Me and All My Free Time

Please be patient and allow me to vent. Again. On a subject that I may have vented on before.

Bart is out of town, so I was lamenting that I was going to be a single parent for 3 days. The response I got from a friend was "So? You have all that free time while the kids are in school. You have like 8 hours of free time a day!"

First - it's 6 hours, not 8. And secondly, are you freakin kidding me? "Free Time"? Here's what I did with all my "free time" yesterday:

6:40 am: wake up
6:45-7:35: get both kids out of bed, both kids fed, both kids dressed, both kid's notebooks/folders/agendas signed, get myself dressed
7:40 - leave for school to drop off kids
7:55 - 8:05: drive to Upper Tampa Bay Trail for exercise
8:15 - 9:00: walk/jog with the dog (multi-tasking at it's best)
9:15: stop at Publix to get 5 grocery items that I can't get at my "regular" store
9:30 - 10:30: yard work
10:30 - 11:30: finish grouting ceramic tile
11:30 - Noon: box up Ebay items for mailing
Noon - 1:00: eat lunch, send PTA emails, clean up grout stuff
1:00 - 1:25: drive to post office to mail Ebay packages
1:30 -2:15: grocery store for the rest of the groceries
2:20-2:30: unload groceries
2:40: pick up kids at bus stop
2:45 - 4:00: get kids doing homework, make PTA donation calls, finalize details for Girl Scout Meeting Tuesday and for Girl Scout camping trip this weekend.
4:00: take a shower and get re-dressed
4:30- 5:00: Karlin's Piano Lesson
5:00-5:30: back to house to get Chase dressed for soccer
5:30-6:30: Soccer Practice
6:45 - 7:30: Dinner
7:30 - 8:15: Baths
8:15 - 8:45: send more Girl Scout emails while kids watch 30 minutes of TV
9:00: kids bedtime
9:20-9:45: load dishwasher, clean up kitchen, pull kid's school clothes out of dryer
9:45 - 10:15 start more laundry, wash face and brush teeth
10:30 - let the free time begin!

And this was actually a SLOW day. I didn't have to go up to the school for any committee meetings, classroom volunteer time, or PTA/School Advisory Council Meetings. Or Uniform fulfillment. Generally, I am up at the school between 6 and 14hours a week. Seriously.

The kids have after-school activities 6 days a week: Piano lessons, 2 soccer practices, Science Club, Girl Scouts, Horseback Riding lessons, and soccer game.

It really, really pisses me off that this person - and a parent at that - seems to think I sit on my ass all day eating bon bons. I am "at home" less than any "stay at home mom" I know. I did all that stuff yesterday, and it didn't even scratch the surface of the stuff I needed to get done.

"Working" moms should really remember that it's "Non-working moms" that do all that fun craft stuff for your kids at school. We help the teacher teach your Kindergartners to read. We make sure your child has school uniforms. We raise money so your kid has more choices of books in the Library. We organize and volunteer at the many fun events that you attend. (We never get to just go and enjoy things with our families - we are too busy trying to make it a great experience for you and your family.) We put together the newsletter that lets you know what's going on at school. We forgo weekends with our families so that we can go to training sessions so we are qualified to take your children camping. I know you think little elves magically make all that stuff happen, but they don't. It's us. It's me.

OK - I'm done. The 20 minutes I spent typing this should have really been spent on other things. I need to run out and get more Bon Bons...