After a lovely holiday break, we had to rise and shine extra early today to return to our “normal” schedule.  My alarm went off way too early (as I enjoyed the luxury of “sleeping in” until 8am for the last couple of weeks), and although I fully anticipated a huge struggle from the kids to get ready for school, it was a surprisingly smooth transition back to reality.  My youngest duckling returns to school tomorrow, and I’ll have something I haven’t had for more than two weeks: two and a half hours of kid-free time.

I almost feel guilty about enjoying those two and half hours so much.  I don’t get to do anything indulgent, like watch my shows on television, shop for shoes, or take a nap.  No, I fill those hours doing the errands that kids hate (on tomorrow’s agenda: renewing my license plates, woo hoo!), or scrubbing things in the house that will have time to dry before the kids return from school.  Do I know how to party or what??

As excited as I get about my “break”, there is a problem:  I plan about six hours of tasks to complete in that brief time period.  Then, I get all stressed out and discouraged that I didn’t finish my list and just blow off the rest of the day (how do you think I’ve found so many great items on Pinterest??).  So, my goal for this year is to try to be more realistic in what I can actually accomplish, then save time at the end of the day to enjoy the fact that I did finish my list instead of being grumpy that I couldn’t get through it all.  The result should be a more relaxed, organized, and happier mama.

It’s going to take some time to adjust, that’s for sure!  It’s already 5pm, and while I’ve done quite a few things from today’s list, I still have dinner to make, laundry to fold, kids to corral…deep breaths to take.

All good things in due time, though, right?!?