Schedules

Tuesday September 7, 2010

Summer's gone. Back into the school routine. Three kids, three schools. Three start times, three release times. Three sets of activities. One me. One brain.

When I didn't work  in the good old days I used to keep a calender for the kids activities and appointments. I wrote everything down to be prepared and know what I was dealing with before it happened. I was over organized. It was all on the calender. I needed to see it. There could be no surprises. And there weren't any. These days I write nothing down and and am living life dangerously, on the edge. I'm "winging it." I could never do this before, there could be no deviations from what was scheduled.

Now that I'm working I hardly ever use a calender. I write stuff on scraps of paper,  on the corner of my check book, a gum wrapper. Nothing ever makes it to a calender. The closest thing to an appointment calender is on my desk at work. And its under my keyboard. Sometimes I look at it. Mostly no.

(Okay, this where I stopped writing, I suppose I must have ventured off to get a brownie, and never came back.  As usual I have no idea where I was going with this.....And that's where Part II comes in. I clearly know where I'm going with it. Read on.)

Wednesday September 8, 2010

Getting used to the new school year comes with its challenges, but I'm managing. My new routine is getting up early to get as much cleaning and laundry done before I leave the house so when I come home at four pm with the kids, I just need to focus on dinner.  So I'm feeling pretty good about how things are going so far. Day three of school and we are working things out.

The last kiddie drop off before I go to work,  is the little boy. As he and I are getting into the car on this beautiful Wednesday morning,  I say to him "Don't let me forget to pick up Meg from her Grandpa tomorrow, her mom asked me if I could bring her to school. That's your job, dude...remember don't let me forget Meg." As I arrived at work,  Meg's mom texts  me "Everyone get to school alright today?" "SHIT! SHIT SHIT!" "SHIT SHIT"   Today was Wednesday. It was Wednesday that she wanted me to pick up Meg. Damn Labor Day screwed up my mental schedule. After making a few calls to make sure Meg's grandpa took her to school, I texted Meg's mom and said "All set. Kids delivered to school"  She texts me back "I can't thank you enough" to which I reply "Oh no you really don't have to thank me."

Meg's mom and I are tight, so she was understanding and thankfully she understood. I think it's time for me to start keeping a calender again. Now where is my pen?