Shannon Stacey


My kingdom for a schedule

While anticipating the boys returning to school, I seemed to have suffered from some kind of delusions of grand scheduling. Why I thought my home and business and writing would run like a well-oiled machine due to nothing more than the absence of my children is beyond me.

What I have is chaos.

Getting the tall child and his friend to school in the morning and then picking the tall one back up again at the end of the day is old hat. But the short kid is going three afternoons a week now instead of three mornings, and that’s taking some getting used to. The backpacks be a’flying.

Plus the husband’s business is insane right now. Everybody’s cramming in anticipation of the plywood freeze. The government does a mandatory redirect of all plywood to the disaster area, and our builders and contractor trades are out of work. Fortunately, our wonderful Canadian neighbors really step up production in times like these, and I think after Hurricane Andrew it was less than two months. But right now everybody’s running and planning and building like squirrels on crack.

The husband leaves today with a “Try to write today” tossed over his shoulder. Hmmm….the tall kids go to school. I then have an hour and half or so before the short kid hits the dentist. Then he goes to school. While I’d like to write then, we have no groceries in the house, and I’d prefer to get them sans kids. Then I’ll have to pick the children back up and consider some housecleaning. Supper anyone?

I might have to keep vampire hours again, after all. Going to bed at a “normal” time every night helps the insomnia a little, but I need the extra hours.

Gee, maybe we should get a puppy, too.

13 comments to “My kingdom for a schedule”

  1. Kate
    Comment
    1
      · September 13th, 2005 at 10:35 am · Link

    Don’t forget to get a hamster with a squeaky wheel. :nod:



  2. Shannon
    Comment
    2
      · September 13th, 2005 at 11:54 am · Link

    I think I’m the hamster on the squeaky wheel.

    :doh:



  3. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    3
      · September 13th, 2005 at 12:04 pm · Link

    (((Shan)))) On the plus side, he could have said, “don’t waste any time on that stupid writing today, okay?” :wink:



  4. Charlene T
    Comment
    4
      · September 13th, 2005 at 12:14 pm · Link

    I’m about to start keeping vampire hours myself. A couple of weeks ago I realized my best opportunity to write was from about 3:00 to 5:00 a.m. I don’t really want to get up at that hour, but I think I’m gonna have to. :shock:

    Time to stock up on coffee. :coffee:



  5. PBW
    Comment
    5
      · September 13th, 2005 at 12:17 pm · Link

    On the dinner front, whenever I cook I make double recipes, freeze half and defrost on nights when it’s chaotic (this works really great with things like chili, spaghetti sauce and meatloaf.)

    At night I assembly-line the school stuff: clothes, backpacks, homework, lunches, everything ready for the morning so all we do is eat breakfast, grab and go. When it’s time to pickup, I edit or dictate into a voice recorder while I’m waiting in the car line.

    The house is always a battle. I try to straighten up or dust every time I walk through a room, and I am big into Swiffer products. That new Carpet Flick they just came out with is great for the odd ball of cat hair and saves hauling out the vacuum.



  6. Ann
    Comment
    6
      · September 13th, 2005 at 2:06 pm · Link

    Flick? Do tell.

    ~Ann, the odd ball of dog hair.



  7. Shannon
    Comment
    7
      · September 13th, 2005 at 2:28 pm · Link

    OMG, Swiffer and those canisters of various cleaning wipes are amazing! Glass wipe, Pledge wipe, Lysol wipe, Swiffer and DONE! I think with a Carpet Flick, I could be set for life.

    The crockpot’s my friend, too, but I haven’t really tried out the double recipe thing. I try really hard not to feed the husband leftovers, although…I guess if it was doubled on purpose and frozen, it’s not really leftovers. (And that’s my hangup, not his. I don’t think he could care less, but it’s the SAHM guilt, you know?) (Although, the SAHM guilt didn’t stop me from throwing some Chef Boyardee his way last night. *g*)

    I need to work on the routine. At 8:25 am I’m screaming “WHERE IS YOUR BACKPACK???” Maybe I should try doing it the night before instead. :nod: The one thing I excel at is procrastination but that’s clearly not working for me now.

    Very true, Anna. He’s not what I call ultra-supportive, but he never puts me down. And he listens while I blabber on about the community goings-on or plot holes I’ve fallen into. He’s a keeper.

    Which is good, because the way I procrastinate I’d never find another husband, and then I’d have to get a job.

    :lmao: (I’m kidding!)

    And, dayum, Charli! I can stay up til 3:00, but I can’t GET up at 3:00. Dunkin Donuts is gonna LOVE you!



