Yes, I am going to whine a bit. Not because I want to change a thing, either. I love my life. LOVE my life. I don’t want my life to be any other way than the way it is. I want to grow it, and nurture it, and continue to increase it’s joy, but I don’t want to do anything differently.

Most days, I cook three times a day. Which means three times the clean-up. Yes, the children do help with cooking and do help with clean-up, but they’re children. My involvement is necessary.

Grocery shopping requires a tremendous amount of time because I shop with coupons and specials and plan our meals that way. Even though I do use the to go service, and only need to drive up, push a button, and wait for the groceries to be delivered to my truck, I spend typically two to three hours placing that order weekly.

Laundry is pretty streamlined in our home with the three eldest children doing most of their own. I no less must monitor it and complete the remaining clothes. Then there’s ironing and such as well. While I generally accomplish this in a single day (Monday) it is time consuming.

Cleaning. Yes, we have housekeeping. No, not right now, but I hope to hire someone again soon. And yes, it is lovely to have some to do the heavy stuff – mainly bathrooms and floors. But it isn’t as if I never have to lift a finger. I am cooking several times a day so that’s several times of washing and sweeping. Kids leave trails of their presence so there’s the steady chore of tidying. Yes, the children help, but they’re children and my involvement is required.
Lessons absorb a lot of time. I won’t even go into that. I’ve managed to streamline a lot of the planning and teaching, but no less, it’s time.

Quiet Time is a must. I am talking about MY Quiet Time. Most often now, it’s in the morning. But it must happen. And it requires time.

I am unsure of why it takes an hour to do 45 minutes of exercise? There is surely some answer to this. Really, it’s more like 90 minutes to do 45 minutes of exercise. There’s the preparation – are the kids set? Are other tasks complete or in a safe stopping place? Changing into work out clothing, setting up the area or the equipment, filling up my water… And then exercise ’til I nearly die, and then recovering whatever has been destroyed in that 45 minutes by the children (this is improving, but no less is still a challenge), showering, dressing… A huge time monster at least 4 or 5 days a week…

While there is so little time already, I am unsure as to why I took up blogging. I do enjoy it. A LOT. But… why? I have learned to blog several days at a time. This post, for example, is being penned on Monday night for a Tuesday release. I hope to also post for Wednesday and maybe even Thursday tonight during Monday Night Football. Who knows? So, I am figuring this one out as well, but it’s a time eater for sure.

This doesn’t account for the animals’ care, which the children manage most of the time, but on which I must follow-up. Or the children’s activities such as sports, classes, field trips, play dates. Or date nights or…or…or…

And I must stop. Husband wants me with him when he is home. And I want to be with Husband when he is home. It’s hard, but I must stop.

How do I get it all done? Well? Some days better than others. And some days very poorly. Today, pretty well. It juts is what it is. With a lot of planning. I am standing as I blog this evening, because once I sit, I am done. My legs ache, my head is tired, I am sore. It’s exhausting being me.  I don’t want to be anyone else…