The Balancing Act and What Works for Me

Life is busy no matter what but when your a parent it's a constant balancing act. Some couples do what I call the 50/50 split with the parenting and the every day household chores. For some of us that just isn't feasible, for instance when your other half leaves for work before 7am and doesn't get home until after midnight because his employer works him to death. That leaves the other party with more than a plate full! I myself have the kids, the household chores, the shopping, the school functions/meetings, the doctor, dentist and orthodontic appointments and I run my own business. So for me it is a constant balancing act and if you throw in a sick kid or a snow day then it's a full three ring circus.

 A run down of my day...

~5am my alarm goes off, I actually drag myself out of bed somewhere between 5am-6am. 

~COFFEE ~ I have to have coffee before anyone talks to me otherwise it's just not pretty. 

~Get the middle school kid out the door at 7:05am 

~Get the other 3 kids fed and dressed, take a shower, pack pre-school kids lunch, make sure everyone has everything they need for the day, load up the car and get the elementary kids on the bus at 8:35. 

~Drop 4 year old off at pre-school and get myself to work. 

~ I have to be off work by 2pm so that I can pick my 2 high school kids up at 2:30pm because they go to private school and don't have transportation. 

~ Get home at about 3:05pm, read mail and emails and breath for a few minutes before the elementary school kids come home at 4pm. 

~Cook dinner. 

~5-5:30pm Pick up pre-school kid from daycare. 

~5:30/5:45 Serve dinner. 

~Homework time & playtime for the kids otherwise as Crazy Hour which lasts until bedtime. 

~8:30 is bedtime for the younger kids and yes I do make my Middle school kid go to bed at this time because he gets up at 5am to make sure he has enough time to aggravate everyone in the house before he house to school. 

~9pm comes around and I'm ready to fall on my face. 

 So that's a quick run down of my day, but I still have chores to do... So what works for me is to get things done anywhere in my day that I have a few minutes. I always try to throw a load of laundry in to wash in the morning and if I remember, I throw it in the dryer before I leave the house. That time I have from 3:05-5pm...I sort the mail so that it doesn't become a mound on my desk. After I start dinner, I do a quick vacuuming (enough to get some of the dirt up off the floor). After the kids have all finished their homework, I try to do a quick pick up of all the things they have scattered around the house and I make everyone put their own belongings away. If they don't put their stuff away then I throw it in a basket and who knows when they will ever see it again. 

The high school kids are old enough to help so... The have dish night 3 night a week and I have dishes on Sundays. I have them watch the younger kids while I pick up my youngest from daycare. They generally wash their own laundry, however if I'm feeling especially nice and I have time then I'll do it for them but they have to fold it an put it away themselves. 

 The younger kids can do things to help out as well like setting the dinner table, feeding the dogs, cat & guinea pigs. They also put their own clean laundry away with the exception of my 4 year old. They can take out the trash and the recycling as well. No, the kids do not like to do any of these things but I make them do it because the less I have to do then the more time I have to spend with them watching movies, playing games and taking them out to do something fun. 

That's just daily maintenance, I do major cleaning on either Saturday or Sunday morning. Laundry is always a work in progress and whatever I wash that doesn't get folded and put away during the week will also get done on the weekend. These things usually take 3-4 hours but I get an early start so that I'm usually done by lunch time. Whatever morning I'm not doing the major clean is the morning that I do the grocery shopping. The kids will gladly help put the food away as they like to take inventory. 

Now things don't always go as planned and some days the floor is dirty and the laundry looks like Mount Everest but for the most part I'm keeping things together. The main thing is that the kids are healthy, clean, fed and no one has killed anyone. I figure as long as I've accomplished that much than I have few worries. 

So this is my Balancing Act and What Work for Me...How about you? How do you balance kids, work and all that goes along with it? 

 Leave a comment, Follow my Blog and come back again. Most of all... Enjoy Your Day!

Lazy Momma Dessert

I'm not Betty Crocker or June Cleaver but every now and then I like to make a dessert. Now this doesn't happen too often because I'm pretty busy with work, cleaning the house, doing laundry and making sure that my kids don't kill each other. Lets face it, my kids need sugar like I need a hole in my head! However, I on the other hand could use that extra boost so that I can make it until it's time to put the kids to bed. Not that I would be bouncing off the walls like my kids do or running around trying to shoot the cat with a Nerf gun but my eyes would look like they were open.

