Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Scatterbrained Sidetracking


WOTH named this blog IRL* In Real Life with Jamie Jo, but a reader recently commented that I’ve never devoted a post to what “real life” actually looks like for me.  At the risk of boring you to bits, I’ve decided to lay it out here and describe a typical weekday for me in Mexico.  (You’ve been warned.)

By 7:00 A.M. my day is well underway.  I am generally up and at 'em, a load of laundry started, with breakfast, personal and family devotions behind me, and one or two kids rushed out the door to catch the carpool to the MK school in the city.  (Hey, speaking of which, do any of you know of teachers or a principal who might want to come to Oaxaca in the near future?)

Just like that last paragraph, my day is full of rabbit trails and scatterbrained sidetracking.  Multitasking is not my strong suit.  My goal is to devote the full morning to instructing my youngest daughter who is way too much like me (except for talking too much) to ever accomplish this.  She has Apraxia in addition to, ahem, ADD tendencies, and school requires a heap of personal attention and direction.  Every history and science text must be read aloud to her, along with other books we read aloud together just for fun.

For a couple of hours, a home-schooled friend of Miss Will-You-Please-Hurry-Up comes for English, science, and P.E.  That helps us get back on track.  P.E. is worth mentioning because we close all the drapes and doors and turn the volume down low while we sweat to Wii Dance.  (The neighbors would not understand.That is the highlight of our morning, enabling us to stay awake to finish our morning studies.  No promises after lunch at 1:00 or 1:30.

Any typical day I might be interrupted with home deliveries of drinking water or gas tanks, neighbors needing to borrow something (until the lawn mower finally broke – what on earth are we going to do now?), one of the three phones ringing (Lingo phone from the U.S., local phone, or Skype – since now pastors in the villages have internet and think every time they see that Jim-Jamie are online they should ring us up to bless our day, and then once I’m on the computer, well, I really should check email, Facebook, and Pinterest. 

When dh is not traveling (this week he is in Mozambique for the dedication of a friend’s recording studio like ours), he is working mostly from home, in and out between here and the office next door.  That can provide a distraction, too, as we stop to discuss the day’s/week’s events, emails (will you answer that one or should I?), and challenges.  Did I mention we are both talkers?

Several times a week I am blessed to have a local gal (not a maid, but more of a housekeeper we have sort of adopted) come to fix lunch, do some light cleaning, and (thank you, Lord!) run interference with the phone and door while I teach.  She is my right hand and my sanity saver.  Whatever I start but don’t finish, she discovers and completes (hanging laundry, ironing, breakfast dishes, etc.)  When the babies were little, and I was home educating four children, she was indispensable.  Now she is just a blessing.  I can even send her a text message to pick up eggs, milk, or tortillas when needed.  Yes, I am spoiled.

Afternoon activities vary, but are boring to recount (housework, lesson plans, etc).   My favorite things are prayer with the other missionary moms on Monday, writing in my journal, blogging, talking to my adult dc*, playing the piano, or reading for pleasure.  Then there are those city days when I take teens to the orthodontist, do grocery shopping, get a haircut, or attend meetings at the school.  Those are tiring days for sure.  

No matter what a day brings, I'm always ready to crash by 9:00 or so.  Getting distracted and not completing tasks is exhausting!

IRL* Now I’m wondering how your day compares to mine…. Do tell!

17 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading about your IRL life! Do you know that even when you're online on Skype you change your status to "Away"? I confess I do that when I don't want to be disturbed and even if I don't feel like answering a skype chat.

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  2. Tonia, you are very sweet. This is no doubt the most boring piece I have ever attempted. Rather than changing my status, now that I am not sharing my computer with dh, I have my own Skype account now. This time I've only added people I would love an interruption from. I'm too addle-brained to remember to "come back" once I am "away" - you know?

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  3. The other day I wrote a whole kids book in my head called, "If You Give a Mom The Bathroom . . . " It was a lot like your day. I went in to take a shower, but stopped to kill a cricket under the sink, then reorganized the cupboard, found things had run out and went to write them on my list, got sidetracked and started to make granola, got sidetracked and ... I'm sure you understand! =)

    Beth

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    Replies
    1. No way! I wrote that same book in my head one day. First one to print gets the rights....

      Yep, I understand.

      Delete
  4. Thanks for this post, Jamie Jo! And it was NOT boring!!! I thought I was the only side tracked home schooling, cross-cultural working mom! You should see my kitchen or office: doors, cabinets open, books everyone, as I flit from one task to the next!!! It actually encourages me to know that there are others around the globe having days like mine.

    I might link you and write a post of my own: "A Day in the Life of an Olive" next week. Is that okay?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love it! I'll have to make sure and read your blog next week.

      Delete
  5. Not boring at all, Jamie Jo! Coming from another SHSCCWM (you can add that to your "Jamie Jo Speak)

    SHSCCWM is Sidetracked Homeschooling Cross Cultural Mom

    :)

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  6. I am a SHSCCWM also, One of the biggest side trackers are people wanting to talk to me at the gate. They don't understand that I teach my children at home and of course, culturally it would be very rude for me to ignore them or cut our conversation short. So I just grin and bear it. As my children sneak quietly away....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear ya! The visitors at the door, in my case, are an issue - especially when dh is away and before housekeeper comes.

      I should find a post on my other blog about a typical day in Guatemala when all my kids were little, and I'd get stuck at the front door, and my school kids, ages 5 and 6, would escape out the back door.... Thanks for the memories.

      Delete
  7. Today... I started about 12 things and finished... well, sitting here at my computer is my distraction right about now! Need to go get that wet load out of the washer that has been sitting there since 9 AM. ...

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    Replies
    1. 9 AM my time, that is... it is after 6 PM! Okay, I am getting up right now.
      ...maybe just one more check of email.

      Delete
    2. Maybe we check our e-mail because we are lonely for a real conversation.

      Or maybe it's just too hot to hang laundry.

      Delete
  8. Thanks so much for the encouraging words - there is hope for sidetracked home schooling cross cultural moms - I didn't even know there was a 'title' for this position, but it does help knowing there are others around the globe who have the same title.

    ReplyDelete

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