Well, today's "to do" list was shot all to hell because of yesterday's rain. I was planning on doing some outdoor fence work, yard work and gardening. But, since the tsunami-like precipitation, the mud won this round.

The thing that stinks, is that every day of every weekend for the rest of my life (a bit dramatic perhaps) is planned out to the hour. I *needed* this day to get to my list, and now it's going to be tough to find another slot of time when all the conditions are perfect.

My life is obviously scheduled a bit too tightly, which is a major complaint of my husband. I don't blame him, who wants to be on a schedule every minute? I've told him that one of my goals is to allow for some down time, and I do plan on following up on this, because I really like being married to him. He's a cool guy.

Anyway, this simplification is yet another one of my goals for taking better care of myself and my people. I don't know quite how I'm going to accomplish this "simplification of the schedule" with three kids who just seem to be getting busier, but I will try. I know that some folks limit their children to one activity at a time, and I completely respect that, but it doesn't quite work for us. For example, they all take music lessons and they all play sports. Some are involved in scouts, and some have an extra team. Not all of these things happen at the same time or season, so at least that makes things more manageable, but it's still not easy enough.

How do you all do it? How does the schedule run in your house?

Decisions and Deadlines

As I've mentioned, I was a journalism major in college. After graduation I had a job in my field, worked freelance for a while, then went back to working for a big company. After I had my children, I stepped off the career ladder as many women do.

Now, I've been off the ladder for 10 years. There's no way I'm getting back on the same ladder that I was on pre-children. My last job I held pre-kids was awesome. I enjoyed the work, I enjoyed the people, and it was really rewarding. But, times have changed. That deadline-driven job wouldn't work in my current life, which is driven by kid schedules and family responsibilities.

The job I have now is flexible so I can get to the kid activities at school occasionally, or even work from home if I have a sick kid. But, it's not my passion. Now that my kids are all in school I'd like to find the job I that will allow me to feel fulfilled in my working life again.

What should I do? What is that job? What's next for me?