For Moms from a Mom: Don't You Hate it When...

The alarm rings at 6:10 AM. My husband slowly rolls out of bed and heads to the shower. I roll over and try to go back to sleep, but I know I am only kidding myself. I have much to do and the day is young. At 6:20 AM I force myself out of bed. I make my husband's breakfast and lunch and start the coffee.

I then crawl onto the couch and wrap up in a fleece to stay warm while the house warms up. I usually turn on the weather report and wait for 7:00 AM. At 7:00 AM I give my daughter her early morning medications and assure her she has 10 more minutes before she has to get up for school.

By 8:00 AM my daughter is on the school bus and I pour myself another cup of coffee. I then wake up my 15 year old son who is home schooled. He has much to do today and I have to get him up and moving. He is in high school now.

I then log onto the computer and start my work routine. My son sits at a computer next to me and begins his school work.

At about 11:00 AM my son and I stop and we start his cooking class. He loves to cook so he makes lunch for himself and for me. I hurry and pick up the house while he works on lunch. Making myself available if he needs me but trying to just keep a watchful eye on the situation from afar.

Quickly throwing in laundry and making a small grocery list for when we have to run around town in a bit.

After lunch I run my son to the public school where he has 2 classes. If I remember I will stop at the pharmacy to pick up the meds I ordered last week. If I forget this trip I will have several more opportunities to pick them up today. Thankfully our town is small.

At 3:00 PM my daughter will either be at Girl Scouts, or home. A quick snack is on her agenda so I keep some fruit on hand and some pretzels. She loves both and they are super quick and easy. Either way, she has ballet at 4:00 PM every Tuesday. Ballet is only supposed to go for half an hour, but frequently it goes til 4:45 PM. If I am not stopping back at the pharmacy to get what I forgot earlier, I sit in the library and read or do some research. After retrieving my daughter she frequently wants to go to the library to check out books. By the time we get home it is 5:30 PM.

I now have ½ hour to make dinner. Tuesday dinners are super easy. If I am making rice on Monday, I make a double batch. If I make a stew on Sunday, I make a double batch. Anything I can easily reheat will become Tuesdays' dinner. If there isn't much to reheat, I use the crock pot and have something going.

Now its time for homework. Homework is my least liked time of the day. Our daughter doesn't like to do her homework and will willingly put it off til the very last possible minute. It can take hours of pleading to get her to do it. In fact, I often defer and have one of her siblings or her dad make deals with her to get it done. Sometimes a little incentive will go a long ways.

Now its bath time, story time and bed time. At 11:00 PM I will awake our daughter for her last medications for the day. I will double check that she has taken all of her medications for the day and head to bed myself. 6:10 AM will come way too early. Hoping I will get some sleep I pray for a peaceful night for all.

My Tuesday's wouldn't go nearly so smoothly if my family didn't work hard to keep me going on Tuesday. Everyone works hard to schedule anything else around Tuesdays in our home.

My older kids work hard at helping me to get things done around the house. I don't drive in a carpool ever on Tuesdays (any other day but not Tuesday). I also make sure to not take on anything else that day myself. I explain to those that want me on a Tuesday that I simply cannot do anything that day.

Keeping to these simple rules has really helped me to feel less stressed on Tuesdays. Calling the pharmacy ahead and planning to pick things up only on Tuesdays has gone far in making my life easier.

Pre planning dinner and not stressing about laundry that day also help me to keep going. With the promise that on Wednesday things will be much less hectic, I can make it through. This too shall pass and 20 years from now it won't be quite so stressful and matter quite so much. Until then, Tuesdays are my busy day so please leave me a message and I will call you back on Wednesday when I have more time. Thanks.