Time Budgets

WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO??????

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything since June (last year).  It's not that I didn't have anything to say but the time just got away from me.  Summer always is crammed with more actives, more projects, more adventures, and more wasting time doing things that you never intend to do.  I sometimes feel like I need to make a "budget" for my time just like for the money.  I guess that is called a schedule, but my life never does fit into a schedule.  At work, we throw the "schedule" out the window some days as nothing is ever on time, or they just show up and spring a 3 hour job on you when there is only 10 minutes (so much for lunch that day).  I have caught myself having to ask for permission to use the restroom like when I was in grade school.



A favorite interruption tactic is to touch
every thing in the bathroom.
It stalls a good 15 minutes or more
from the schedule for additional sanitation .  

My time "budget" at home isn't any better.  The Boy, now almost five years old, and The Girl, two years old, have some tactics at interrupting my "schedule".   Recently I have needed to wake up, dress, and feed the kids by myself in the mornings.  The timing of everything has to be just right for me to get them where they need to go and myself to work on time.  I usually start very early with a 5:30 am shower then make sure they are up and get breakfast before 6:00 am so we can get to where we need to be by 7:30 am.  In my college days, I would have had a shower, breakfast, walk to class at 8:00 and only gotten up at 7:45 am.  The times have changed.  I have to plan ten times longer to do anything and anticipate repeating everything four or five times.  For example, The Girl is great at getting shoes, they are never her own like she is instructed, but she will bring me every other person's shoe.  If you see me arrive 30 minutes early, it has been a good day, however I was probing and prodding for the last 2 hours to get there on time.

After having children, I realized I can be very efficient with time.  It is amazing what I can accomplish with just one hour with out them or during naps.  It is an extremely successful moment if they can both nap or entertain themselves at the SAME time.  I think I have mentioned before, but we choose not to have any outside television source.  We have already viewed movies but nothing new.  No daily news, sitcoms, reality TV, or night shows.  We are living our own current events.  It has been almost six years and I can't say that I miss it.  I get hooked and can feel the withdrawal when I am visiting someone who has satellite or cable.  I just don't know how I would get anything done with that added distraction, I can't seem to get anything done now.

Sometimes the necessities get forgotten
when your toddler wants to "DO IT"

When The Boy FINALLY got potty trained it was a moment to celebrate, yippee, but now we are working with The Girl.  We live in wide open spaces and allowed them during the process to go outside when ever they needed.  One morning, of course running behind schedule, The Boy decided he needed to go while walking to the vehicle.  That morning was colder so he was wearing a heavy coat.  He dropped his drawer like normal and held up the shirt but did not lift the coat high enough to avoid the stream of urine.  After praising him with gritty teeth, we went back into the house to change is coat, pants, socks, and shoes which had caught all the reflected urine.  Nothing can disrupt your time as children going through the independent, "I can do it!" stage.

I am so grateful that God has a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) and he has made everything beautiful in its time (vs. 11).