last Tuesday, Friday Sept 30

So I now remember that last Tuesday was busy with karate lessons and the local high school homecoming parade.  How could I forget?

Today there was no school (teacher training) so I took the kids to the IMAX for 'Born To Be Wild' with my mom and then Maddie and I went to a performance of 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' as a ballet.

Tues, Wed, Thurs and the school week is over...

Oh what did I do?  Wednesday I went hiking, today I babysat for a friend, visited with a friend and went grocery shopping.  Got a head cold coming on... too bad there will be no resting tomorrow.

Sept 26

Hit the beauty supply, grocery store, picked up the dry cleaning.  Took lunch to Eric and ate with him at the office. Came home, finished laundry and cleaned all 4 bathrooms; did a 30 minute kick butt Jillian workout and went back to pick up kids.  oh, and resolved a pta issue too.  whew!!

Sept 22

Got a few groceries; talked on the phone with my little sister, checked fb and hotmail and packed up stuff to sleep at my sis in law's where I will be 'babysitting' overnight.

Sept 21

Early Day; this means my time is under 2 hours.  I made a few phone calls; lined up a fridge repair and tv repair guy for Friday and then ran on the treadmill 70 minutes.  Well used time. 

Sept 20

So from now on, I will be volunteering at my kids' school on Tuesday afternoons.  Today I got finished in time to run over to the grocery store for a few things before I had to be back to pick them up. 

Sept 19

Dropped Cam off, went to my sister in law, Heidi's; hopped in her car and went to lunch and the mall.  Came home just in time to pick up kids.  A fun and adult afternoon!  We enjoyed Indian food (I would never take my family for Indian because I am the only one who loves it!) and searched the mall for earrings to go with my niece's $400 homecoming dress.  Obviously, the earrings need to be spectacular.  We didn't find earrings, but we found a nice tie for her date and Heidi scored us each a pair of free underwear at Victoria's Secret with her coupons.

Day 10, 11, 12

Some catching up to do!  Seems like all I've done is grocery shop, clean the house and cook.  The past two days I got a work out in, but today all I did for the entire part of my day was run around the house cleaning up.  Arg.  Not the way I wanted to spend my day.  Looking forward to another week.  Days like today remind me to be thankful that school will last for 9 months.

Day 10

Busy day, full of things that were nice to do alone.  Arranged to volunteer in both kids' classrooms on Tuesday afternoons for here on out, but today they didn't need me. 
I shopped for a new mattress and got some education about that.
Went to TJ Max and Ross; bought a 5 year old birthday gift, a baby shower gift, a new back pack for Cameron that won't drown him and a few things for myself. 

Day 9

Monday... dropped him off, came home and checked email.  Signed the waiver for the 'Dirty Dash' 10k that I just agreed to do yesterday and it's this Saturday.  Made lunch for my husband, visited with him for a few minutes and then went down to hit the treadmill and see what it felt like to run a 10k (6.2 miles).  Felt pretty good except I had to slow down several times to make the ache in my left knee stop.  That was strange because it's usually the other knee that acts up on long runs.  I hope it will get stronger in the next 4 days.  Maybe the bike tomorrow then give it time to recover?  The 'race' is more of an obstacle course than a run anyway, so I'm not too worried.  With a lot of incline and pace changing, I ran 10k in 75 minutes.  It was time to switch the laundry and drive over to pick up kids.  A good day.

Day 8

This one was funny.  When I take my kids shopping, they ask for stuff and I pretty much always say no. Well today while they were both at school, I went shopping just to buy them each a gift.  I justified it by saying it was a thank you gift from Dad and I for their efforts to transition into the school year smoothly by doing homework and getting to bed and up in the morning on time, but truly, I just enjoyed the chance to buy them something that they didn't really ask for and watch the surprise and joy on their faces.  It was worth it. 
I picked up a few other things at the store and then was able to squeeze in a 30 minute run on the treadmill.  Very nice.

Day 7

Thursday, September 8th
I was looking forward to grocery shopping with a little peace and quiet.  I arrived to find a local grade school having their field trip all around the grocery store.  Oh well, at least I didn't have to worry about them.  Brought home and put things away, checked email/facebook, went to the hospital to donate blood, came home and made ice cream batter then went to pick up my kids and go to the bank.
Not too exciting, but I have been looking forward to doing that without the kids for a while.

Day 6

September 7th
Went hiking with my Mom up Beus Canyon for the whole (almost) 2 hours.  Got back to the school just in time to pick the kids up.  It was absolutely lovely weather and the mountain was breathtaking.  It was a perfect use of my time!!

Day 5

Tuesday, Sept 6.  Had a great Labor Day weekend with swimming, boating, movies, family and friends.  Yeah!
Dropped a healthy kid off, went shopping with my mom for foundation at Clinique and walked around the mall for a few minutes, then hit the library to pick up books that Maddie might read without crying about. (she didn't like my last 3 selections)  It was nice to go to the mall without small ones to slow you down and chatter and whine.  I also sat down and opened the mail in a quiet house.  Just the quiet lack of extra energy was almost tangible and made me feel relaxed even as I opened bill after bill.

Day 3 and 4

September 1st and 2nd
Cameron stayed home, sick with headache, tummy ache and low fever.  Thankfully he was feeling great by Friday afternoon in time for the long Labor Day weekend.

Day 2

August 31
Early out day.  This means he only goes for 2 hours.  Dropped him off, went to the grocery store, brought groceries home, washed them and put them away.  Drove back to pick up kids. 

Day 1

August 30th
Finally!  A week after his sister started school, Cameron finally gets a teacher assignment and we go for the first day.  I drop him off, come home and exercise, drive back to pick him up and hear that kindergarten got a 'half a thumb up' meaning it was so-so.

Start...stop

For the past few months when I tell someone that my youngest child will be starting kindergarten, I'm often asked what I will be doing with all that new free time.  "Free time???"  Are they kidding?  He goes for 2-3 hours each afternoon and I'll be in the car for 40 minutes just driving him back and forth."  So I'm thinking that if I go grocery shopping, clean the house, enjoy an uninterrupted workout and volunteer at his school each once a week, I should have about 2 hours of free time a week.  Maybe I can see a girlfriend for lunch? 

So it doesn't sound like a lot of time, but when you've spent 8 years bathed in the constant energy of children, just accomplishing mundane things without little questions and demands sounds kind of nice.  Out of curiosity for the truthful answer to that question, I'm going to blog just what it is I am doing with all my new free time.  Maybe I will be more thoughtful and deliberate with it, thereby expanding its value; or maybe it will feel as small as it sounds.

I have a bit of backtracking to do first to cover last week.