I know that the title of this post sounds like a horror novel, but on the contrary…it is every busy Mom’s dream title.
If you have followed me here for any amount of time at all, you know that one of my personal missions is to learn to enjoy my children. It doesn’t always come naturally, but it is something that I have been intentional and active to pursue for years now. Now, I don’t mean that I am always rejoicing in the messes and the sicknesses and the potty training and the hormones (both mine and theirs!)…but what it means is that I am working towards not saying or dwelling on negative things about my children (whether they are around or not). Things like “this is why we can’t have nice things” or “I just need a break” are innocent enough until really think about how my kids feel when I say things like this in reference to them. I am not denying that there is truth to those statements, but spending the time saying or thinking these things doesn’t get anybody anywhere.
It sounds counterintuitive, but one way that we do this is by making sure that we both get time to step out of all the responsibility of kids and home and take some deep breaths. Sometimes this is just an hour or so while I go for a run, or sometimes it’s taking one kid with us to run an errand (and being strategic about which kid it is haha), and sometimes it’s a longer stretch of time like a nice weekend away. But my favorite way to “take a breather” is for me to be AT HOME – ALONE. There is something about it that makes me both wildly productive while also feeling maximum relaxation.
Last week, Theo took all four kids camping. Yes, he is amazing. I was hesitant for him to take Orion, but Theo insisted that I wouldn’t get any rest if Ori stayed with me. Which is a good point, so I didn’t protest too much. They left on a Monday afternoon around 4:30pm and came back the next day around 1:30pm, so I had about 20 hours to myself.
Here is what I did with my time…
The first thing I did was go for a run! I normally would have gone outside, but it was HOT and I decided that if I was going to run, I would just go on the treadmill.
After my run, I spent some time reading up on blogs that I follow and then I started to work on the animal chores and watering my garden. I also ordered some Thai takeout food. I left to pick up the food (a 5 min drive away), and came back home to finish the animal chores.
I showered and put on comfy clothes then sat down to eat my dinner while still reading/catching up on blogs.
After dinner, I hung up the cloth diapers and started a load of laundry. Then I spent about an hour addressing some invitations to send out for a party that I’m hosting later this summer. If the task is “mindless”, I usually listen to a podcast while I’m working. So I blasted through quite a few podcasts while doing this!
It was somehow already 9:30pm, so I went out to lock up the chickens and caught the sunset. Chickens will put themselves to bed, but they always wait until sunset. In the winter that means we can lock them up at like 6pm, but in the summer it means we have to wait until closer to 9 or 10 pm!
I climbed into bed and read my books for just a few minutes before calling it a night around 10:15pm. Punished by Rewards I am reading for school, Really Very Crunchy was so cute and I loved it, and I DNFed The Paris Novel because I was so bored and it just wasn’t my vibe.
I set my alarm for 5:30am so I could go for a run before the heat hit! I also wanted to use all of my “free” time to be productive and had quite a long list of things that I wanted to get done before the family got back! If I have free time, you can bet you will NOT find me sleeping!
After my run I grabbed an iced chai from my local coffee shop, let out the chickens, showered, and worked on getting some breakfast.
I wanted to write several blog posts to get ahead of my blogging schedule, so after breakfast I tackled some of my chores like hanging out the load of laundry and doing 30 minutes of weeding in my sunflower field so that I could sit down and let the writing inspiration flow!
It was around 9am, and I spent the rest of my time alternating writing a blog with doing some reading, mostly of my professional development book. I would write one blog post, then read a chapter, then write a post, etc. I only got through 2.5 blog posts, though.
At 12:30, Theo texted me that they were on their way back, so I put away the computer and grabbed a quick bit of lunch before the energy and excitment came flying back into the house!! The kids had a blast and I’m so thankful for the memories that they are able to build with their Dad. Next time, I will go with them…but who could pass up 20 hours alone when that is a choice?
What would you do with some time alone at your house?
It definitely is! I used to ask for a day home alone as part of my Mother’s day gift each year when the boys were little. Being home with them 24/7/ 365 days a year really can take it’s toll and I loved having quiet time to rest, and recharge, and even tackle some things around the house (or not if I didn’t feel like it!) was heavenly. It sounds like you really made the most of your 20 hours!