Sleep or Sweep?

I know, I know. As far as resolutions go, this one is kind of boring: January’s goal is to head to bed early, which doesn’t seem to need much explanation, right? But it’s not just about hitting the sack at 10:00 pm – there’s a bit more involved:

1. I resolve to get the girls into bed at a decent time,
2. I resolve to take time to actually relax (or knit, which isn’t necessarily relaxing), and
3. I resolve to be asleep at a decent hour too.

I’ve been more or less successful.

Mostly less.

Back in November and December, I thought a lot about how I use my time. This is a typical weekday for me:

7:00am
The Pixie wakes up. And she has to use the potty NOW.
I make tea, load/unload the dishwasher and take a clean load of laundry upstairs.

8:00am
The Pixie and I eat our first breakfast. I clean the kitchen and check Facebook, then suddenly realize that I’ve entered a black hole of time and that 40 minutes has suddenly passed. Then I wonder where The Pixie is … She appears to be jabbing her finger into her sleeping sister’s ears. Okay, then.

9:30am
The Princess wakes up. She immediately heads to the table to make some art. After realizing that I’ve already wasted productively networked for an hour on Facebook, I fold laundry and put the toys away. I make another cup of tea.

10:30am
When (and only when) her art is finished, The Princess eats breakfast, and the Pixie and I eat our second breakfast (we’re kind of like hobbits). I find the laundry hamper upside down and full of dolls who absolutely must not be disturbed because they are using the hamper as a bed/boat/castle/spaceship. I refold the laundry and tidy the bathroom.

12:00pm
We eat lunch, then everyone gets dressed and I try to get The Princess ready for school. She would prefer to dance. We are ready to head out the door when I notice that The Pixie has had an accident. While I clean it up, one or both girls will completely undress. And hide the clothes.

1:00pm
After dropping off The Princess at school, The Pixie and I run errands, head to work, or come home and tidy the bedrooms. I might attempt to organize the office. Usually I’m not that ambitious.

3:30pm
The Princess is home from school and I tidy the kitchen while the girls have a snack and practice Spanish watch Dora the Explorer. I move the laundry to another room and tell myself that I should really put it away.

4:40pm
Time to make supper. The counters need to be wiped down and I wonder why there are no clean cloths. Then I wonder where I put the clean laundry.

5:00pm
I find the laundry and put it away. I will loudly ask why there are toys everywhere when I’m sure that I’ve already put them away 16 times.

6:00pm
We eat supper.

6:30pm
I start to tidy up, but The Pixie is tired. I put her to bed.

7:00pm
I clean up after supper and attempt to tidy the living room.

8:00pm
We start getting The Princess ready for bed. This is a one to two hour process that leaves me exhausted.

10:30pm
The Princess finally falls asleep. I try to catch up on work. After I spend an hour on Facebook.

12:00am
The Pixie wakes up. I go crawl into bed and as I fall asleep, I realize that I didn’t read any of my books, start my latest sewing project, or pick up my knitting. I think about the blog post that I had hoped to write. I resolve to do better tomorrow.

What a lousy day! I spend the whole time puttering around, trying to keep my house somewhat organized, and every night I discover that my whole day has been wasted (but I continue to act surprised. It’s more fun that way).

All I do is clean. And my house is still a mess. So as part of this month’s resolution, I’ve decided that the madness ends every evening at 8:00. At 8:00, The Pixie is asleep and The Princess takes a bath and I STOP cleaning. At 9:00, we turn the lights out and I REFUSE to do work. I reserve those last hours for reading or knitting or watching TV with my husband. And its been nice. I haven’t managed to get to bed by 10 yet, but I’ve been knitting some socks and I’m currently reading a couple books.

The house doesn’t seem any different, but I feel like I have more free time. I am falling behind in my work at the store though, but I’m truly hoping that I’ll be more productive there if I take time to relax here. And let’s be honest – I’m usually behind in my work, regardless of what time I go to bed.

How about you – how are your resolutions going? If you’re blogging about it, make sure you include a link so I can track along with you!

Photo by .reid. on Flickr.