Productivity

Productivity

The problem with falling asleep at 9pm is by 5:30am you’ve already had a full night’s sleep.

So here I am at 6:30am after already lying in bed for the past hour trying to meditate and wondering what I should do next.

Now I’m in the kitchen looking out to a pitch black sky. We have a full house with family, and everyone is asleep. So I can’t exactly fire up the Cuisinart to get a head start on my make-ahead Christmas brunch.

If I’m up this early, that means I’m going to be beat by 9pm tonight. But if I’m not getting anything done during the first 2-3 hours of being awake, how will I fit in all that needs to be done before 9pm?

Oh early risers, I don’t know how you do it.

Advice (Unsolicited), House & Home, Productivity, Toddler

It’s almost time for our annual summer vacation on Cape Cod. Every year we thank our lucky stars (and our good friend Nina Max) that we get to go to this little piece of paradise yet again—10 cottages owned by one family tucked away on a little island.

The kids run free from house to house (usually sans clothes), pick raspberries, and busy themselves with vintage toys like this one while the grown ups practice out-doing each other as we trade nights cooking for 20.

I’ve given myself the week to pack in hopes of warding off that “oh my god we’re going away for 10 days what have I forgotten” bit. (So cliche, such a downer).

I’m also remembering what packing was like last year, which included the breast pump, bottles, baby food, baby spoons, and the big ass Exersaucer, something we decided our pre-crawler really couldn’t live without. Packing seems a whole lot less overwhelming this year (it also helps that I’m not in the middle of a postpartum breakdown, ahem).

Since we’re staying in a cottage with a full kitchen, I’ve been putting pantry items aside and keeping it all together in one of these clear plastic bins, like so:

(I keep the top locked on it to ward off curious little fingers.)

Last year I also brought a clear plastic shoe box (if you don’t own a whole case of these from the Container Store yet, you don’t know what you’re missing) with “junk drawer” type stuff. The best thing about these shoe bins is that little kids can’t open them, so that’s where I stashed things like scissors, post-its, a Sharpie, extra Ziplocks, and kid medicine.

This might seem like overkill, but when you are staying in a house for 10 days, you’d be surprised how often you need a Post-it. How else are your fellow cottagers supposed to find out who is hosting cocktail hour, and when not to knock because babies are sleeping? Sending DMs via Twitter is so not Cape.

As for toys, I’ll be packing a backpack for each kid and filling it full of their favorite toys and organic junk food bribes for the car ride. I’m also bringing one small bin with art supplies, Legos, some small toys, and a few books.

For kid clothes, one great piece of advice I read somewhere is to only pack for 5 days, even if you are staying longer. (Of course, with toddlers, each day involves at least 3 changes of clothes…) Packing for 5 days assumes your vacation spot has laundry facilities. Does anyone with more than one kid vacation anywhere without laundry facilities? We sure don’t.

And finally, there’s the stuff to do before we leave list. Somehow this cutesy summer printable from Wonderful Joy Ahead makes it more like a vacation countdown than a boring to-do list.

So that’s what I’ve got. What are your tricks for getting off to vacation stress-free?

Holidays, Productivity

For the first time ever, I am responsible for the permanent imprints on two young people’s memories. And what bigger memory imprint is there than Christmas? This responsibility left me scrambling for holiday activities I could do with my little ones the entire month of December (and by scrambling I mean spending an inordinate amount of time reading blogs about what strangers were up to for the holidays).

Christmas foreplay, if you will.

So for the record, here’s what went not-so-right despite all that planning and 1st-basing:

1. Not having a clear Christmas budget for each person

This almost always leads to thinking you don’t have enough at the last minute. Which is when you discover Zappos.com’s Christmas Delivery Guarantee–on 12/23–you start ordering more and more.

  • Christmas 2011: As unsexy as it is, next year I’ll define a budget before I do any shopping. And I’ll make sure the Dad is on board.

2. Not having a good idea of what I’d already bought

I thought I was pretty crafty with my gift organization. I took over a drafting table in the basement and separated everyone’s stocking stuffers into separate gift bags. But the rest of it was piled up so high that by the time I went to wrap it all, I found gifts I had completely forgotten about. Even worse, my husband had no idea what I’d already bought for the kids, so he came home from his (1) day of shopping with bags full of cool-design-but-not-so-functional kid stuff to add to the pile.

  • Christmas 2011: Keep a Google Docs spreadsheet that tracks gifts per person, the cost, and the remaining $ left based on that unsexy budget.

3. Letting family members get away with not telling me what they really wanted

Forget this feigned humbleness. Everyone has some idea of what they want, and instead of me spending hours wandering around the mall trying to figure out what my mom, step-dad and brother really want, it would be better for us all if they just listed a few things.

Here’s where that will get you: My mom flew back to Florida today, and in her vacated room I found several of the gifts my brother and I gave to her and my step-dad. I guess she figured she’d get them the next time she’s here. In March. Meanwhile, I told her what I wanted (a Kindle) and wouldn’t dream of waiting until March to use it.

  • Christmas 2011: I’m enforcing a mandatory wish list policy, either via Amazon Wish Lists or Google Docs. If you don’t take the time to fill out 5-10 things you really want, you get a gift certificate. To the grocery store. That ought to get their attention.

4. Saving all Christmas-related to-do’s for the month of December

Doing any Christmas-related tasks before Thanksgiving has always seemed strange and excessive to me. But this year, for the first time ever, it occurred to me that since Christmas is on the 25th of the month, you don’t even have a full month to get everything done, on top of your regular old life to-do’s. I guess having two young children changes things.

Next year, I hope to tackle some of these time-consuming biggies before the thick of the season rolls around. Because when the thick of the season does roll around, I want to be in my Christmas jammies, in front of the fire, watching movies. Not at some crappy strip mall.

  • Now: Sort through the holiday decorations and get rid of anything you don’t love before you pack it away for next year. Organize the boxes better this year: Lights in one big box instead of crammed in with all the other stuff; a separate box for decorations you might put out earlier in December before you get your tree. Etc.
  • October/November: Update your Christmas card addresses and freshen up the group you send them to (so you’re not left with a box of unsent cards in January, like me).
  • November: Fill the pantry with fresh flour, sugar, vanilla extract, and whatever other staple baking supplies you use. That way you can whip up pretty much anything after some unexpected neighbors deliver bread, cookies and wine to you.
  • November: Buy/plan a couple of holiday outfits for you and your kids (and your spouse, too, if he’ll tolerate it). And holiday pajamas, if you do that sort of thing. That way you’ll be ready for any invitations that come your way, and you won’t be spending holiday-time evenings wandering around Kohl’s (because it’s the closest clothing store to your house), thinking “maybe this really isn’t that bad.” Plus, as I learned this year, apparently everyone else shops for their holiday outfits in October, which explains why I couldn’t find any Christmas sleeper pajamas in my kid’s sizes.

5. Not participating in any community holiday events

I’m going to give myself an out for this year. After all, I do have a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. And a business to run. But next year, with all this stellarific planning of mine, I should have plenty of energy left to take my budding musicians to a holiday concert, or to see the lighting of our downtown Christmas tree, or to a church service. Or at least to their daycare’s Santa appearance, which, I confess, we missed this year.

  • Christmas 2011: Don’t be such a hermit.