In My Spare Time

Over the summer I was often caught saying “In my spare time” as if I had TONS of it. People would ask…

“When do you do your scrapbooking? Paint? Draw? Garden? and all the other organizing and fun projects you come up with?!”

I don’t come up with time. I don’t have a magic wand that creates me more then the 24/7 we all have. I just schedule my life differently then the average person does.

Now I’m not so irresponsible that I put off ALL things I need to do. BUT we do the minimal around here. So in the morning, Tink is off to school, and Buzz is fed, pets too. Dishes done, some basic picking up. If bills need to be paid, or the accounts balanced, phone calls made, I do it. Then instead of diving into laundry, cleaning, dusting, mopping, and other things I COULD do. I see what Buzz wants to do. At 4 1/2 I’ve got a very limited number of months before he’s off to school all day, and my play friend is whisked away learning and growing like his sister.

We usually go to the basement, where it’s 1/2 playroom and the other half is my art room. Play-doh, paints, or just drawing. Sometimes we are lazy and watch cartoons for a bit together. As of the last few months he’s TOTALLY into his Monster Fighter LEGO’s. (LEGO’s + Halloween) so we’ll play for a while. Maybe a Nerf gun shoot out, or just read stories. Recently (as of this week) he lets me read Shel Silverstein poems to him! That makes my heart so happy!

And when he’s tired of playing with Mommy, then I go off and I drink coffee, I blog, Pinterst, I microblog (Facebook, Twitter) read, doodle, play games. THEN, after a nice morning, I’ll get into the above adult jobs that need to be done. Now before I go much further, I need to tell you that I am a Stay At Home Mom. I do not have a 9-5 job. My kids and this house are my current job.

BUT. and that is a BIG but.
Understand that my life priorities are still the same, kids or not, 40 work hours a week or not. Fun, playing, and creative time, it’s all been a priority to me. So to say that because you work a job outside of the home, you can’t say you don’t have the time to do fun things, I’ve got to say I’m calling that bullshit right there.

I get that you may not get time for 3 hours of play time, on top of all the other jobs to do around the house, I get that. Working parents get just a few hours a day to fit in playtime, housework, and just a bit of me time. If you say “I just don’t have time because I work” THAT is your own fault.

I used to work 40+ hours a week, and I used to STILL have time to read, draw, paint, scrapbook. YES my time was limited, but I made the best of the time I had. Took a sketchbook, pictures to crop, or my book to work and when I had a 15 or 20 minute break, I’d enjoy a bit of ME time where ever I go.

I know having kids is a time suck, they take up SO much of your energy, you are always waiting on them, cleaning up after them… it’s HOW you choose to live this life with them. So sure, the first few years you are their maid, their chef… but even then I was able to just zone out. Then with my PPD the best I could do was watch the 24/7 Big Brother live feeds while the baby slept, but it was some me time. Not laundry, not dishes, just some zone out doodle on paper, read a blog time.

I’m at a point with my 6 1/2 and 4 1/2 year old that they can pick up after themselves, help with small jobs around the house (they have a chore list) and help me in the kitchen. So it’s ALL of us enjoying every moment instead of grumbling about doing it all myself.

Remember Mary Poppins and how she made cleaning the nursery room fun? It’s like that. Make fun of what you do. I don’t like dishes, so I time myself. Try to beat my old time. And play music. My family knows I get the MP3 player and rock out to some Linkin Park to get the dishes done. I also remind myself how much I don’t want to wake up to a nasty kitchen. (note I have yet to come up with a fun idea for laundry. I just suck at it. Period)

This year, and the whole “Simplify” theme is making house work simple. Do it, get it done, enjoy life. A few years back it was “Balance” and I needed to find the right amount of time to give to the house, and adult jobs and how to give enough time to the ME time that I needed with kids and husband time too.

This life of mine is all about finding out what works, changing things up when it doesn’t, and loving it when it does.

Happy Tuesday!JCat McGack
“Just remember that we are all given the same 24 hours in the same 7 days. What you do with your time is up to you. “

“Don’t take life to serious. No one get’s out alive.”