Making The Most Of My Time

Since the little ones I babysit are in school full time, I've only had to put them on the bus a few mornings, so far. That's about only 45 minutes out of my day. I get up around 5:30am (if I'm not up already, which has been the damn case!) and get my kids going. I just make sure there's progress in getting ready and getting out the door. They head for the bus stop at 6:35, so I have 2 hours to myself if I have the kids that day. If not, I'm on my own until 1:30pm!!

So, there's no excuses. No excuses not to get a good workout done. No excuses not to have the laundry going, the floors cleaned, an idea of what's for dinner, the bathroom scrubbed. I admit I have enjoyed ample time on the computer. Right now I've been keeping track of our From Fat To Finish Line Kickstarter Campaign, getting a bit depressed seeing that we're down to only 33 fundraising hours left and we still have $39,000+ to go! But, we have a plan in place if this falls through, so stay tuned! Anyway, I have been accomplishing a lot, even with my computer time.

The laundry is all caught up. There's a place for everything and everything is in its place. I have been working out a minimum of one hour a day. Yesterday I ran 3 miles in the cool, crisp air of what felt like a fall morning. (I had to wear my long-sleeved Cuddl Duds shirt under my t-shirt!) I pushed myself and finished in 27:44. I thought about all of the lives lost on 9/11 and ran for them. Having the right attitude before hitting the pavement really helped. I'm going to force myself to think like that at my 10k on Saturday. After my run and getting the kids on the bus, I spent the morning with my husband before he had to leave for work. ;) Then at noon, I went to the gym and did that machine mixer workout- 15 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes on the treadmill and 15 minutes on the arc trainer for a total of 4.79 miles logged. (I love www.dailymile.com!) That's an 8.29 mile day (with my run's warm-up/cool down walk). The rest of the day I spent cleaning and relaxing until I crashed at 8:30pm!

This morning I was free from the moment my kids left for the bus. I finally got to a project I've been wanting to get done for a while, and it all started with an idea on Pinterest...

I made it myself and didn't give someone else $28 plus shipping! The best part was that I already had all of the supplies I needed to make it so it cost me ZIPPO, ZILCH, NADA! When my mother-in-law passed away in 2004, family members divvied up her massive amount of craft supplies. She really liked the idea of doing them, but never really sat down long enough to do any! I miss her. So, I already had the 9x12 unfinished piece of wood (which she got on clearance at Michael's for $2!) and the paints and even the cup hooks! I painted it black with good old acrylic paint, used one of the race bibs to mark the placement of the cup hooks and I practiced writing out "Races" like 100 times on a piece of paper the size of the spot I was going to paint. Of course it's not perfect. I can see the word heading upwards and that annoys me, but I still LOVE it! Now I have to make one for my husband's bibs and 2 medal racks for us, as well!

Of course things might be like this for long. I have my 2nd interview tomorrow afternoon for the 5am-9am shift and I think it will go well. I'll miss my early weekday runs and I can't believe I won't be home to get the kids off to school, but they'll be in good hands. My husband is home every morning and can fill in for me. What caught me by surprise was realizing that I won't see my kids after I say goodnight to them until they get home from school. That's like 16 hours! Very strange, to say the least, but I'm actually looking forward to having a new purpose. Turning the page...