How does your day go? And what do you want to change?

[crzycakes]

What's your daily routine like?  What things do you like, what would you like to change?  For those things you'd like to change, what are you doing to make it happen?

My daily routine is this:

5:30 am wake up, start coffee, pee, brush teeth etc start a load of wash

6:00 am go down and open the chicken coop and let birds into their run, feed the horses and cow

6:30 am back up to the house and read my email, take dinner out of the freezer

7:00 am wake up my kids and get them ready for school change wash and start another load

8:00 walk with the kids out to the barn so they can say good morning to the animals, gather eggs

8:10 put the kids on the bus and go back to the barn to clean out the nights poop from the stalls, clean the ditch grate, feed and water the rabbits, chickens and turkeys, brush the horses and the cow

9:45 back up to the house, change laundry around, clean the kitchen, vacuum the carpets, sweep the wood floors, wipe down the bathrooms

11:00 back to the barn and put the horses and cow on leads and take them out to the yard to graze (still waiting for pastures to be rdy to graze) pull weeds in the garden, do whatever yardwork/cleanup there is

1:00 lunch and putz about on the computer a bit (I'm putzing about a bit early today) watch the animals to make sure they dont wander off 

1:30 switch wash and get it all folded and put away, put the animals back in the paddock, check everyones feed/water

2:30 start making an afternoon snack for the kids and get dinner going

3:15 meet kids at the bus stop- right in front of the house, grab the mail and then do homework with the kids

4:00 back down to the barn, get the horses out so the kids can ride for a few minutes

4:30 back up to the house and get dinner going, play with kids

5:30 back to the barn to do the last feeding of the animals for the day

6:00-6:30 dh gets home between these times and then we eat dinner, he heads out to the barn and garden, kids go hang out with dad or play in the yard

7:30 get kids bathed

8:00 kids are tucked in bed with books

8:30 lights out for kids then I head back out to the barn to visit with dh, gather the slowpoke layers eggs

10-11:00 it's bedtime for me and dh

Our cow is due soon so all this is going to change.  Once she calves, I'll be milking her.  I've never milked a cow before so I have no idea how long it will take.  I'll have to cool and filter the milk, make butter and put the rest in the fridge.  I want to learn how to make cheese and yogurt.  I'll need to fit it in to the schedule somewhere.  I'll be milking twice a day once she and the calf get settled into their routine.  I'm thinking I'll do 6:30 milkings twice a day, which will work well in the summer with the kids out of school, but once they go back in the fall, I'll need to shift it to about 8:15 twice a day.

I still need to finish unpacking and getting the house set up.  I still need to figure out where the stores, dr's, etc are in our new town.  I just get caught up doing things outside when it's nice and I forget about all the boxes etc inside that I need to take care of. So my goal is to unpack 4 boxes a day and put the things where they belong.  I need to better structure my time so that I get done the things I need to do vs. what I want to do- which is spend all day out with the animals.  I want to make more time to ride, more time to garden and then come late summer do all the canning I have planned.  

There are just not enough hours in the day!

So how about you?  What do you like/not like about your routine?  What are you working on changing?  Or wanting to change?

Also- if you have any pointers for me- PLEASE share!   

[Chicky2]

Well, depends on the day, but I'll try.  Every time I do these threads my days have changed, lol.

8 a.m.  wake up and start coffee (2 kids are already up and out milking/feeding/filling waters, one still sleeping).

No times for the rest as we don't really go by the clock much....

As coffee is making I go and strain and jar the milk.

Get coffee.

Read a chapter in my latest novel (i get loads of them for free!) and um, visit the bathroom.

Get dressed/shower if I need it

Start load of laundry

Eat a bit of breakfast and feed the littlest one--the others get their own.

Talk to the kids/hang out a bit and then get 2 of them started on their daily lessons.

Play game or read to littlest one.

Littlest goes to swing or jump and I head out to do whatever needs to be done--gardening, raking poo, check my bees, mow, etc.

Go in for break and snack.

Switch big kids out on lessons/check work/talk about lessons, etc.

Get littlest doing her lessons.

Big kids do violin/piano practice.

Little one does piano practice.

Cook something or another, start supper stuff...

Get lunch together *usually leftovers*

All of us go outside to do some chores/check waters, etc.

Kids go play outside/play wii/just play while I have time to myself and another cup of coffee (this is usually around 4).

Start supper. (this time of the year that involves starting a fire for cooking, or warming up the gas grill, depending on what I'm cooking, unless I'm smoking something in which case I'll start that in the a.m. after coffee.)

Dh and oldest dd get home from work (she works for him) and we all eat.

Dh and I usually either tackle a small project or sometimes just play a few games of pool and have a couple of beers.

Family time outside usually around the fire pit (unless we have a burn ban there is a fire going), or swinging, listening to music, playing blongoball, whatever.

Night chores, including feeding/haying/milking/shutting up of animals.

Strain milk.

Kids get cleaned up and ready for bed, but hang out watching tv or playing a game on the computer/wii for a bit.

Kids have snacks and brush teeth and go to bed.

Dh and I hang out by the fire, or play pool, or watch tv.

Dh goes to bed.

