Back from the desert....

Well - I'm back from my vacation in the desert - enjoy the random photo from the pool and the gorgeous pic of the mountains on my walk to the restaurant for dinner.  Yes, I'm back.  And I am exhausted.  Did I mention it was my bright idea to bring my 3 year old to San Diego to stay with close friends while I skipped over to Palm Desert?  Although the trip over was a breeze - the trip back was full of cranky toddler behavior begetting cranky mommy attitude.  Along with her and I being on west coast time and not sleeping until past midnight, this return to work on Wednesday is really dragging me down!

I always feel more accomplished after resting for a bit - a renewed sense of vigor pushes me to do more than I usually manage to get done.  But alas, I was welcomed home to 2 full days of emails, a dirty house, and nearly-dead plants (which I've been trying so hard to keep alive!).  So here I go into cleaning, planning and overload mode where I try to get as much done in the next few days until my husband gets home on Friday,  so that my daughter and I can spend quality time for the 2-3 short days he is home.  After work - it is straight home to clean house, car, room, etc.

Ever since my daughter was born I have struggled with this balancing act.  Work at first was a part of every minute of my day (see previous post), but now consists mostly of my 8am-4:30pm day, with 10-15 minutes on each side for travel to and from.  I try to leave work behind when I get home and focus on whatever is needed there - first is usually dinner since I am soooo hungry.   My brother is pretty good about having dinner ready by 5, so after eating it is my choice - relax or clean.  Tonight is going to = clean.  Kitchen needs to be cleaned up, old food taken out of fridge, stock taken of what food we have so we can make a menu and grocery list for the next week.  That means tomorrow evening will be taken up with couponing as I try to find the best deals in my area (unfortunately my local grocery stores are not covered by all the do-it-for-you couponing sites).  The last few weeks I've found some great deals and have stocked up on bathroom essentials enough that I can wait until prices are down to 80% off before buying more!  Yay!  Anyway - looks like my break is up.  Will let you know how my plan worked tomorrow!