I have been MIA on my blog. Have you noticed? I wrote an introductory Happy New Year blog post and then you haven’t heard from me again in more than a week. Want to know why? Snowmageddon 2011!
Yes, I know that it may not look like much snow to you Northern-living folks, but under that 6 inches of snow is a chunk of pure ice. It snowed on the evening of January 9th and immediately turned to ice; we’ve been snowed – or rather iced – in ever since. Metro Atlanta has come to a screeching halt; the streets are undrivable and since Atlanta doesn’t have snowplows or ice trucks, they will remain that way until it warms up and the sun melts the ice. The schools have been closed all week and the stores – if they are open – are running out of food because trucks can’t make deliveries. We got the last gallon of milk today at our local grocery store. I’m afraid that if the ice doesn’t melt soon, it will turn into a state of emergency.
Really, Funkidivagirl? Is it that serious? A state of emergency? Let me put it into perspective for you: my kids have been in school a total of 4 days since December 17th. 4 DAYS! This was supposed to be my week, the start of my new year to get myself together–exercise, tackle my to do lists, make resolutions, research new projects, write award-winning blog posts, and basically get my brain back in gear after the long Christmas break–but instead the entire family is at home unexpectedly. Which means that I haven’t been able to any of those things. My husband has locked himself in our bedroom each day, using it as a makeshift office, and the rest of our house is an open floor plan; there is nowhere for me to go think. My daughter has taken to watching Strawberry Shortcake where everything they say is “berry, berry fantastic!” I like Strawberry Shortcake, I really do; she’s resourceful, smart and sweet. But you can only hear “berry” used as an adjective so many times. I am slowly. losing. my. mind.
Doesn’t that sound like a state of emergency to you?
Today, Thursday, I have finally conceded that this week is a wash. I have given up all hope that this week is mine. Oddly, that has freed my brain enough to at least write this blog post. That is all I expect to get done today; everything will have to be shifted to next week.
Now, as I begin planning for next week, I have a question for you: when do you exercise? I know that you have “exercise” as one of your New Year’s Resolutions, we all do. I have gotten pretty good about exercising regularly and I like the results, but I still have trouble about fitting it into my day. Usually I exercise after I get the kids off to school and eat breakfast myself, which means that I start around 9am. By the time I shower and dress, it’s 10:30am. If I factor in lunch, that only gives me a solid 4 hours of work time–and that’s without making any phone calls, running errands or school meetings, which happens at least twice a week. My inclination is to use school hours solely for work time, because I can get at least 2 more hours out of the day, but then I’m afraid that after school I will be too tired or distracted by the kids’ needs to exercise.
Work at home parents: when do you exercise? How do you effectively use your kid-free hours? My children are my priority when they are at home, but I still want to use my quiet hours to write, research and even tackle household projects without distraction. And I don’t want exercise to fall by the wayside. As I am structuring my 2011 schedule (whenever my life returns to normal), I would love to hear how you do it all. Please share.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard from me by next week this time, assume that everyone is still at home and I am sitting in the corner slowly beating my head against the wall. Send help.
12 Comments
Yes I feel for you. My kids are a little older so it was not Strawberry Shortcake, but Nick’s Victorious song over and over in my head until I was hearing while at work this week in my head! At least it replaced Selena Gomez.
Today I actually got out and took a walk and what did appear on my ipod but Atomic Dog! I definitely got a new song in my head now!
Bow Wow Yippio Yippi yeah!
Ava Roxanne
Great article! I totally agree about the “help me” part. As
for the exercise, I do it like you. Right after I drop the kids off
at school I head to the Y. It takes up most of the time they are at
school but I have accepted it. I just started doing Zumba and so
try to arrange my schedule just to make those classes. It helps to
have something fun that I like to do at the gym to get me there at
off hours. Good question. I will be interested in hearing what
others say!
Hang in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Im from Ohio and we have been here in Atlanta for 7yrs now. When the snow came around this time around it was nice but then the ice made it very scary. Im just glad that all of my family was at home and not stuck out on the roads, in bus station or at the airports. Im glad your family is safe too. In our neighborhood they made a huge snow man that brought smiles to the kids faces,that was nice to see. Stay warm!
I’m not much help because I’ trying to schedule time for exercise as well. I work outside the home so I thought that walking on my treadmill before going to work would be good but I’m not a morning person so I can’t drag myself out of the bed any earlier than normal.And after work, the kids are quite demanding. Let me know what you decide, maybe that’ll help me figure my schedule out.
I am not a morning person either and I need at least 7 hours of sleep or I am a zombie the next day, so getting up earlier really doesn’t work for me. It’s really a dilemma.
UGH. ATL/GA’s response to this snow is NOT the business. AT ALL. Like, how much does some rock salt cost? And why have I been watching pictures of people chipping away at it with ice picks? The heck? ROCK SALT, people. Spread some, ice goes away. It’s NOT that deep.
Me? Salty much? Absolutely. My week, like yours, is a complete wash. And I had THINGS to do. Lots of THINGS.
As for the exercise: I so need to be better about it, but I just can’t figure out when to do it—like you, I don’t want to do it during school hours because that’s when work is done, and then when the kids get home, my second and third and fourth jobs kick in (homework checker/chauffeur/chef) and after they go to bed, I’m trying to finish up work that I didn’t get done during the daytime. ARGH. I was much better when I had to commit to classes OUTSIDE of the house. If left to my own devices, I will not exercise.
Yes, committing to classes is best, but they are offered at the worse times….either too early that I can’t get the kids ready for school or right in the middle of the morning. I have a yoga class on Wednesday at 9:30 and that is just the worse time ever….by the time I get back home it’s 11:00! I try to to go as much as possible, but let’s face it, I don’t get too much done on that day.
I’m also an early morning exerciser. My business has moved out of the home as of October, but the way for me to get it in is to get up a at 5:30am. I am also in bed by 11p at the latest. It’s hard, but it seems to be working so far. 🙂
My hat is off to you early risers!
Funkidivagirl, you know my MO as a SAH/Homeschooling mother, I HAVE to get it in early in the am, before anyone is awake. The downfall is that by waking up at 5 am, I’m toast by 2pm. In a perfect world, the girls would start their work at 8:30 am and we would finished by 1 pm. Let’s just say that my world is far from perfect 😉
Dawn, you are my exercise hero. You are the one hitching a ride to the gym during this ice-storm. I wish I could get up early like you, but I can’t because my teen doesn’t go to sleep until after 11pm, which means I don’t, so I don’t get up until 7am with everyone else. Even on “snow days” once my feet hit the ground, Girly has a sixth-sense and she’s up too. And then she lets the dog out. And it’s all over!