This week I am doing Laura Vanderkam's time-tracking challenge, a salutary exercise that I can never seem to sustain. But one week every now and again is better than no weeks, I suppose. I don't plan to tell you all about every hour of the week (everybody breathes a sigh of relief), but I am going to tell you some things about today and we'll see how it goes.
5:30 wakeup today, with half an hour of quiet: Lauds, Job, Luke, Catechism on societal supports for individual vocations, quick journal entry
6-6:30, shower, subdue hair, make a smoothie
6:30-7, process email over breakfast, talk to kids about the day
7-7:20, flip through the Times, do the KenKens, check backpacks and steer kids out the door
7:20-7:45, walk part of the way with Stella and then up to the office; this is also rosary time for me
7:45-9:15, final preparations; teach grad students
9:15-10, meet with FOUR separate people, only one of whom was expected. One of these meetings is a closed-door affair about some brewing drama. Urgh.
10-11:55, teach two undergrad classes
11:55-12:10, meeting with more drama, more URGHing
12:10-12:30, palate-cleansing KenKen (I might have a mild addiction to the 8x8 KenKen) + peek at hurricane updates on FB
12:30-1:30, brisk walk to fitness center, 35-min swim + the rest of the rosary, speedy shower
1:30-2, grab a sandwich, eat it while prowling through social media
(Hm, that's almost two hours away from work tasks in the middle of the day.)
(Also hm, I am bad at coming down after a morning full of teaching, and today I wound up finishing my important afternoon to-do items. Maybe there's a connection.)
2-2:30, another student meeting, a little flailing during the attempt to settle in and revise (flailing = irrelevant internet searches, skimming articles unproductively)
2:30-3:15, happy productive editing time that leaves me with 19 lines to tackle in my 41-line revisions table
3:15-4:15, kind of a frustrating hour, with two additional conversations about THE DRAMA, one of which is helpful but lengthy. Also checked in with kids and processed most of my work email from today during this window.
4:15-5:15, writing a quiz for the grad students and reviewing their readings for the week
5:15-5:30, peaceful amble home
5:30, enter the WHIRLWIND. Pete needs to leave immediately for soccer pictures. He is crying, worried about getting homework done since he also has Scouts. I am trying to update a financial thing that I forgot about but Pete needs me. We grab his sandwich/water/Scout stuff/homework stuff and hit the road.
5:40-6, try to settle Pete (pray/comfort/plan) while driving like the mom version of Mario Andretti to the soccer complex. Fill out the picture form in record time and hand it, panting, to Pete.
6-6:25, so we weren't actually late for pictures after all
6:25-6:45, after pictures, I take Pete to Panera so he can use their wifi for a quick homework session. I drink tea and read a Kindle sample of Sourdough while he works.
6:45-7:15, to Scouts, and then home
7:15-7:45, Elwood has made kebabs and four of us eat them with melon. I keep yanking myself away from thoughts of work drama.
7:45-8:15, I do the bedtime routine with Stella while the downstairs crew clears the table and starts the dishes
8:15-8:50, finish dishes, wipe flat surfaces, start laundry, get ready for bed, give the 17yo a check for renewing the minivan registration tomorrow, send the 20yo his ATM card with a hastily dashed-off letter
8:50-9:15, log time, chat distractedly with Pete and help him with math homework, pelt through the writing of a blog post and hope it is not too incoherent or inadequately edited
9:15-9:20, I cannot post a completely unedited blog post. Can't do it.
9:20-9:40 will be condensed compline and a few stolen moments of reading in bed
Huh, my inner editor says this post is kind of a mess but OH WELL I am publishing it anyway.
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