{"id":6056,"date":"2011-03-31T11:19:49","date_gmt":"2011-03-31T17:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/?p=6056"},"modified":"2011-03-31T11:37:35","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T17:37:35","slug":"what-i-dont-do-so-i-can-do-what-i-do-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/31\/what-i-dont-do-so-i-can-do-what-i-do-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What I DON’T Do So I CAN Do What I DO Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

I totally copied the title of this blog post from This Adventure<\/a> because it made me smile (and inspired this whole post)….<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the problems with blogs is that they often give the appearance that you live a perfect life.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes blogs are deceptive in that it can appear that you are some kind of Super Mom with a spotless, beautifully decorated house, perfectly behaved genius children, a wonderfully romantic marriage, gourmet breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the table.\u00c2\u00a0 You may appear to be put together at all times and still have time to craft and volunteer.\u00c2\u00a0 I try to keep things REAL around here, sharing some of our struggles right along with some of the projects I’m proud of.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope that I’ve done a decent job with that.\u00c2\u00a0 But I still get asked frequently how I “do it all.”\u00c2\u00a0 The answer?\u00c2\u00a0 I DON’T!\u00c2\u00a0 Not even close.\u00c2\u00a0 I also hear lots comments like “where do you find the time to do that?” or “I WISH I had time to do that!”\u00c2\u00a0 So I started thinking about the things I DO make time for, and the things that I don’t spend much time on (some of these need more attention-like date nights with my husband, others I’m perfectly happy keeping on the backburner-like scrapbooking).<\/p>\n

What I DON’T Do:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Get 8 hours of sleep a night<\/strong>-I always try to get to bed early, since The Littlest Apple is an early riser and I started getting up even earlier (see below), but it never quite happens.\u00c2\u00a0 The Littlest Apple goes to bed around 8:30, I relax for a bit, take a bath, and next thing i know, it’s 11pm!<\/p>\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0 Homeschool<\/strong>-The Littlest Apple goes to preschool 2 1\/2 days a week.\u00c2\u00a0 I love to do some learning activities<\/a> at home with The Littlest Apple, but I really admire all of you moms who do this all day every day!!<\/p>\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0 Scrapbook<\/strong>–I’ve bought supplies before, but never quite got started<\/p>\n

4.\u00c2\u00a0 Sew or knit<\/strong>–Okay, I’ve hand-sewn a few quilts and I sewed the curtains for the Dress Up Storage Bin and Puppet Theater<\/a>, but this isn’t something I spend much (any) time on.<\/p>\n

5.\u00c2\u00a0 Crank out weekly DIY projects<\/strong>–my cute wreaths<\/a> and other crafts are few and far between, and any big project (painting<\/a>, a room makeover, building a bed<\/a>) takes MONTHS to finish.<\/p>\n

6.\u00c2\u00a0 Watch TV during the day<\/strong>-I relish the quiet when The Littlest Apple is at school, but really, books and the interwebs can be just as much of a time sucker.<\/p>\n

7.\u00c2\u00a0 Work out at the gym every day<\/strong>-We got a membership to the YMCA recently, but I’m still a little intimidated by the gym workout.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, I have to drive all the way over there!\u00c2\u00a0 I would like to go more though.<\/p>\n

8.\u00c2\u00a0 Have regular girls night outs<\/strong>-I honestly can’t remember the last time we did this.\u00c2\u00a0 Local ladies: we need to get together!!<\/p>\n

9.\u00c2\u00a0 Have regular date nights with my husband<\/strong>-definitely need to work on this!!<\/p>\n

10.\u00c2\u00a0 Have regular playdates<\/strong>-With The Littlest Apple in school 2 1\/2 days a week, at the\u00c2\u00a0 grandparents one day, and visiting the other grandparents another day after school, we’ve really only got ONE free day.\u00c2\u00a0 And lately we’ve just enjoyed relaxing at home.\u00c2\u00a0 BUT I miss seeing our friends more regularly!!<\/p>\n

11.\u00c2\u00a0 Spend hours every day cleaning my house<\/strong>–CLEAN in 2011<\/a> is about manageable cleaning for people like me who hate to clean.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve seen my oven<\/a>, right?<\/p>\n

12.\u00c2\u00a0 Talk on the phone<\/strong>– I HATE talking on the phone.\u00c2\u00a0 If you are a friend of mine IRL, you know this about me.<\/p>\n

13.\u00c2\u00a0 Wash, dry and style my hair every day-<\/strong>My hair is frequently in a pony tail, but I usually try to look relatively put together otherwise.\u00c2\u00a0 Those cute and colorful necklaces and\/or big dangly earrings I’ve got on are supposed to be distracting you from my greasy hair.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it working?<\/p>\n

What I DO Do:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00c2\u00a0 Get up at 5:30 so I can squeeze in devotion time before my early bird gets up-read my bible (following the one year plan<\/a>), S.O.A.P. Journal<\/a>, prayers<\/p>\n

2.\u00c2\u00a0 Cook dinner 5 nights a week<\/p>\n

3.\u00c2\u00a0 Read lots of books<\/p>\n

4.\u00c2\u00a0 Volunteer as Room Mom for my son’s preschool class (and Auction Basket Coordinator<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5.\u00c2\u00a0 Workout at home 3-4 days a week (in a good week)- need to increase this or join my husband at the gym on the other days<\/p>\n

6.\u00c2\u00a0 Spend time reading and commenting on blogs–one of the best ways to build a blog following (and also a BIG time sucker if you don’t limit yourself!)<\/p>\n

7.\u00c2\u00a0 Work on The Picky Apple (the blog, not the husband)–at least an hour a day, even on non-posting days<\/p>\n

8.\u00c2\u00a0 Participate in church related activities several days a week.\u00c2\u00a0 Right now, I’m in a wonderful moms group, finishing up the Alpha Course<\/a>, and getting ready to start leading a small group with a friend.\u00c2\u00a0 (I NEVER would have imagined doing ANY of this a year ago!)<\/p>\n

9.\u00c2\u00a0 Take naps occasionally when The Littlest Apple takes his–I’ve always loved naps, but afternoons (12-2) are HARD for me now that I’m getting up earlier.<\/p>\n

10.\u00c2\u00a0 Take a bubble bath most nights–usually with a good book.\u00c2\u00a0 A great way to relax at the end of the day!<\/p>\n

We all have the same amount of time each day.\u00c2\u00a0 How you spend it is up to you!!<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I totally copied the title of this blog post from This Adventure because it made me smile (and inspired this whole post)…. One of the problems with blogs is that they often give the appearance that you live a perfect life.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes blogs are deceptive in that it can appear that you are some kind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6056"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6079,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6056\/revisions\/6079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}