A Typical Day

I saw a post by this woman named Penelope Trunk (not her real name) on a blog called the Brazen Careerist. She talked about the separation (or lack thereof) of her work and home lives. And how they bleed together. and how that just shouldn't happen. But it does.

A typical day for me consists of the following schedule:

6:00 am Awaken - Usually 1 or both of the children have climbed into bed with us and I allocate appropriate kisses to get them through the day. Sometimes, I've already woken and have been sitting in bed for the last hour or so reading.

7:00 am Get out the door - There is a whole bunch that happens in this hour but again this will be the subject of another post. Leaving the house is a time for enormous guilt. I inspect my daughter's hair which, despite my husbands best attempts he just can't fix as well as I can. More often than not he has failed to even run a brush through it. Seb is ok because he puts on the same school uniform every day. Abigail on the other hand is lucky to have a matching outfit. I play the "Husband is colour blind" card often even though it is not true. I

7:30 am Arrive at the office - I am lucky in that both of the 2 offices that I work out of are less than 8 miles away.

During the day I have complete hours of clarity of purpose. I am focused on my job. I lurch from meeting to meeting struggling to find time go to the ladies' room. There is the horrible odd occasion when you recognise the number ringing your mobile as the childminder or the school. this is the time you forget whomever is standing in front of or meeting with you and answer the blooming telephone. There is nothing like the feeling when you realise that you've missed calls from the school only to listen to the voicemail left an hour ago stating that they'd like to take your son to the hospital and could you call them right back. But for the most part, I am focused. I have no bottoms to wipe. No juice to get. No tears to dry (well, not many). I have pictures of my children on my desk and they are a source of great pride.

3:00 pm Do school run - This time of the day creeps up on me suddenly and unexpected every single day. I am usually mad rushing around trying to shut my computer down and shove everything into my briefcase. If my morning went as planned then my car is usually parked close by. If not, I have to walk to the car which can be quite a journey, particularly if I've worked in Windsor that day. during the drive to school I am kicking myself about all the things I've left undone at the office that needed to get done yesterday. I drive like a crazy Katrina mad woman because somebody needed to chat with me quickly as I walked out of office not realising that this timetable is a well oiled machine and 1 hiccup is going to derail the entire evening.

3:30 Pick up Sebastian at school - Small school now big school with all the parking implications. We pick up our children in 10 minute increments which mean you have to be able to time your arrival fairly precisely or you get yelled at by the parking monitor. Now mind you might think this man can't affect your life. You would be wrong to think this. This man can single handed destroy your life. If you cross him even just a bit he won't let you park for weeks. you have to make it up to him or you will get the most undesirable parking arrangements. Trust me. Don't piss this guy off.

3:45 Get home for Abigail to be dropped off - Jacqui, the child minder, has her own school runs to do for her children who are at 3 different schools so she drops Abigail off for me. She is usually waiting for me at the back gate to hand over Abigail.

4:00 Do Homework - Sebastian usually has reading and spelling homework. He's getting better at doing it by himself but whenever he moves up a level in reading he needs some help.

5:00 Start dinner - Hopefully, I've got something planned and remembered to take what I need out of the freezer. If not, this time gets very frantic. Feed dog. Feed cat. Feed fish. Marc feeds the pets in the morning so usually I only have to do the "night time" feeds. I usually move laundry round and try to fit in a load.

6:00 Serve up dinner - This is a best case scenario, followed by loading up dishwasher. Wait for children to finish. Abigail takes her time with her meal. Sebastian is a food hoover.

7:00 Get ready for tomorrow - This includes tidying up the house ready for tomorrow, getting all the children's gear ready for the next day, eg ballet kit, judo kit, swimming gear, etc. Make sure school uniforms are clean and ironed.

7:30 Bath children - We have to put so much lotion on Abigail's eczema that she is like a greased pig. Brushing her long blond hair (which is going to be short soon if it doesn't get easier by the time school starts) is going to send me to an early grave! How did my mother convince me that brushing my hair was a good thing? Or did I turn her grey as well?

8:00 Children to bed - Story time, tucking in, singing lullabyes, kisses and cuddles, ridding the bedrooms of under bed/closet monsters are all mandatory activities and repeat performances may be requested for the next 1/2 hour.

8:30 Check Blackberry, voicemail, email, snail mail, blog traffic, read blogs, digg, technorati - Answer work email that can't wait til the next morning. If I've really got my act together, I plan dinner for the next night. Usually I talk to my sister on the phone once day for a half hour or so. Plan school mum activities, do birthday cards, wrap presents, clear out fridge, place grocery order online, go through post. This is a very productive hour!

9:30 Collapse on sofa - Check news and make sure world has not descended into madness. Watch some recorded television, knit, quilt, sew name tags on school clothes.

11:00 Go to bed - Read.

Midnight - Sleep, unless I'm so stressed out I can't sleep.....then I phone my sister who is always amazed that I am still awake. Frankly, so am I.

Now you know how I get so much reading done!