Surviving Summer as a Work-from-Homer: Week One

This week on Mom.me, I wrote about surviving (and thriving!) our first week of summer vacation. Last night at 1:00am. Which is when I'm finding time to work. More on that, below:

It's been a full week of summer vacation, and after my post a few weeks back, I wanted to follow up with a little check-in on how we're doing with the whole no-camp-mama's-gotta-work-still situation up in here. As of tonight, here is what is working for me/us/me and us:

1. Mondays are for Planning our Week: We spent Monday organizing a game plan for the week. Playdates, day trips, etc... It's also the day we get our errands done for the week. I organize a list of things I need to get to every day/by the end of the week workwise and the kids decide where they want to go on their weekly adventure. This past week we hit up the California Science Center to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls. Next week (weather permitting) we'll hit up the beach. By getting all errands out of the way on Monday and stocking up on markers/crafts/new books to read/etc... we can go the rest of the week with plenty of options.

2. I can work nights. And I have to, in order to not fall behind completely: During the school year, I put in six hour work days and then, at night, work another hour or so. Judging from this week, my hours are cut to three (on a good day) so I HAVE to work nights. The kids are in bed by 9 and I need alone time with Hal, because, duh, so I have taken it upon myself to carve out late LATE night work time between the hours of midnight (when Hal goes to sleep) and 2:00am -- my new bedtime. Because I don't have to be awake at 7am, I can sleep in until 8:00, allow the kids to watch cartoons/completely thrash the house before I stumble out of bed and get the twins dressed, fed and ready for school. (Hal has to be at work at 6:30 so is always long gone when the kids wake up.)

And it is totally working.

Take this post, for example. It is 12:22am as I type this and the house is quiet. I have my music and my candles and even though I'm fucking exhausted, I'm here. I'm doing this thing. Which brings me my next bullet point....

3. I must embrace my inability to be at 100%. Or 90%. Or 65%: It is not possible for me to bring my A game at the moment and that's okay. Being my own boss and working for myself is a luxury I do not take for granted but being my only employee has always been a struggle, because underneath the laid back I'm-so-chill-love-and-light-for-all ways, I am extremely hard on myself. I am the shittiest boss of all time. I refuse to give myself a break even when I know I am desperate for one. (I literally was back to work three hours after giving birth to the twins. Because there is no maternity leave when you're a writer on the Internet.) My hard-on-my-self-ness is something I know I need to change so this no-camp-no-nanny business is, in the long run, good for me, maybe. Because I have no choice but to exhale and do what I can do.

What a concept...

... You can read the post in its entirety, here.

TGIF, you guys. Let's put moles on each other's faces to unwind.

GGC