I make his lunch for the next day.

I might bake something or soak oatmeal...

I watch tv or read for an hour.

Make sure both houses are shut up (we have a MIL house too).

Go to bed!

We have rabbits, chickens, guineas, quail, ducks, dairy goats (only one in milk), bees, and a garden.

We gather eggs several times a day--just when we go out because they lay all over the place and at all different times of the day.  We have very unorganized chickens, lol.

[mommariffic]

Each time I post my day changes. 

Here's how today went, and what (in general) I'd love to change

Woke up around 6:30am and laid in bed with kids for 20 minutes (no easy feat with a squirmy babe!)

Let dogs out, washed bottles, fed cats, prepared breakfast 

Ate with the kids/had coffee 

I actually recorded a nature program that was kid-friendly and so I put that on and DD played/DS tagged along and rolled his trucks around while I sat and sipped my coffee and half watched/half entertained the children. 

Took a shower and got dressed (myself and kids) 

DS took a nap and DD and I read and she played for 40 minutes

Got everyone out the door and went to our favorite diner for a little lunch

Target for goggles for the play pool, and for a food processor -- this trip actually took 2 hrs because DD loves the music cards, and exploring, and she found Superhero stickers and we were being lazy and taking our time. 

Came home and DS was napping again so I had an ice coffee and farted around and unpacked things 

Went to the park with kids for 2 hrs - played played played (the park is within like a few blocks) 

Came home and had a light dinner, bath and bed! 

This is actually an errand centered day for us, but I would like to be a bit more productive with my meal times. I have been slacking and not allowing myself enough time to make dinner (like tonight, we went for this long walk after the park and had chicken salad for dinner.) and I'd like that to change. I'd also like to maintain a decent bed time for both and skip the long (sometimes improptu) afternoon naps. 

[ZombieMama]

Routine? What's that?? :p

I'd be happy to just be able to hammer out a routine, honestly.

[Maela]

6:30 Wake up, maybe get a few minutes to myself

7  DS wakes up

7:30  DD wakes up

I take them potty and make breakfast for us

Then we all brush teeth and get dressed/showered/bathed

I get caught up with laundry and dishes if we have time 

about 10ish to 12ish  go out (library, playdate, errands, park)

12  lunch

12:30 put DS down for a nap, then spend some time with DD and maybe have some time to myself

1:30ish  Wake DS up so that he doesn't go to bed crazy late

Play with the kids for about half an hour

Finish dishes and laundry and any other chores for that day

Go outside with the kids to play and do yard work/garden and check the mail

4ish  Come inside for a snack. 

5ish  Start dinner

6  Eat dinner, then clean up the kitchen and dining room.  Plan out tomorrow's meals

7:15 start bedtime routine for DS.  Hopefully, he's asleep by 8

7:45 start bedtime routine for DD.  Hopefully, she's asleep by 8:30 (ha! usually it's more like 9 or 9:30)

until 10 spend time on the computer, spend time with DH, read, or go to sleep early

right now, I'm pretty happy with the way things are.  We just got settled into this schedule and it's running smoothly.  It'll change at the end of the summer when DH goes back to work (he's a teacher) and when the sun goes down earlier.  I do wish there were more hours in the day!

[CherryBombMama]

i wish i had time for myself before the boys wake up

5:30am-6:30am - wake up, try to be cheerful lol, potty for the toddler, diaper change for the baby. make oatmeal for the boys, coffee for me.

sometime after try to feed myself

try to survive until 8am, when mickey mouse comes on. during this half an hour, i put baby to nap since its the only time ds1 will be quiet

during nap time, usually an hour, try to get dressed, get diaper bag ready, get ds1 dressed.

around 9 am we  TRY to get out of the house. park, market, mall, etc...

lunch around 10:30am

nap is 11am. sometimes a bit later, not later than noon.

its always different from there, but at 2pm both boys are definitely up. then we eat again, play, have dinner by 4pm, when dh comes home. 

again, its different every day. sometimes we go on bike rides, sometimes go out somewhere, sometimes stay home ...

snack for the boys at 6:30, then bath. 

bed time around 8pm.

the days can be so hectic. it all needs to change lol

[my2girlz]

Life is crazy having older kids and a baby. We are trying to adapt to summer schedule and every day is different. This week is especially bad because of summer camps that are this week only. Here's today's schedule.

7:45 wake up, get dd1 up for volleyball camp. She rides her bike with a friend. camp is 8:30-10 this week only

8:15 dd3 and ds up, make coffee, eat breakfast, ds got his own breakfast, feed baby

9 dd2 up, kids draw chores

10 making monkey bread that dd1 requested, try to get dd3 to nap or sit and play so I can get dressed and do some chores

11:30 feed kids lunch

12:10 dh drops ds off at football camp and I pick up a girl and drop her and dd off at gymnastics

2 pick up ds at football camp

3:15 drop dd1 off at diving and drop ds off at gymnastics

4:30 pick up dd2 and ds up from gymnastics and swing over to pick dd1 up from diving

then figure out what's for dinner, hang out with kids, and relax. kids in bed between around 9. DH and I will hang out after kids are in bed. I'm in bed around 11:30.