How do you do it?

I don't know how you do it. Work full-time, take care of the house and bills, the kids and cats, decorate for the holidays, home-cook meals and churn out these beautiful amazing quilts! Since taking on this full-time job I feel like I'm sweating to keep up with even the simplest tasks. And I'm exhausted! Sometimes I crawl into bed at 9pm because I can't keep my eyes open anymore!

Granted, my job does take up 12 hours of my day. I wake up at 5am in time to shower/hair/make-up for work and don't get home until 5pm. I've learned to catch-up on blog reading on my commute to work (don't worry, I don't drive!) or in the afternoon, get a bit of shut-eye. I've learned to do all my cooking for the week on one marathon Saturday afternoon (after waking up early and doing all the grocery shopping for the week). I peruse recipes for casseroles and soups and slow cookers during my lunch break so I can prepare grocery lists in advance. I delegate some cleaning to my husband (what I can trust him with, anyway). Throw in my weekend job waitressing on top of that and there's still hardly any time for sewing. Maybe 5hours a week!

How do you do it? After work, I come home, pop a casserole in the oven, pet my kitties for a little while, talk to my husband, eat dinner, clean the cat box, dishes, pick up a little bit, take off my make-up, pack my lunch, put out my clothes for the next day and it's bedtime! My husband says that my body just needs to adjust to my new schedule. I sure hope it happens soon; I'm tired!

I've decided that some things just aren't that important. So I stopped making the bed. I make my husband do more dishes. I don't clean my bathrooms every week; instead I'm stretching it to every 10 – 14 days. The living room isn't immaculate before I go to bed every night. My husband can handle the laundry just fine. And guess what? Our house hasn't fallen in on itself! I wonder what would happen if I stopped sweeping the kitchen floor every time I cook?

I have quit my part-time job too. There are just not enough hours in the day and I have to re-prioritize what is important in my life. And it ain't money! So even though that extra $500 a month was sweet, we can make do without it and spend more time together loving each other. I had my first week-end off recently and it was sweet! I forgot how long week-ends can be when you are not dreading work. I forgot how much faster the week can go when you don't work 7 days a week!

So that's where I'm at now. Re-prioritized, re-organized and rearing to go. I'll have more time to devote to my husband and more time to devote to quilting. Pretty soon you'll see some completed projects in this space!