Now that school is back in session, our days have a little more structure again. And honestly, I welcome it.
Summer has a way of throwing any whatever routine we had completely out the window. Now there are school drop-offs and pickups again, activities are back on the calendar, and our days have a little more predictability to them.
But there is still so. much. to. do.
There’s plenty left happening in the garden. Summer needs to be cleaned up, organized, and slowly tucked away. There are things to wash, freeze, preserve, put away, clean out, catch up on and prepare for the season ahead.
And then there are all the regular things I’d like to get back to.
Like making bread.
Because every time my family asks me to buy bread at the store, I say no.
Have I also been consistently making said bread?
No.
Oops.
the list is never actually done.
At pretty much any given moment, I can think of fifteen things I could be doing.
There’s always another load of laundry, something in the garden that needs attention, food that needs to be dealt with, something I want to make from scratch, something that needs cleaning, something for the kids, something for work, something for this blog…
You get the idea.
And I think one of the biggest things I’ve had to learn is that having fifteen things to do does not mean fifteen things need to be done today.
I prioritize what I reasonably think I can accomplish and give myself permission to back-burner the rest.
Sometimes the bread is the thing that gets pushed off.
Sometimes there are tomatoes sitting on my counter longer than I would like to admit.
Sometimes I look at something and decide, absolutely not today.
It’ll still be there tomorrow.
I have to write everything down.
I am very much a write-it-down person. If it isn’t written down or on my calendar, there is a very good chance it isn’t happening.
I keep a pretty organized calendar because there really isn’t much downtime in our days. Knowing what needs to happen and roughly how long it’s going to take helps me figure out where everything else can fit.
I try to organize the moving pieces of my day as much as I reasonably can. Not because every day goes according to plan (it absolutely does not), but because having some sort of plan keeps the never-ending list from feeling quite so overwhelming.
I may or may not have already been late for school pickup this year because I failed to properly calculate how long the chicken was going to take to cook.
So clearly this is a flawless system.
As I write this, I’m actually waiting for lard to come to temperature so we can deep fry chicken fingers for dinner.
With fresh-milled homemade breadcrumbs, of course.
Because apparently that’s where I draw the line.
what my days actually look like.
My days are fairly consistent for the most part.
I wake up and caffeinate.
That comes first.
I do not do anything for anyone until I’ve had my cup of hot black coffee. We all have boundaries.
After that, I make lunches for whichever kids are heading out, get myself and the baby as put together as we’re going to get, and head out for school drop-off.
When I get home, a load of laundry goes in immediately.
One load every day. Non-negotiable.
Then, weather permitting, I try to get in a two-mile walk.
If the baby falls asleep, that’s my opportunity to hop on the computer and get a little work done whether that’s here on the blog, Instagram, or whatever else needs my attention that day.
Once he’s awake, we’ll have a small breakfast and I usually move into the kitchen portion of my day.
That might mean unloading the dishwasher, prepping dinner, washing something from the garden, freezing produce, starting something that needs time to cook, or dealing with whatever food-related task is currently staring me in the face.
I like to get as much of the kitchen stuff handled in the morning as possible and wrap that part of my day up by making lunch.
afternoons are for everything else.
After lunch, I’ll tidy up and tackle another chore somewhere else in the house if there’s one that needs doing.
And there is always one that needs doing.
By mid-afternoon, we’re back in the car for school pickup, dropping kids at activities, coming home, leaving again, you know the drill.
Dinner gets started whenever it makes sense for that particular night’s schedule.
This is also why I’m constantly thinking about how long things take.
Can I start bread right now?
Do I actually have time to deal with what’s in the garden?
If I start this project, can I finish it before I need to leave?
How long does this chicken take to cook, Courtney?
Apparently that last one deserves special attention.
and then I’m done.
One thing I’ve become pretty firm about is that once we’re all home together, I’m not doing chores.
The laundry can wait.
The kitchen can wait.
Whatever didn’t get crossed off the list can wait.
We’ll go for a walk on the beach, take the bikes out, find something to do together, or sometimes just completely veg out in the living room and enjoy being home.
There will always be another thing I could be doing.
That’s exactly why I have to decide when I’m done.
there will always be something else.
I don’t think the goal is ever going to be getting to the bottom of my to-do list.
I’m not sure that bottom even exists.
For me, it’s more about figuring out what matters today.
I write things down. I plan. I squeeze things into the pockets of time where they make sense. I try to think ahead. I prioritize. And when something isn’t going to happen, I move it to another day without convincing myself I’ve somehow failed because I didn’t accomplish every single thing I thought about doing.
Some days I get a ridiculous amount done.
Other days I manage the laundry, feed everybody and keep everyone where they’re supposed to be.
Both count.
There will be more bread to make. More vegetables to preserve. More laundry. More projects. More things I suddenly decide I absolutely need to learn how to make myself.
And I’m sure after you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what a normal day in our life looks like.
It’s busy. It’s a little chaotic. The list is never finished.
And maybe that’s okay.
There’s always tomorrow.
Leave a Reply