Thursday to-dos

potbellypig

Idea borrowed from the SAHM board.

Other than work, what's on your list today?

I have to:

make supper

go pick out new glasses

put away laundry/pick up clothes on closet floor

tidy kitchen

run

practice piano

service DH

jlaOK

Fun!

I have to:

get some groceries at lunch

make supper

solo parenting duties since DH is out of town

make a sign for a friend's baby shower on Saturday

vvvvvfee

i actually don't have too much on my list today...

go for a walk at lunch

empty the dishwasher (if DH hasn't already done it by the time i get home)

clean out DS's lunchbox and put together his lunch for tomorrow

[don't have to make dinner since we have a ton of leftovers in the fridge]

clean up toys off the floor (convinced one of these days i'll be mortally injured in a hot-wheels related fall)

wipe down the kitchen counters and table

[DH will have fed the cats and cleaned out the litterbox]

jamiesc58

I don't have a ton today either...

Get out of work at 5:15ish

Make dinner (since DH will be working on the house we are moving into this weekend)

Homework with the kiddos (if DH didn't get it all done already)

Laundry

Shower then bed.

Leap08

I have to:

go to the bank at lunch

take the girls to swimming lessons (we eat out on swim night so I don't have to make dinner)

normal nightly parenting stuff

unload/reload dishwasher

2chatter

Take DS to school

Parent Teacher conference

Remember to unlock the front door for DD (forgot yesterday)

Pick up DD from chess

Pick up DS from DC

Grocery Shop

Get gas (love that it sleeted today and the light came on)

Return Library Books

Organize the Girl Scout Christmas Parade

Restaurant Fundraiser

Bathe DS

Make DH a late dinner when his flight lands

Preclean before the maid comes in the morning

Laundry before bed

dashofreality

Fold the laundry in the drier

Give the dog a flea bath and buy some flea stuff for the house (yay our new rental came with fleas!)

Find something to entertain the kids since it is raining

Make Dinner

Baths

Unpack/organize

Water my new sprouts I am attempting to grow

Try not to stew all night that DH's homecoming got pushed out AGAIN

potbellypig

Can I say, high fives to everyone?! We're a busy bunch...do any of you ever think it would be easier to be a SAHM? When I was looking through their "to-do" lists I couldn't help but feel that it must be so nice to have any of their lists over mine. Wake up? Read? Bake? Nap? Go to yoga? None of these things have been on my to-do list since I went back to work after DD #1. I feel like after working 8 hours, I always come home to all of the chores I have to do to make the house run "smoothly" (more like a bumpy road, but whatever) and go to bed too late and exhausted every day with barely a minute to myself. Every mom in the world probably feels this way regardless of whether they stay home or work though.

Ugh I'm having a serious "grass is greener" day. Sorry...

2chatter

I did the SAHM thing for a very short bit.  It rocked, except I was bored.  I ran the ECPTA and joined a board for Head Start.  Then I got uber bored and consulted.  Then lots of things happened and I took a FT job. I am with you - I wish my to-do list looked like those of my SAHM friends.  They are stressed out because their pedicure appointment ran long and they had to get across town to meet a friend for lunch or they didn't realize how long it would take to organize the book fair.  Things I would kill to have on my list of "things that stress me out" and NOT be ON TOP of work.  The last time a pedicure started to run over (while DS was napping, on a weekend, during which I was reading a document for work, I converted it from a spa pedi to "trim them, paint them and let me get out of here"). 

potbellypig

PrivacyWanted said:

I don't know, I think for SAHMs of little kids you have to factor in that they are caring for their children during that time too - they just don't put it on the to-do list just like we don't put work down.

When I ran home on my lunch break in 45 minutes I: switched out laundry, folded the load in the dryer, cleaned out all the junk in my car + vacuumed, then swung by the DC on the parent-teacher conference issue.

I was able to do all this because my kids are being cared for by someone else.

I mean yes, some days I think about how much easier life would be if I wasn't spending 8 hours a day out of the house, but I don't think having my kids underfoot would make life that much easier

I agree with the bolded for sure, but do you ever resent that you have to be so efficient all the time? I know that my 45 minute lunch breaks could be insanely busy if I wanted to be more organized (I should strive to be but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation). I feel worn out from having to make the most of every waking moment of the day (including when the kids are at daycare) to make sure that both my actually job and my mom/home job get done.

Edit to add: Do you think my feelings about efficiency are a mom-in-general thing or a working mom thing?

2chatter

All the SAHMs I know have their kids in a MDO or preschool 2-3 days/week OR have only school aged kids, so that's where my perspective comes from, FWIW.

dashofreality

potbellypig said:

Can I say, high fives to everyone?! We're a busy bunch...do any of you ever think it would be easier to be a SAHM? When I was looking through their "to-do" lists I couldn't help but feel that it must be so nice to have any of their lists over mine. Wake up? Read? Bake? Nap? Go to yoga? None of these things have been on my to-do list since I went back to work after DD #1. I feel like after working 8 hours, I always come home to all of the chores I have to do to make the house run "smoothly" (more like a bumpy road, but whatever) and go to bed too late and exhausted every day with barely a minute to myself. Every mom in the world probably feels this way regardless of whether they stay home or work though.

Ugh I'm having a serious "grass is greener" day. Sorry...

Nope. Maybe when the kids are older but I'm in between care and had the kids for 4 days (single parent while DH is deployed) and all I could think was thank god I have a job. I'm sure it would be easier if it was my gig and I had stuff scheduled and wasn't fielding work stuff but man 24/7 with two tiny, messy, annoying humans is tough. Of course I love my awesome kids but we do much better when we have breaks from each other.

MommyAtty

I'm with @dashofreality‌. Maternity leave nearly did me in. I am somehow simultaneously overwhelmed, bored, and boring when I stay at home. No idea how I can simultaneously have all those feelings at once, but I do. (But I do envy anyone who has yoga and pedicures on their lists of must do items, I will admit.)