So busy

It's so true that everything takes longer than you think it's going to, especially when there is REALLY COOL work that you just can't help doing, and little-tiny-detail work that clients clamor for RIGHT NOW and will only take 10 minutes, and these darned cute little critters who really do need to be educated.

This week, I was busy, seriously busy, POWERHOUSE busy, but sometimes it seemed as though I was slogging through mud when I looked back at the end of the day and wonder where the hours went, and could it be true that I only got done 1/3 of what I had intended to do?

I will admit that it was kind of a Bad Educator Mommy week. The kids were essentially unschooled, I was that busy with client work, and a science project review for KidsOutAndAbout.com plus my typical work for that, and finishing up the web site so I can sell The Frontier Team to a publisher (the illustrator is supposed to get me the remaining 10 illustrations tomorrow, when she can scan them at work and email them to me, and I am THAT excited about it, I tell you). The girls watched a David Attenborough series, and The Price is Right every day. It was Break Week here for official schoolkids, so they went to a karate camp all day on Thursday. They read, they did computers, they listened to history, they practiced piano. And, all week we played a really great Go-Fish card game that I made up for Ella to get her past the last 12 problems that she has to learn to get her multiplication tables finished. I KNOW if I had pushed her, she could have finished them before Christmas.

Which brings me to what I've been feeling lately...

I KNOW if I just were more organized, and could focus exclusively on the girls' education during the morning rather than my mind being pulled in a hundred thou-must-accomplish-this-NOW directions, these lovely girls of mine would be learning at light speed. As it is, they're still ahead of the curve by a large margin, and are very, very happy kids. I comfort myself with this. And with the fact that we're all happier with this life we've chosen. And with the fact that I'm much happier creating things constantly, and making money, and serving on their Chorus board of directors (which is practically a part-time job) and working for a different career life (one which, I would love to think, will send the three Ross Women around the country on book tours), than I would be "just" home schooling. So, I know it all works out in the end, but I would still love to be more "super" than I am.

Take my quarterly reports. I like pushing my luck on quarterly reports, I resent how intense the reporting is for New York State, and so I don't do them until the district reminds me. That's my personal little push against authority. But, the district reminded me on Thursday afternoon. And, as easy as these are for me relative to others who can't write nearly as fast as I can, it was still something that was going to take me an hour and a half to do -- one quarterly report for each kid, for two quarters, November and February. So I didn't do them, and I didn't do them, and I finally finished them today and will email them to the district tomorrow.

I need to plan more curriculum, and I need to look at what the programmers have done on my site in India (they say it's ready), and I need to gather materials and enter things in Quickbooks so my accountant can do my taxes. I estimate that these projects will take me, respectively, 2, 3, and 6 hours. Do I have this time, unbroken in the way I need it to be? No. I will have to steal it, either from the girls' school, regular work, sleep, or time with David. And, for each of these projects, there is always the temptation to "just look at email" or other blogs, or local online news, or what have you.

I just looked over this post and it looks like one long complaint. I don't mean it to be. I'm actually very happy. Just very busy. And it sometimes feels as though I have bitten off more than I can chew.

Goodness, it's 7:20 and The Chef (moi) had better get some food on the table.