This weekend was . . . well, it was okay.
It probably should have been great — it had all of the elements of great. Two parents off from work! Opportunity for date night! First double-digit long run in forever! Holiday & party! But, while there were sweet moments, I will admit I was happy for Monday to roll around today.
Sigh.
Lately I have been putting a lot of thought into time. How much I have. How much is left. How to best allocate it. How to make more of it (impossible, actually). Sometimes I think my frantic emphasis on using it in the ‘best’ way backfires. I get frustrated when detailed plans don’t come to fruition. I am annoyed at a last-minute change of plans. I am disappointed in myself when I just don’t have enough energy to do 2839 activities.
Notes:
1) There is no such thing as “a quick trip to IKEA”. (Despite this, I do rather love it. Not sure if Cameron did, though . . . )
2) It makes me sad that I almost always fall asleep 5 minutes into reading at night. This is clearly a trade-off for working out in the morning. I should take better advantage of the evenings when Josh comes home late to read BEFORE I am about to pass out. I have 3 half-finished volumes that I am determine to finish with by the end of the year, so we’ll see.
3) Sound Opinions is one of my favorite podcasts, and their latest episode contains their 2015 picks! This was a weekend highlight. I was happy to see both Grimes and Courtney Barnett rank highly.
4) Hanukkah this year = total BARRAGE of toys. OMG. Then Annabel got upset when she heard us plotting to Kon-Mari old ones (obviously everything sparks joy to a 3.5 year old). But seriously, we cannot keep everything in our house. How do others handle this!?
At IKEA. Obviously 🙂
5 Comments
Shopping with kids is one of those things I never do. It started back when I had a colicky baby who screamed all of the time and continues (6 years later) to this day. If it cannot be purchased from Amazon then I have decided I don’t need it in my life. 🙂
I am one of those weirdos though who has never been to an IKEA. Everybody I know loves them though. Am I totally missing out?
Oh shopping with kids is not often fun, but necessary!
I’m sorry you are so stressed about the use and management of time. I wish I had some insight or tips, this is something I’ve been stressing less about lately and I don’t know what has caused the shift. One thing I did at the beginning of 2015 was really examine my priorities for leisure time. This year, I realized it’s that I wanted to read more, outside of work. Because of this, I stopped watching quite a few shows (now I only watch two sitcoms by myself, and one or two dramas with Dan), and Dan and I have a reading night about once a week. I also run a lot fewer errands (I used to go out a few times a week just to the grocery store or Target for one item!) and now I try to condense trips, or just go without/use Amazon. We also seriously simplified our meal plans – it is kind of boring and mundane to repeat the same 10 meals over and over but it gets the job done (Like Simplicity Parenting, ugh!). I can definitely relate to being disappointed when things don’t live up to the ideal you have in mind, though!
Oh- the toys. I totally KonMari the toys when the kids are sleeping. I know some people are against it but it works in my life. I take the things the kids no longer play with and hide them away (usually in a closet). If they don’t ask for them in the next 2 months I get rid of them. I also use this method to cull toys we tend to get many multiples of (ie matchbox cars). I decide on the number I want them to have (maybe 10) and then get rid of the others.
Just what works for us.
I have the same issues with wanting to do so much, but coming up against limits of my energy, kids’ moods, time, etc… I think the answer is really just to enjoy the moment as it is, without thinking of "the next thing". Certain times of year make this worse, for example, I read about "best christmas things to do in my city with kids" and now I want to do ALL OF THEM and we only have one weekend before christmas and we have done NONE OF THEM and I feel like we are missing out, yet we had a fun weekend just going to the park (it was crazy warm!) and playing in leaves in the backyard, so…who care? (now to make myself stop caring).
I try to remind myself that 1) the kids probably won’t remember much if anything from these years and 2) if I want them (or, myself!) to remember anything I want them to recall a "feeling" of being safe and loved and having fun together as a family, and that doesn’t need to be planned.
We did an IKEA trip as a family 2-3 years ago and NEVER AGAIN, I was scarred. (G was paying and I was taking them to the restroom after eating ice cream and they both ran out of the bathroom to the exits/where people were trying to wheel heavy carts around).
Ha I love that ikea looks exactly the same on the other side of the world! I used to hate ikea because I associated it with rubbish products, but I’ve come to realise that you just need to pick and choose what you buy. Plus Ikea hacks are awesome! We’re looking at using Stuva cupboards in our bedroom (they’re a kids product but the dimensions work for our space) – I discovered the other day that Besta doors fit on them! Being able to completely customise is awesome. And I do love their small storage as well 🙂