My List for ME-TIME

With the kids gone I have had the time to get caught up, of sorts. At least I have gotten caught up on my sleep, caught up on my blog, caught up on my laundry, (for the most part) and caught up on some pending household projects. The only thing I have not gotten caught up on yet is reading my book for book club; but I have just chosen to do everything else instead!

This time I have at home without them makes me miss them, but I do not understand how parents get it all done (so to speak) when they never get a break. I know I have read of single parents who don’t even have the liberty of an “every other weekend” break so they can get caught up on anything! They definitely don’t get three weeks in the summer. So my hat goes off to you single parents that do not even have “the other” parent taking the children off your hands on occasion for their visitations.

However, I would encourage you to find other ways of getting yourself that much needed “me-time” once in a blue moon, at least. Try to leave the child/children for a night or two with a relative, a parent, or a friend that you trust immensely.

This will at least give you a chance to:

1. Sleep in for once.
2. Go out for a late night dinner/dancing/party with friends and let your hair down.
3. Get some uninterrupted time to read, blog, or even clean the house!
4. Listen to grown-up music.
5. Watch a movie that doesn’t
   1. have only teenage movie stars or
   2. have Barney or another cartoon character involved.
   3. (Better yet for number 5 – go to the theater to see that movie.)
6. Plan a mini-vacation with friends, i.e. long weekend away.
7. Go shopping with no one pulling on your clothes or telling you they are tired or bored.
8. Setup an online account for paying bills (so when the children are home, you have a quicker way to get this task done)
9. Organize pictures, either in your online album or in photo albums…. (With kids you always have hundreds of pictures.)
10. Experience true quiet time… ssssshh – Do you hear that? (And yes, it can get a little too quiet after a while; trust me.)
11. Get that painting done you have put off for weeks.
12. Stay with your brother in the emergency room till 2AM because you don’t have to worry about being at home with the kids. (OK, you wouldn’t plan this on your list for “me-time” but it happened to me; and I appreciated the fact I could get up and go without having to worry about where to take the kids.) :)
13. Eat dessert for dinner. Yes I have done that by the way; but I have also been known to do that one even with the kids around (but only once a year as a special thing). I am not a terrible mother; quit that!

Now, you will not be able to splurge and do everything on my list in one weekend of “me-time.” But you can enjoy a few; or you may have a completely different list of your own you would like to indulge when you get that much deserved “me-time.” Heck, even if you are married – you still need some “me-time” every once in a while… away from the kids, away from your schedule and routine (and yes occasionally even away from your spouse). This is not you or me being selfish; it is simply a way of getting that much needed retreat from the chaos of life and responsibility so we can enjoy the renewal and refreshment that results.

I know, at least for me, when my kids get back I will be waiting at that door with open arms and even when they start up with “No, I want to show mom, my souvenirs first!” I will just smile and say…. “I am so glad my babies are home.”

So what is YOUR list for “me-time?”

What do you think I should have been doing over the last two and half weeks while my kids were away?

Now that it’s almost over…. I am thinking, why hadn’t I thought to blog this inquiry weeks ago?!!

Photo Credit: fedexrewardsclub.com/images/shopping_bag_girl

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by Katherine S.