…and exhale.
The holidays are over, and I barely blogged about them. I hope you know that my absence from posting daily means that I was pretty busy. When my family visits, there is so much to do even when we aren’t doing anything.
I looked forward to today as the Day I Get Reorganized, and it’s coming along oh so slowly. In fact, for a moment there it looked like I might not get to work on restoring normalcy at all. I was called in for jury duty several months ago, and when I tried to be excused I was denied. So, I craftily selected December 31 as my on-call week, thinking the court would be on holiday. Not so – yesterday I found out that I had to report to court this morning at 8:30.
There goes my big day, I thought. Stewart changed his plans to stay home with Brady, and I dropped Kyle off early this morning and headed out for court…along with 1200 other people! The computer (so they say) mistakenly selected that many instead of 100. After sitting in line to park for 45 minutes, I was promptly excused.
When I got home, Stewart resumed his plans, and I sat down to strategize. I’ve been complaining a lot (wow, how unlike me!) about how I can never get anything done because once I start a project I am interrupted by one of my boys or I am too tired because nobody slept the night before blah blah blah. And something reminded me of the corporate environment, how mid-level employees complain that they never get anything done during office hours because they’re always called into meetings or the phone is ringing off the hook or they have 10,000 emails blah blah blah. And I realized that those complaints are the same!
My boss
Instead of using my family and my home as my excuse for getting nothing done, I might as well treat them like an office. Spend 15 minutes at the end of my work day (right before I go to sleep) making a to-do list for the next day. Take frequent breaks for a quick walk around the office (to pick up dirty dishes and socks and bibs). Prioritize my tasks and keep a checklist so that when I’m called into a meeting (to nurse or change a diaper or pour a sippy cup) I can get back on track when the meeting’s over. Set certain hours when nobody is allowed to interrupt (kids’ naptime).
Best of all, indulge in happy hour (after my kids go to bed) on a regular basis!
I was great at staying under budget when I produced television shows and shoots. Now I need to apply that talent to my own home. I also saved difficult phone calls for when I was PMS-ing: I was very good at being diplomatically bitchy. I think I’ve perfected that one for any time of the month by now.
I picked Thanksgiving week for jury duty on the same theory. Same result, too.
Aren’t you exempt?
Oh, here in FL you can get out of jury duty just for having a young one at home or for nursing. I don’t know if you are still nursing or not, but… artistic liberty. What are they going to do, ask you to spray some milk in the judges face to prove it???
Part of me didn’t mind, because I would have had to sit around all day with NO CHILDREN, while I read my new book club book in peace.
Congrats on getting out of jury duty, but you still have to read.
Yeah, jury duty always ends up being a day for reading… and then you’re excused. It turns out there are so many valid ways to exempt yourself. One time I showed up and then they told me I was exempt because I was a student, and made me leave! It was a bummer to have to go back to lab…
good luck with your new home-office schedule!
Congrats on the system. I use a steno book at work, and make little boxes next to the item, so that even if I do something, but don’t get it done, I can make a mark showing signs of progress.
I learned to utilize a similar process at home. List after crazy list. Sometimes it helps put it in perspective – to eliminate the clutter in your mind and see that it IS manageable. Other times it makes me MORE overwhelmed, because it is not, infact, manageable.
I hosted Christmas AM breakfast at my house after returning home Christmas Eve at 9 PM after being on the road for 5 days. If it had not been for my oven schedule list, my set up table list, and all of the other lists I made before I left, I never would have made it. Oh, and the mimosas helped too.
smb