You know how, before you have kids, you look at people with kids and you say, “That will NOT be me”? You judge the moms whose kids have dirty faces and stringy hair and mismatched clothes, the families out to dinner with the child watching Barney or Caillou on some device while they’re eating, or the frazzled-looking woman (who obviously doesn’t care about her own personal hygiene) in the grocery store with a cart full of Lucky Charms and popsicles. We’ve all given those poor souls passing glances, then shook our heads at each other with smug looks on our faces. If only we knew, right?

One thing Jason and I said we would never do is over-schedule our family.  We have been experts at saying no to people, and saying no to too many extra-curricular activities.  I valiantly fought to not be that mom who spends all of her time in her car, speeding through drive-thrus in an effort to feed her family between practices, rehearsals, or games.

So chalk up another failure for us, because now I am that mom.  The one whose dirty, mismatched children snack on Lucky Charms in the backseat on the way to karate or ball or dance or whatever.

Thankfully (seriously, I thank God every day) we homeschool, so we get to spend our mornings leisurely at home.  We pack all of our rest and nutrition into that time!

Now that our evenings are full, I find myself with no time to just do what I need to do around the house. Even though we’re home during the days, I’m preoccupied with things like teaching my children to read and write. I have found myself struggling to keep up.

So Wednesday morning I mentioned to Jason that I would like to sometimes miss ball practice so I could have some time at the house alone.  Of course he had no problem with that, so Wednesday night I sent them off, and I had two glorious hours alone in my home.

What did I do during that time, you ask?

1-cooked dinner

2-vacuumed the floors

3-washed and folded 2 loads of laundry

4-located and trashed every Happy Meal or Dollar Tree toy in the house

5-hid the bag with aforementioned toys in the bottom of the outdoor trash can

6-took the Easter eggs off the Easter egg tree (instead of waiting until Halloween like we have the past 2 years)

7-watched 1 1/2 DVR’d episodes of “The Big Bang Theory”

8-planned out this summer’s Vacation Bible School

9-did our 2015 taxes

10-painted our master bathroom

11-ran 2 miles

12-ate half a box of Wheat Thins

13-planted our garden

14-cleaned out the kitchen pantry

15-read Proverbs 31 and imagined that I could be the Proverbs 31 Woman if only I could have 2 hours alone in my house EVERY afternoon

So, I may be exaggerating a bit, but you get my point: a woman alone in her house for a couple of hours can accomplish a LOT! Or a little, depending on how you look at it.