As I was getting ready this morning, I realized it’s Thursday already! Wasn’t yesterday Monday?

I came to a realization that I run on autopilot. Even though every day is NOT the same, I tackle them all the same and it just flows.  I would be so stressed out if I really thought about everything that needs to be done every day…and how and who and when… 

This week was another one of those weeks where nearly every evening was double booked with soccer, dance, meetings and appointments.  Throw in a kids birthday party, too!  

Remember me saying I have ONE calendar that keeps track of all our appointments, meetings, events, etc?  Every Sunday I print out our calendar for the week (I use MS Outlook). I look at it closely- make sure that everything we have scheduled for the week will fall into place correctly, make arrangements to carpool, transition between events, how much time we’ll have for dinner, what time Jim needs to be home from work, who’s driving, what car to the carseats need to be in, etc.  And then I just go with the flow!

Jim calls me our “Event Coordinator”. 

What’s the saying?  “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?”  Well how about “an ounce of planning is worth a pound of execution!”  By spending a few minutes on Sunday, as the week progresses I only have to worry about the current day, not what’s going on the next day. Everything is so planned out that I’m practically on autopilot. Up at 6am every day- kids up at 6:45. Daycare kids start arriving at 7am. My kids go out the door at 7:12 to catch the bus.  My youngest has to be ready for preschool by 8:20.  Snack at 9:30.  Start making lunch at 11:15, serve it at 11:45, kids down for nap by noon.  Quiet time I sit back and relax for a bit, then tackle home projects or cleaning, make dinner (if I won’t have time after work), move carseats, etc.  At 2:30 my kids are home from school- snack again, homework help, kids get picked up from daycare, my kids eat a quick bite around 4:00 and then we’re out the door for our evening plans!  Before I go to bed, I take a look at the next day’s calendar so I know what our plans are. 

My biggest tip is that I try not to worry about things that can wait.  I try not to over plan things or think about events too far in advance.  For example, I have a full-day scrapbooking workshop I’m hosting on Sunday.   Saturday is a full day of soccer with 2 games and a tournament.  I’m not even THINKING about what I need to do for Sunday until Friday at the earliest.  It’s easy to get caught up in planning and get worked up over things….but really, just prioritize and focus on what is most important or most time critical. It might sound like procrastinating, but I don’t consider it to be, I just consider it to be prioritized planning- my way to stay sane!

Today I’m only worrying about tonight’s activities.   Tonight I’ll start working on our Saturday plan.  And Saturday between games I’ll start planning my Sunday!