite plates for the boys are clean.  They are not in the cabinet where they should be.  Not in the dishwasher.  I now know what my mom used to talk about when I was little when she’d tell us she was losing her mind because things are never in the place she left them.

Honey, where are the boys’ blue and green plates?  Ha!  I must’ve mindlessly grabbed them earlier when I first got to the kitchen.  I can’t believe they are sitting here right in front of me. Here you go boys: a waffle, grapes and yogurt.  It feels so good to sit down.  My boys are so sweet.  It looks like they’re hungry, too, which is always a good thing.  You know what would be perfect right now?  My coffee; which I haven’t touched since I poured it an hour ago.  Now where the heck is it?    

Doing it All

I am often asked by friends and family how I do it all.  They want to know how the heck I take two young children to two different places in the morning, make it to work, work an 8 hour day, then turn around, get both kids…head home…cook a home cooked meal, then clean the kitchen, give baths, story-time…etc, etc.  You get the point.

So I got all geared up to write this article.  And my fingers hovered over the keyboard for several minutes…and nothing.  How do I do it?  How am I not nuts…or, maybe I am nuts but how am I still doing it all.  I could give you my daily schedule, tell you I’m not stressed most of the time, that I have it all figured out and hold it all together.  That I know exactly all the secrets to time management and organization.  I know the tricks to multitasking and ultimately always get the job done.  But—that would be total BS!

There are days I wake up and am threatening to rip both my children’s heads off (you think I’m kidding!) if they don’t get a move on it.  Callie loves to sleep in and is a bear cat in the morning!  Clayton isn’t much better.  I can’t count the days I’ve driven to work crying because I was going to be late, the kids just weren’t cooperating, I’d forgotten Callie’s lunch, or all the other things that could and did go wrong that morning. 

There’s also been many nights I’ve had breakdowns because my house wasn’t clean.  I have serious OCD about my house, and can’t handle it being dirty or messy.  Working full time and having two young children makes this nearly impossible…but I can’t convince my brain.  So, Shannon being the great husband he is helps extra that night, giving baths and helping me fold the laundry afterwards. 

The top tips to making my household run smoothly, when it does, are simple: make your menu for the week, then your grocery list by aisle.  If you want to cook healthy meals, you should be shopping on the outer skirts of the grocery store mainly (dairy, produce, fresh foods).  Do a load of laundry every other night.  Enlist your hubby’s help to split chores, then pick one day consistently to do them.  Our day is Saturday or Sunday am for floors, deep kitchen cleaning, and bathrooms.  The hubby should also be helping for bath nights, story nights, whatever works for you.  If you are a working mommy, then you should not be doing it all!  Some husbands cook (mine doesn’t, which is okay because I love cooking!)  so you can trade off cooking nights as well.  Have a schedule on your fridge for groceries, meals (then you remember what meats to take out to thaw) what you need to remember for your kids backpack the next day, lunches…so on and so forth.  Crock pot meals work great for soccer and basketball practice nights. 

I think the best tip of all is knowing your limits.  I know the amount of me time I require and if I don’t get it, then watch out!  It can get ugly.  Another thing to note is that I have more energy than most people…I can do five things at once as long as it gets the job done.  It may not be up to your standards, but it works for me!  I eat, type, clean, talk,  and think faster than the average person, because that’s how I’m made!  I’ve given up trying to slow down, although many of my bosses and friends have told me I need to.  This is how I am, and it’s the reason for so many of my strengths, including being able to do so much.   If you are detail oriented, meticulous person…your list will just have to be much shorter.   You take the time to make sure everything is in order and perfect, thus, there is just simply less time.  This is good too!

In addition...some great advice a friend once told me…do what works for you; stop trying to be someone else or do things the way they do (I guess this means I’ll never be Martha Stewart!  Crap!).   ~Trina