  8. PBW
    Comment
    8
      · September 13th, 2005 at 2:48 pm · Link

    Ann: Carpet Flick is extremely cool for light carpet clean-up jobs like pet hair, fuzzballs, grass, that kind of thing. Price isn’t bad, either — $12.99 here for the sweeper unit, and the sticky-paper refills are $4.99 a box, plus they have $1 off coupon stuck in all the sweeper boxes to tempt you to get one. I like it almost as much as my Swiffer (excuse the product-pimping, but I take housecleaning very seriously.)

    Shannon: On average I only do one or two freezer-extra meals a week, and no one complains, but I keep a good variety of stuff so they’re not getting the same old stuff every week.



  9. Shannon
    Comment
    9
      · September 13th, 2005 at 4:23 pm · Link

    So…it’s like a sticky lint-roller, but with a long handle? That’d be cool. I was just at Walmart this morning, too.

    Maybe I should try the freezer meals for a while. I’m notorious for preparing the same old stuff every week. Every once in a while the husband will say “How come we never have tacos anymore?” or “Why don’t we have shephard’s pie anymore?”

    I’m thinking making a grocery list would help, too. I used to make them out ahead of time, giving thoughts of thought to what we’d eat, then leave it on the fridge. Shopping for anything, even groceries, is torture for me, so I grab and get out. I tend to grab the same things I grabbed last week. :doh:

    And what’s really bad is that I only have to plan 5 meals. We do take-out or restaurants on Fri & Sat nights. That’s when the hubby can get meatloaf or fish or some other food I don’t make. (Works for me. He’s never actually asked me outright if I know how to make meatloaf, so why burst his bubble?)

    I’ve been told (by somebody who knows me in real life and should be WORKING and not reading my blog because that creeps me out) that I need to make a chart for myself like one makes for kids.

    Do I want gold stars or chocolate? Hmmmmm….I guess, being the mom, I can have both. :dance:



  10. Jaci Burton
    Comment
    10
      · September 13th, 2005 at 6:11 pm · Link

    Um…..I don’t even have little kids. If FEMA saw my house they’d give me disaster aid. Organization isn’t in my vocabulary. Grocery shopping gives me hives. Food prep? That’s… me: What do you want for dinner? Charlie: I dunno. Me: Frozen Pizza again? Charlie: Whatever. I think it’s the writer mentality. Or maybe it’s just my general sense of chaos.

    Now don’t you feel better? Or not. :rofl:



  11. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    11
      · September 14th, 2005 at 3:58 am · Link

    Well. I’m with you Shan – I’m going to have to get back into the cooking double and freezing, more for the economy than anything else. But if we have spaghetti bolognese or chilli we always have it two nights running – that’s NOT leftovers!

    Anna – not making much sense yet this morning. (Ann – I was :lmao: for the oddball comment)



  12. Ann
    Comment
    12
      · September 14th, 2005 at 7:24 am · Link

    Thanks, PBW. I’ll definitely be getting one of those!

    I also tend to do big meals that can slop us for two nights running. I have a cookbook called Dinner in Minutes that’s a godsend. Each recipe has a shopping list and when I feel ambitious, I haul it out and make a grocery list for several meals.

    Fastfood is pasta with butter or garlic and fresh parmesian, and a salad. We eat that at least once a week. Can’t beat the price and it’s ready in twenty minutes. We also do a simple protein and salad combo – fish, chicken or steak. Not the cheapest option, but quick, easy and nutritious. Sometimes I’ll add a bowl of grapes or berries with the meal and everyone loves that for some reason!

    Still, I resent it when five o’clock rolls around and it’s time to start cooking. My husband is a very picky eater and I wonder how that became my problem? :wtf:



  13. Dee
    Comment
    13
      · September 14th, 2005 at 12:01 pm · Link

    I envy y’all. I can’t do that kind of thing. Hubby cooks AMAZING. What I cook doubles for slop. He’s asian and eats veggies. I’m hispanic and grew up poor. My idea of a veggie meal is putting tomato sauce in my sopita (noodle soup). I barely eat because I don’t care about food. He ponders if it’s presented nicely or not before he eats it.

    Add in my son, the poster boy for autistic eating problems.

    At my house, on a good night, we make three meals. One for hubby, one for me and one for the Kid. Bad nights we make six or eight. Two for hubby, one for me and up to five for the kid in an effort to get him to eat SOMEthing. (He’s into circles…if only all food was round…)

    I wish I could make meals simple. :)
    Smooches,
    Dee







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