Saturday, April 02, 2011

Hour-a-Day April: Day Two

Today was Saturday. For some reason, I thought it would be easier to get my hour in on a Saturday. Jeremy doesn't work on Saturdays, and with a second adult to help with child care, surely I can be more productive, right? But with a second adult, there is a second decision-maker, a second opinion on what should happen when, and the schedule is not entirely in my control.

Normally, on a Saturday, I go to karate at 8:30, and I am home by 9:30 ready to face my day. But today Jeremy had a church breakfast thing, so I couldn't go to karate unless I walked the half mile to the karate studio, and took both girls with me. So, I skipped karate, and started my day a little bit grumpy because of it.

But the sun was shining, so when Jer got back from his breakfast, I suggested that we could go to the zoo, to make the most of a nice day. I could get my productive hour in later. The only hitch was that we had just bought a minivan last night, and Dorothy's car seat was still in Jeremy's parents' van from the last time they had driven us somewhere (our car has been out of commission for several weeks). So Jeremy drove to his parents' house to get the car seat, but the van wasn't there, because his brother had taken the van to someone else's house, and, long story short, it was well after noon before we had both car seats properly installed in our new van.

We decided that the zoo was probably too much to do at that point, but we still took the girls to the park to enjoy the sunny and not-too-cold weather. After the park, we went grocery shopping, a chore we have been neglecting for the past few, carless weeks.

While I unloaded the groceries and put them away, Valerie fell asleep watching TV with her dad. I put Dorothy down for a nap, and finally was able to start my HADA project for the day: cleaning out the old car so we can attempt to sell it. (Anyone want to buy a 1998 Mazda 626 with a busted transmission?) It took me 30 minutes to get all of our personal effects and trash out of the car, then Dorothy woke up, and it was time to start dinner, so my hour was put on hold.

Valerie was still asleep when dinner was ready, so Jer and I ate without her. Then, once she finally woke up, it took a little bit of coaxing to get her to eat her dinner. So, once I got Dorothy down for the night (I hope), it was already getting late, and I was facing the prospect of a well-rested 2.5-year-old under my feet for several more hours.

But I had done 30 minutes. Plus the 45 minutes extra from yesterday, plus the un-timed projects I had done, like taking my time properly installing the car seats in the new van, putting away groceries, making dinner, etc. That adds up to an hour, right? But I couldn't let myself start making rationalizations like that on Day Two, so I begrudgingly set a timer and started sorting the hamper of stuff that had come in from the car. When I finished, there was still a minute left, so I pulled a few things out of the box of paperwork I still need to finish sorting from yesterday, and recycled them. Bam.

Day Two tally: 1 hour. Just.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good job so far ! You sound more productive than me. :) I washed a few dishes (my husband did most of them), did a load of laundry, put some baby clothes away, cleaned the bathroom (including scrubbing the floor and walls), and cleaned the living room. That was over the last two days.
-Amy

Anonymous said...

You've been inspiring me. I did a quick tidy on the house and then started and finished sewing things for a care package I've been procrastinating on for three weeks.

Anonymous said...

OK, neighbor, you really planted a seed in the mind! Since starting this, I have tamed the linnen closet, cleaned out the crazy 2 drawers in the kitchen, gone through the file cabinet and finished raking the yard!! WooHoo!!!! All this and I managed to watch all 3 Phillies games!