Monday (alternating Mondays, mind you): MOPS in the morning, work in the afternoon - MOPS is great. It's like a support group for me. But the logistics of getting there with the boys, bringing them home for lunch, changing clothes for work, and making sure I have dinner in some stage of preparation for Andrew to finish later - well, that made you dizzy just reading it, dinnit?
Tuesday: Ladies' Bible Study (I provide childcare) in the morning, work in the afternoon - This isn't too bad on its own. I actually enjoy it, but combined with the rest of the week, it's a lot...
Wednesday: BSF in the morning, work in the afternoon - I don't want to give this up, even though I just started last week and don't care for the lecture part of BSF, because I really want Gabriel and Rhys to be in the kids' childcare there so they have a chance to get spiritual lessons on their level with other kids their age, which our small congregation at St. Mike's doesn't offer...
Thursday: work in the afternoon, then Learning Rx - I currently only have one student for one hour at Learning Rx, a commitment I made just before I got the job at Teen Court, and again, it's not stressful by itself.
Friday: stay in PJs all day and brainstorm ways to make the transition to such a hectic schedule smoother. This will have to be my day for menu planning, bill paying, grocery shopping, etc., if I don't want to use precious family time on the weekends doing these chores.
I cannot think of a single errand during my week that's frivolous or cumbersome in itself. And as much as I want to go to BSF today and say, "Sorry, folks, I just can't do it," I think it's far wiser to wait a few weeks. I won't have to provide childcare for Pine Tree Church of Christ's Bible study again until the second week in January. BSF itself is done for the year after next week. And then my weeks will look significantly lighter. And I know this is but one of several thousand seasons of my life. But I still need to survive it without giving in to eating out every time I'm stressed, snapping my kids' heads off because my routine has changed and theirs hasn't (much), or losing my head and our budget to other stress-relievers I pursue when I find myself feeling so tired.
And of course in the midst of all this musing and changing and praying for wisdom, a little the-grass-looks-greener-over-there-ness can't help but sneak in: Since I really want my boys to have Christian education on their level, why don't I seek out a full-time job, perhaps at a Christian school or preschool myself, where the kids can be cared for full-time, and we can afford it because of my job?
Sigh.
Happy Hump Day.
3 comments:
I totally sympathize, although my Mondays are "usually" freer. (just the occasional tutoring) But I also provide childcare for church on Tu Morns, BSF on Wed (both of which are 20 minute drives and now the extra time of bundling Grace up) and Thursdays Mommy and Me, and Tu/Thurs I tutor 5 to 8 (same idea of having some sort of dinner ready for Josh to stick in oven or warm up) and Wed we have church stuff. In addition to freelancing, for which I just had a deadline today thankfully.
I'm all about Pajama Fridays! But I have learned that God is so wonderful in providing, even it means thriving on less sleep to get things done.
Leslie has left a new comment on your post "Too Much":
Q - you are making my head spin - I can provide an idea for making at least one thing less stressful - use http://e-mealz.com/ for coming up with weekly menus - maybe get the one for a family of 6 and then you and Andrew can have leftovers for lunch.
What I'm doing is printing out 2 copies each week of the meal plan and shopping list so that when there's a week with stuff I can't have (I can't eat soy) I can easily pull from another week.
I know I've looked at E-mealz before, when you posted it on FB. For the moment, we have lots of turkey meals because I cooked the free one Andrew gets each year from work.
That should take us through the holidays...
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