Currently listening to WARBOUND by Larry Correia (via Audible), while watching NFL on Fox (San Francisco vs. Seattle)

I make friends everywhere I go! (photo by Stoo)

So I made my list of things to do earlier, and am kind of doing some of it... thought I would do an update:

• I messed up my grad school application process -- didn't receive everything in time for me to make the deadline of January 16. SO - I am pushing back my plan to enter the PhD program I want. At least I'll be getting everything together NOW for the deadline next year. Might even be able to apply for a fellowship and such, too. Good times...
• I found this blog full of recipes and such I hope will help me out with time management: http://www.sidetrackedsarah.com.
• Recently, we have had a change-around at the house as Alice took a regular job, so I am busy playing Mr. Mom. I don't mind at all - in fact, I am pretty darn good at it. I spent 30 years taking care of myself, so I am pretty adept at doing a lot of things. 
• Sure, fixing a car is still tough for me (mostly, because I break everything I touch; constantly breaking bolts from over tightening, shredding hoses I try to pull off... you get the idea), but I can cook, clean, dishes, laundry, shopping, and organize -- all that shyte. And not the "frat boy" version, either.
• I got a lot of that from my dad - that's how I was raised when my mum had a day job. My dad still ran his business from the house (just like I do), and since he was home he took care of things around the house - which included my sister & I. So, really, this is pretty normal as far as I am concerned.
• What I do NOT have, unfortunately, is my dad's artistry... or cooking skills. I mean - he really did some amazing stuff. I really have to work really hard to even start at pretending to have his mastery.
• SO, anyway, this website has these "freezer to slow cooker" recipes that I have decided to experiment with. It means doing all the prep work for a week of dinners, then keeping them in the freezer until it's time to actually cook them (pulling them out of the freezer the night before, putting them in the crock pot that morning).
• DOWNSIDE: Alice's job starts in the afternoon. So I get up early, get the kids off to school. Work on my stuff quietly (because Alice is still sleeping) - so emails, writing, that kind of thing - until it is time to get Alice up and off to work. Unfortunately, I have less than an hour before kid #1 gets home... and kid #2 arrives 90 minutes later. When each kid gets home they get a snack, do their homework, then change out of their uniform and get on whatever I can put them on until dinnertime. Then it's dinner, relax & hang out time with them, then off to bed. Once I get them put down I have just less than 2 hours (working quietly, because of the kids) before Alice gets home. Get her dinner and such, spending some time together before bedtime. Is hard to get MY stuff done.
• Once the kids start up with swim team/class again, it's going to scupper my whole schedule.
• ANYWAY, I need to carve out some time in the day to get everything else done. I figure quickening cooking times (without going to all tv dinners or take out) is the way to go.
• I already created a spreadsheet checklist of job responsibilities for the month;
• I have been inventorying stuff at the house --- kids kept saying they needed toothpaste, so I was like, "fine - I will get you toothpaste!" Only to find, of course, THREE UNOPENED TUBES OF TOOTHPASTE hidden away. I came across a couple other examples like this (seriously, who needs 4 opened bottles of baby powder?), so I am trying to figure out what we really need, and what we do not.

So there you are... scheduling. Lots of scheduling.