Monday, April 30, 2012

Hour-a-Day April: Days 23-29

Sorry for my absence. After the whirlwind wedding weekend, we all caught a cold, our sleep issues got even worse (I hardly thought it was possible!) and I just couldn't handle one more thing. So I slipped back into survival mode, and told myself not to think about HADA for a while, until I started getting a handle on the basic stuff again, like getting dressed in the morning and eating lunch.

Day 23: Jeremy stayed home from work, and we pretty much just took turns napping all day. I ordered enough pizza for lunch that I wouldn't need to make dinner.

Daily Total: 0

Day 24: I tried a new idea on for size. Rather than aiming for an hour (which was extremely daunting on little-to-no sleep), I decided to try to do 10-12 of those "quickie" projects that only take a couple of minutes, but I never get around to. I figured each one could count as five minutes, even if they didn't take that long, because sometimes it's harder to find motivation for the little things. Here's what I managed to do before the day went completely to pot:
-Cleaned the top of the fire extinguisher, which had an impressive layer of dust. (In fact, I can't remember ever cleaning it, and we've lived here 4 years!)
-Cleaned up a mystery spot on the wall that has been there for ages.
-Pinned the chrysalides into the butterfly tent.
-Put a new battery in the wall clock (and set it to the correct time!)
-Got out the water-based face paints and let Valerie do some face painting

I feel like there were 2 or 3 more things like that, but it's been a week, and I don't remember the rest. When Jer got home, I went down to the storage unit to dig out the crib, and I set it back up in a sidecar arrangement beside our bed. Having Dorothy in her own bed and having a big open space in my bedroom was nice, but getting sleep is even nicer. (Things have been getting steadily better again since I brought back the sidecar crib, so I'm glad I did.) Anyhow, that took about an hour, so even if I didn't do my 10-12 little things, I got my hour.

Daily Total: 1 hour

Day 25: The funny thing about sleep is that, once you're sleep deprived, getting more sleep doesn't solve the problem right away. It seems to just make it worse for a while. This day is pretty much a blur. It wasn't a total loss, though. We made rainbow rice and retired the water beads from the sensory bin.I managed to wash a load of diapers in here somewhere. I think we went to Baja Fresh for dinner.

Daily Total: 0

Day 26: No delusions this day. We packed it all in and went to a friend's house. Time well-spent. I think that saved my last shred of sanity. Hmm.... Maybe I'll even count it for HADA. Going to a friend's house isn't an unusual event, it's actually something I make time for fairly regularly, but getting us all dressed and out the door to go to a friend's house when I am barely dragging myself through the day is a pretty big deal.

Daily Total: 1 hour

Day 27: This is the only day this week I accomplished much, because (you guessed it!) I had guests coming over. I managed to knock out most of the dirty dishes (still not caught up, yet, though, ugh), and clean all the floors on the main level of the house. I rearranged the living/dining room area, because there was a possibility of 12 people coming over to watch a movie, and fitting 12 people in my house facing one direction takes some creative rearranging. (It actually only ended up being 4.) I also baked some bread, cleaned some mirrors, took out the trash and recyclables, and cleaned off the junk-collecting right-by-the-door windowsill. (Although I cheated and just moved most of the stuff up to my room.) All told, I think I spent 5 or 6 hours getting stuff done today, but, since it was mostly catch-up on the daily stuff I should have done anyhow, I'm only counting an hour for HADA.

Daily Total: 1 hour

Day 28: We took the girls to a birthday party for their cousins at Bounce U, which was fun and busy and tiring. Then we went to the mall together to get Daddy's glasses adjusted, and to buy some books for birthday presents. Instead of one adult staying with the kids, and the other one making a quick stop at the mall, we made it a family outing. Valerie helped me choose the books, and she really liked being a part of things. So, I'm counting the inefficient-but-quality-time trip to the mall for HADA, even though the rest of the day was a wash productivity-wise.

Daily Total: 1 hour

Day 29: Church, after-church coffee hour, quick stop at home to grab presents, then off to Nana and PopPop's house for a family birthday party. Then we stuck around until well after bedtime playing cards and stuff. I was going to go home and clean for an hour, but I decided to play cards instead. Since we were literally out of the house from wake-up until bedtime, there wasn't much time for productivity, but what the heck, I'm counting that card game. When's the last time I took the time to play cards?

Daily Total: 1 hour
Monthly Total: 29 hours and 40 minutes

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