Time Management or How I Fake Looking Like I Kind Of Have It Together

Since I am stuck at home once again due to this damn winter weather I figured I would share how I make it look like I can keep it together like a normal person! It has taken me a while to get to this place and I am by no means a super organized person and I probably never will be, but I definitely know how to fake it like a pro! So to waste some time on this snow/ice day I figured I would share how an unorganized person can pretend to have it all together!

Night Before Work/School Prep

 Before I had a child I was a roll with the punches type of gal when it came to getting ready for the day, but now that I have a replica of myself to care for and keep alive I needed to figure out a system to make me not want to pull my hair out every morning. I started this system when I returned back to work after having Mckinley and it just stuck and has made my life so much easier. This is my routine almost every single night and let me tell you I fully regret the nights I don't get everything done and it is so worth it to take the little bit of time to pre plan and lay out everything. It only takes 10-15 minutes to get everything set and ready to go and saves me time and sanity in the mornings. Brent and I also have a nice morning routine down pat. Depending on the day I typically get the girl dressed and fed, but if I am running behind (days I don't get everything ready the night before) Brent will throw on the girl's uniform I already have set out or will go grab something if it isn't already out. I do hair, Brent brushes teeth, and I pack everything in the car and we are off. It never fails I always forget something like my second cup of coffee I really need to make it through the day with 22 four year olds and I keep a deodorant at school just in case

1. My clothes set out. Undergarments, socks, shoes, outfit, jewelery, everything I will place on my body the next day.
2. Mckinley's clothes set out. Undergarments, uniform, socks/tights, shoes, etc.
3. Mckinley's Milk cup filled and in fridge 
4. My Coffee set and ready to go
5. My breakfast pre prepped on the weekend (Frititta with eggs, spinach, homemade sausage or chopped canadian bacon) and homemade sweet potato hash browns.
6. My lunch packed in the fridge.
7. Mckinley's lunch packed in the fridge.
8. Mckinley's book bag packed with snack unless it needs to be refrigerated
9. I always keep Mckinley's dance bag packed in my car until class on Thursday when I shove it in her back pack because if I don't then it will get left at home.
10. My school bag packed.

It is so worth spending the few minutes it takes to do these 10 things rather than running around like a mad woman every morning. The rare occasions I don't get everything set up and ready to go I immediately regret my decision the next morning from the moment I wake up to the time I start prepping everything that that evening.

Meal Prepping 

 Another momsanity technique I utilize is meal planning and prepping. About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with food allergies and then last year I was undiagnosed with food allergies. This has caused a lot of confusion and trial and error when it comes to cooking and eating. To make my lifer easier and healthier I adopted a 90/10 unprocessed lifestyle. That means I make almost every single thing I put in my mouth. Every now and then I will gamble and we eat out or I will have a gluten free fish stick especially during Lent when I have spent an entire day cooking freezer meals and am too tired to make anything else. I typically do all of my meal prepping and planning on Sunday. Each wee I make a frititta that I will eat on all week and I throw together 3-5 meals I can freeze and then cook later in the over or crock pot. I am lucky that I have a friend who I swap freezer meals with so at any given time I have 6-10 meals prepped and ready to go in my freezer. Every now and then I will go ahead and put together 2-3 lunches for Mckinley that I can just grab and throw in her lunch box.

School 

There is one more place I fake it till I make it and that is work. I have learned during my 13 years teaching that if you are going to contain a room of 4 year olds you must always be prepared and if you are not prepared you better have an arsenal of songs you can pull out at any given time or a funny story telling voice. Basically I need to have everything done and ready to go for the next week by Friday of the previous week. That means I need to have 4 crafts with all of their pieces and 5 activities for our table work, plus activities for our prayer center and abc center, and journal activities, etc. I start on Monday by pulling out my lesson from the previous year going over what did and didn't work and then I go on a search on Pinterest and the internet for new crafts and activities to take the place of the trashed ones. Once I have all of my ideas I write up my lesson, hand draw everything I want to make because I am too cheap to buy anything, I create new games, and record sheets, adn anything and everything else my students may need. Then I have to make copies of everything and thankfully Our amazing front office helps in that area. Then I have to get everything organized and together for the following week. I have a specific file holder for my lessons we are completing that week that are organized by my Monday-Friday crafts and then our afternoon work is organized in their own baskets with every accessory they may need. When I am done putting everything together fpr the following week you would think I would sit down and relax, but why not keep going and start working on the next week. So I start the viscous cycle all over again. Pull out old lesson, find new activities, create and draw new activities, make copies, organize everything, etc. It is a lot of work, but it is so worth it. I learned my lesson last week by only being planned for 1 week out and then we had an ice storm and only had school 1 day last week. That meant I had 1 day to get the next week's lesson completely done. I thankfully got it done plus most of the week after that so I was pretty exhausted at the end of the day, but it is always worth it to be exhausted that one day and not every single day!I do all of this while trying to direct a classroom of 22 four year olds. Thankfully I get a 30 min. planning period and my babies nap from 1-2ish. 

If I can pretend to keep it together everyday than anyone can do it! Last, but not least if you can't keep it together hide it in a cute box

Ice Ice Baby

Mommy's Log: Icemageddon  Day 2

It has only been three days since the ice fell, but it feels more like a month! We have crafted, we have played Hi-HO Cherry-0, and put together every puzzle we own, we have sledded, I have worked out for an hour each day, and  cleaned everything I could possibly clean. I can't take it anymore! I already know I am not cut out to be at home all day long because I am home for 2 months during the summer and 2 months is long enough for me! Some people may think I am nuts, but I will actually be working 2 days a week this summer at a summer camp that Mckinley will also go to. It will be good for both of us plus I will make some money to pay the girl's tuition so win win.

 

 Brent came home from work really early on Monday and we busted out the sled my parents had dropped off the day before. We didn't stay out too long because it was so dang cold, but we definitely had fun while we were out there.

 

 

Brent didn't get to stay home with us on Ice Day 2 and we had to dig his car out of the ice with hot water and a tiny Louisville slugger so he could actually go in to work.

 I still can't believe we don't have school tomorrow and we will definitely be wandering out to grab some groceries and possibly spend a few hours meandering around Target with a coffee and some popcorn. Hopefully the forecast for Friday isn't as nasty as this last storm and we won't spend our entire weekend trapped inside.

Going To The Zoo Zoo Zoo

Anytime the temperature gets above freezing  my body craves the outdoors and thankfully the girl loves being outside as much as I do.We are lucky (some may not enjoy it as much as I do) that where we live we have pretty mild winters with a few warm weather days sprinkled here and there. We are also very lucky to have an amazing park, botanic garden, and zoo in close proximity to where we live and we have yearly passes to several of these attractions and we take advantage of them as much as we can. This weekend we were blessed with a beautiful day and we didn't waste a second of that 60 degree weather and hit up the zoo.