Staying Sane Between Vacations

Welcome to my newest project: Staying sane between vacations.

Yesterday I was reading my latest harlequin download (Crazy, Stupid Sex written by Maisey Yates) on my android while getting my toes wet on a beginners guide to programming, thinking about pouring an afternoon hurricane to go with my peppermint infused facial peel when I got a call from the school asking me to come pick up my 6yo daughter. She wasn't feeling good and she being the type of kiddo who never complains at school, seriously, her kindergarten teacher and part-time sub (while the teacher was out having her baby and recuperating) are both thoroughly impressed with how little this kid complains despite her "issues" (we'll get to that later) so she was obviously worried. So, not having done any of my fun afternoon stuff I ran my fingers through my nappy hair, slipped Nikes on my bare feet and went to get her. I spent the rest of the day tending to her and then getting ready for class (I have a Thursday evening - 4-5:30ish - coaching certification class which will last till mid-Aug but I'm actually thinking about putting it on hold for the summer and then picking it back up in September), then cooking dinner and then bedtime stuff and that wrapped up my day.

I went to bed missing my afternoon routine of peel, romance and diluted fruity and sweet resemblance of an alcoholic beverage. I did spend a little extra time in the bathroom getting ready for bed though but that just doesn't have the same affect. I laid in bed thinking about how another school year was coming to an end and my vacation (I'll explain that title to you further down) was coming to an end. No more leisurely afternoons doing house-chores in my skivvies while my facial peel did it's magic, no more lounging time reading yet another soft-core harlequin or write my own fantasy but still the same amount of chores. Ugh! Summer!

Actually, I love summer. I love my kids. Love my family time. It's just that this year I got spoiled, unintentionally. My youngest started Kindergarten and here I was at home to do with the day as I pleased. You know what? It's freakin' fantastic. 1-2 hours of house chores a day is all it takes to keep a house spotless. Breakfast, packed lunches and dinner for the clan. A little bit of homework, bedtime stories and making love after dark with the fiance. Some fun filled weekends with the family. All the rest of the time was mine to do with as I pleased.

Wanna know what I did?

I started a coaching practice, volunteered on a weekly basis for a mom group and a couple of elderly people, started a non-profit to fund coaching hours for low-income people,  I wrote about 50,000 words towards 3 soft-core erotic wanna-be-harlequin dramas and I learned the deep gratification for a facial peel. Seriously, being a homemaker is about as good as it gets.

Love your family. Check! Love your home. Check! Love yourself! Double Check!

One more week, 9 days and counting, summer will begin and my new found freedom will end. sigh

As for this project. Finding ways to stay sane without all that lovely me-time that I was so suddenly spoiled with. My coaching practice hours will be cut down to a minimum of 5-8hrs per week (just long enough to keep up with a few clients and make sure everything keeps running smoothly and bring in enough play money for summer fun) so I have optimum time for the kidlets. The fiance starts graveyard shift sometime between Monday night and next week which means keeping the kidlets quite, happy and busy (boredom is the best recipe for bickering and getting loud).

And most of all, counting down the days till vacation school starts up again. Though for this homemaker my real vacation doesn't start until January when the fiance heads back to dayshift. So my vacation is slightly shorter than some. Oh, how nice would that be to have 9 months instead of 6 for vacation. Ah... the things I could do and get done.

If you're a homemaker and don't see your life as a vacation, stick around, I want to show you how to get the full richest life homemaking has to offer. Seriously, there is no reason to be miserable or bored and the status of your housecleaning does not have to suffer. In fact the best part about my method of vacationing is that a happy woman in a clean home makes a happy family. Oh and if you have toddlers roaming the floors still it's alright. From now until September though I will focus mostly on staying sane between vacations.

Bring it on!