Since I don't have much time, I make a "Lazy Momma Dessert", cake that bakes while we eat dinner and I can serve it before they throw their plate in the sink. The kids like desserts like this which makes it a great bargaining tool to get them to eat the dinner that they don't like. Last night I made a Pumpkin Cake and it was so tasty that my picky eater even ate it.

Pumpkin Cake Recipe

1 Box Yellow cake mix
1 15oz can Pumpkin Pie Filling
3 Eggs
1/4 c. Butter (melted)

Mix all ingredients and spread in a greased 9x11 baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes or until center is done.

Pudding :
1- 1oz box Vanilla pudding (I use instant)
Follow instructions on the box

When the cake is finished baking, remove from oven and poke holes in it.
Let cool for about 15 minutes
Spread pudding on top of cake and let set for about 10 minutes.
Then Top with 1- 8oz container of Cool Whip.
Cut & Serve

This is an easy recipe and it doesn't take too long to make it. However I have to say that it does taste better if you make it ahead of time and let it set in the refrigerator.

This method works with all cake mixes, puddings and pie fillings.

So if you want to make the kids think that you slaved over the stove to make them a special dessert (like the lady in the Rice Crispy Treat commercial), whip up a "Lazy Momma Cake" and don't forget to throw some flour all over yourself.

Enjoy your cake and stop by again!

I Think I Have Lost My Mind!

I had this great idea that I was going to start blogging, you know like all these other people are doing now. I did some research and I set up my blog site, I don’t even know if I uploaded the picture right or not because I’m not one of these tech savvy women. I had it all planned out, it was going to look really professional. Yeah right!

So here it is, that great blog I was going to start. I don’t think I have ever really finished anything that I’ve planned to do except maybe a few thousand loads of laundry. Sometimes those even sit long enough that I have to run them through the wash a second time because I got caught up doing something else and forgot about them. Thank god for Downy, that stuff really takes that three day old stinky water smell out of your clothes. Needless to say, this blog is going to be less than professional because I’m just not a professional…I’m a mom.

Speaking of being a mom… at this very moment I feel more like a Jack-elope, you know one of those rabbits with a horn sticking out of it’s head. Yup that would be me at 9pm after I finally got the last kid to bed. After one has screamed because he had to stop playing a computer game. After another kid decided he was now hungry and then decided to start calling his sister four letter words while eating his snack bar. Then the same kid decided he was going to refuse to finish eating the snack bar because he was reprimanded for calling his sister those four letter words that I clearly heard him say even with a mouth full of food. Then another kid decides it’s a great time to start dragging toys out all over the playroom that I spent and hour cleaning earlier this evening. I finally get everyone in their rooms and go to turn out the boys light just to find one of them standing there still dressed and wearing shoes. When I asked why he wasn’t ready for bed, he said that his pj’s were in laundry that I had washed and dried this evening. I said “well, go get them and put them on”. He said “I can’t because now they are too cold”. Are you freaking kidding me? It’s now 20 minutes after I told everyone to get in bed and the kid is telling me that his pj’s are too cold to wear. At that very moment I could almost see my head flying off my shoulders powered by the steam coming out of my ears. I was so irritated that I got the darn pj’s and put them on the heater to warm them up so that the kid who had come up with every excuse and had done everything he could think of could have some nice toasty pj’s to ear to bed. I can’t believe that it has come to this, the extent that I will go to just to get the kid to be quiet and go to bed. I know it sounds absolutely insane and as I sit here, I wonder what would some other kids parent have done. I mean who the heck actually does this crazy stuff? I bet he is laying there in bed in his nice warm pj’s thinking…Mom is a real freaking idiot! He is probably laughing too. Did I care if his pj’s were warm? No! But, I wanted quiet, you know the kind you only get when the kids are asleep. Tomorrow is a new day and I may be up for the fight. I may even decided to soak his pj’s in water and hang them on the clothes line (it’s currently 19 degrees out and not going to be much warmer tomorrow), then let him talk about them being too cold.  So did I loose my mind? Maybe, but I won the war because the kids are all in bed sleeping.

Well, I hope those of you that read this have had a good laugh. Welcome to my life, where there is never a dull moment and come visit again as I’m sure I’ll have another seemingly crazy story to tell. To all of the parents out there who are in the same boat, I hope you are able to enjoy those few moments of silence at the end of the day just as I am.