Sunday Rush

Why do Sunday mornings have to be so difficult? They really are and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going about the whole thing wrong. Somehow I got it into my head that Sundays were a day of rest. Now I know that means, “For people who have real jobs.” Those people get to lay around and rest while Mothers, who we all know are on vacation the rest of the week, watching tv and taking bubble baths, need to stop feeling sorry for themselves and get to work!

Now that I have acquainted myself with the facts I have a new game plan. Saturday night I made a list of everything I wanted to do Sunday morning and wrote a schedule for getting it all done. Then the next morning I tried to follow it to the letter. Everything went according to my well laid out plan without any surprises, except for one thing. I thought I would get it all done a lot faster and I would be left with an hour at the end to read to the kids. That did not happen. My morning went something like this:

8:30 Start bread
9:00 Shower, etc.
9:30 Do my nails
10:00 Give the girls a bath, dress Lovely
10:30 Knead bread, dry hair, put on make-up
11:00 Get dressed, curl hair, put Lovely down for a nap
11:30 Form loaves, set to rise, do Persistence’s hair
12:00 Bake bread, eat lunch, yell at Victor to get ready for Church which he is, 5 minutes later
12:30 Pack church bag, wake up Lovely and feed her
12:55 Leave for Church and arrive in class 5 minutes late.

Five minutes people! Why am I always five minutes late?

I know what you’re thinking. Why did your lazy butt stay in bed until 8:30? Fine. I could have gotten up an hour earlier but I can guarantee that I would have still been five minutes late for Church. Why? I didn’t do anything that wasn’t on my list and I was still late. There were some things on my list that I could have done the day before like painting my toenails and giving the girls a bath. But I think my biggest problem lies with my expected time of departure.

Every Sunday morning I figure we absolutely HAVE to be out the door at 12:45. Then when I’m doing all those last minute things and I leave 10 minutes later than that, I’m late for Church. This doesn’t happen to me when we’re going to the gym. I always give myself 15 extra minutes to get there. Then when I leave 10 minutes late, I’m still 5 minutes early.

I think that’s my problem whenever I’m late for anything. I underestimate the time it takes me to get there. So here’s my new plan. Decide how long it’s going to take me to get there and then give myself 15 minutes more. I always carry my sewing or a book with me anyway so I have something to do if I get there early.

And I’m sticking with my Sunday morning schedule. I may have been 5 minutes late but I still got everything done on my list. Usually I’m five minutes late AND I didn’t get my hair curled, Persistence’s hair is in a pony tail, I’m wearing the same chipped toenail polish that I had on last week and the kids don’t get a snack for sacrament meeting. Sometimes Lovely doesn’t even get lunch and I’m feeding her a piece of bread and a banana in the hall.

If this keeps working out, I may get crazy and adopt a schedule for the rest of my week. Or maybe I’ll just start wearing my roller blades in the house so I can get more done. Heaven forbid I get a day off from my labors.