Welcome to my 2016 Spring Week in the Life series! The way I’m balancing my roles as a business owner and stay-at-home mom has changed significantly since the last time I chronicled a week.
Let’s dive in to Monday, which is a work day for me.
5:20 am: Ryan gets up, and when he hears Maple awake he brings her into the bedroom. She’s still breastfeeding – I thought that was ending at a year but it’s back with a vengeance – so she snuggles in and eventually goes back to sleep with me.
7:30 am: We should be up by 7, but I’m slow because Maple was up twice during the night, and I stayed up too late reading a scary murder mystery. (The Cabinet of Curiosities)
Maple goes to a home daycare in my neighborhood three days a week. I give Maple a little snack while I pack for daycare and get ready to go (they serve breakfast at daycare). Knowing they’re about to go for a walk, the dogs race around the house.
Daycare is a 3 mile round-trip walk in the neighborhood, which helps me wake up for the day. It’s supposed to exercise the dogs as well, but Amber the Poodle never seems tired after it.
9 am: Breakfast is eggs and coffee. I’m grouchy and tired, so I read some of The Power of Habit with breakfast to help me get in a mindset to work. I’m really enjoying this book.
9:45 am: Getting a late start to the work day, I make my to do list for the week, and then put the day’s necessary tasks into time slots on my planner.
10 am: I review the orders that came in over the weekend, print the packing slips and shipping labels, and pack up the ones that are made and ready to ship. The other items get put on my “to-sew” list for the day. I also straighten up my studio.
While I work I’m listening to the Being Boss Podcast #58 with Erica Midkiff on Creating Content. I’ve loved following Erica fora while now, so it’s neat to hear her speaking. Also, she shares some great ideas.
11am: With orders out in time for the mail man, I hop in the shower.
11:30: I’m sewing orders when the dogs start barking like crazy. Oh, it’s the mail man. I open the door so he can give them treats. We have a great mail man who never complains about all the packages I ship, even the big wholesale boxes.
1:30: Lunch break: I watch an episode of Modern Family while I eat my lunch. A few weeks ago I realized that I tried to work on my computer during lunch, but just ended up wasting time because I needed a mental break. So now I watch a show and let myself relax for 27 minutes.
2 pm: I’m back in the studio, sewing. I finish up just in time to head to a doctor’s appointment as soon as Ryan’s home from work with the car.
4 pm: After the appointment I stop at Caffe Amouri to work until it’s time to pick up Maple at daycare. I write some rough drafts of email newsletters for a new product feature. My drink of choice today is an Americano with the single origin Ethiopian espresso. I also work on a price increase notice which I wish I didn’t have to write or implement, but last week during a financial review with my mentor I determined that it needed to happen if my business is going to be sustainable.
5 pm: Picking up Maple! Hooray! No matter how much I love working, I’m always so excited to see Maple at the end of the day.
I start to clean up the kitchen from the day while I make dinner. I’ve been making and freezing a lot of curries and chili, because it’s easy to heat up and eat on the weeknights. Tonight it’s sauteed garlic greens and bowls of bean chili. Ryan helps Maple feed herself dinner while I’m getting our dinner together.
6 pm: Some nights we sit at the table and eat and other times we watch TV together while eating. Tonight Maple plays in her play space while we watch TV and eat – watching Psych to be exact. We love this show and it’s our second time watching all of the episodes. Part way through the show we bring Maple onto the sofa with us to try a few bites of our dinner, but then she’s ready to go back and play.
7 pm: I get Maple ready for bed while Ryan cleans up from dinner. She’s not tired at all, so I bring her into the living room to play with us while we wait for a Craigslist buyer to stop by.
I received a wine subscription gift to Club W at Christmas. This is one of the wines. It’s fairly average- they’re very hit or miss.
8 pm: We put Maple to bed and then I go downstairs to send some business emails. Then I talk on the phone with a friend before heading to bed.
10 pm: In bed I finish The Cabinet of Curiosities. If you like mystery/gory horror it’s good, and the writers do a great job pulling you in, but frankly I’m relieved when I’m done. It’s a little too scary for me.
11 pm: Maple wakes up crying so I go to soothe her back to sleep, then I fall asleep.
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