I find that I have longer, more substantive posts I want to write, but I just don’t have the time to write them. It’s busy this week because the trimester is ending on Friday. Grades are due the following Friday, before Thanksgiving break. The trimester always used to end the Friday right before break and I REALLY prefer that. That first week of 2nd trimester, which falls before the first full week off, ends up being such a waste of time, especially for the 6th graders that switch electives at the trimester.
But oh well, what can you do? They keep pulling up our start date, so we’ll probably never go back to ending first trimester at the Thanksgiving break. I better get used to this new shitty schedule.
The weekend was pretty nice. I was so relieved to have my son’s martial arts test behind us on Saturday afternoon… I do think that if other stuff in my life is not too stressful (like work, for example), then the stress of martial arts can provide an enhanced appreciation for down time once the even has passed. I think I appreciated Saturday afternoon a lot more because of the stress of the test than I would have. Not sure if it’s ultimately worth it though. And it definitely isn’t if other stresses compound it.
I made tortellini soup on Sunday night. I was really pleased to make a meal that used up the massive bag of spinach we got in the CSA box on Thursday. It’s a simple meal, but it feels more substantive than just “pasta”. I’ve also been making a lot of french toast for the kids, which they really like.
Taking on the dishes has been a lot. It feels like the minute I get the sink cleared it is over flowing again. I did do some dishes before, but my husband was definitely doing the heavy lifting. I understand why he was feeling so burnt out on being in the kitchen! I hope taking on the dishes helps. I do think that doing a chore he is familiar with is more meaningful for him, because he “sees” me doing it and knows how much time and effort it takes.
I worry sometimes that he doesn’t really understand how much time and effort all the other things I do take, because he has never had to do those things. He never does the laundry and he never cleans the house. He very rarely takes the kids anywhere either. I think without having to manage a chore yourself, you can’t really appreciate when the other person does it. I’m sure I don’t appreciate the mental load the meal planner requires, and I try to remember that.
This weekend I’m spending two nights in a hotel with my girl friends. We’re doing mud baths and massages in Calistoga for one friend’s birthday. My husband has to take my son to his soccer game and then take both kids to get their Covid vaccinations. Hurray! He made these appointments too, and I can’t believe I will once again not be there for important shots. But it’s getting easier to let it go. He is willing and capable and I’m very thankful for that.
I’m super annoyed about having Thursday off. I wish so badly that it were Friday. But then again, I HATE Thursdays, so I don’t mind missing my least favorite day. And I REALLY appreciate having Thursday to get a lot of my weekend chores done so that Sunday night I won’t be drowning in put off obligations. So maybe it’s not so bad. I just think it will be a huge bummer to wake up early and drag my ass to work on Friday. Blerg.
I HATE the time change. I absolutely think we should stay in Day Light Savings time all year. I hate when it’s dark so early and I actually don’t like driving to work when it’s light at all (I’m not sure why). But of the two time changes, falling back is the one I prefer, because it provides the opportunity for us to go to bed earlier. My son has been asleep by 8:15pm for two nights, and up and ready for the day by 7am on Monday morning. My daughter was also a lot less grumpy on Monday. I want to take advantage of the fact that my body can actually manage to fall asleep at a reasonable time, but already I’m swamped with work so it probably won’t happen. That bums me out. I need the sleep. I wish I could just go enjoy it.
How do you feel about having one day off in the middle of the week? About the time change?
Random question – but why aren’t your kids doing the dishes? They’re definitely old enough to have that be one of their chores! I don’t remember if you have a dishwasher or not, but ours load and unload the dishwasher every day (load after breakfast and dinner, unload before breakfast b/c I run it every night). If it’s hand washing, then each night one washes and the other dries. That was something that was so standard in my childhood (5 kids and no dishwasher) that it was automatic when I became a parents as well! Maybe you’ve already tried this and it failed for some reason and I forgot about it, but just a thought!
Your weekend with friends sounds so lovely! I’m planning a trip with 2 girlfriends for my 40th in January and cannot wait!
When my kids were little I had Wednesdays off, and I actually really loved it. Now that they’re older though, I have Fridays off and that’s the bomb. It would be annoying to have a mid-week day off, though likely way more productive than my Fridays off tend to be. lol.
Not a fan of the time change at all – I’d stay in DST year round if it was up to me!
A random day off mid week is schedule destroying. Makes it harder.And Thursday would be my least preferred day to have randomly off. Given you are taking this weeekend ‘off’ though it will give you some time to do weekend chores earlier.
Sounds like you two are doing well in figuring out jointly what will reduce the kitchen stress without upsetting the entire basket of eggs.
I purely dislike the clock changing thing twice a year. CA, OR, WA all want one time used year round and frankly they need to simply come to an agreement AND JUST DO IT. SOONER than soon please. At this point I don’t even care which one they settle on. Just no more clock changing. No more disruption for no purpose at all!