Things I Thought I’d Get Done While Someone Else Was Watching the Baby

I am lucky enough (and please know that I am fully aware of how lucky I am) that my parents live sort of nearby and are willing to take the baby for a long weekend every few months. This is wonderful because I am always working on a bunch of projects and trying to get work done with a baby around is like trying to build a house of cards during an earthquake.

A few weeks ago my parents were kind enough to watch my son for a full three days. Here is how my liberating, child-free weekend went down as illustrated by Microsoft Excel pie graphs.

The End.

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Thanks for reading. Hope you are having a productive and emotionally fulfilling week.

Comments

24 responses to “Things I Thought I’d Get Done While Someone Else Was Watching the Baby”

Amber

March 24, 2015

My youngest just started preschool a couple of weeks ago. I made lots of plans for ALLLLL THE FREE TIME (ie 3 hours/day) that I’d have kid-free. My graphs would look much like the above. (I guess many of the days don’t really “count” since at least one kid has been home sick or I’ve been actively fighting their latest illness. ) But come on! It seems like I should get so much done! Obviously the next thing I need to do is order a copy of the Poisonwood Bible.

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  March 24, 2015
  
  Totally get a copy of Poisonwood Bible. At this point I’m around 150 pages in and it’s great.
  
  Reply
  1. bluesabriel
    
    March 25, 2015
    
    One of my all-time favorite books. I adore Kingsolver!
    
    Reply
Jan C

March 24, 2015

Laughing with you. Been there, done that and not just about having babes around. If I have a day with no gigs, I can waste it faster than anyone I know.

Looking forward to hearing how the next “free” weekend goes.

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Jojo

March 24, 2015

I had one and a half nights away from my daughter while my son was born and during our brief hospital stay afterward. That’s it and now she is six. If I ever had a weekend away from her, this is what I would do….

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  March 24, 2015
  
  Stay there. I am sending the intervention people to your house right now. Sit tight until they arrive.
  
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Kristi

March 24, 2015

Yes! No parents or family around here to help out, but I still suck at time management, and how I plan my occasional kid-free time is still the product of fantasy, not reality. Love your blog.

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Shelby

March 24, 2015

Hey look! A new Ugly Volvo thing to read! I am going to read it and then read all the comments and then write a comment and then when kiddo wakes up from his nap ten minutes from now, I am going to be SHOCKED that I didn’t get around to folding the load of laundry that’s waiting in the dryer. And yes, I did follow a link to this article from Facebook, why do you ask?

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  March 24, 2015
  
  I just leave things in my dryer and pretend it’s a metal dresser.
  
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Rob Macdermid

March 24, 2015

With 11 year old daughter at school, 4 year old daughter at preschool and 2 year old daughter at a friend’s house, I think I will spend the day making colourful pie-charts like yours.

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  March 24, 2015
  
  I find pie chart making much more fulfilling than making things, like “dinner” and “my bed.”
  
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Mountain Prof

March 24, 2015

Totally! Happens every time!

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Jennifer Groeber

March 25, 2015

So the Day 1 pie chart was every day the year my now seven-year-old started all-day kindergarten. The Day 2 pie chart was the following year when the twins started all-day kindergarten. I have high hopes for my daily pie chart once the four-year-old heads to school, but I fear there will be too much Sons of Anarchy Wikipedia and not enough writing-the-next-great-American-novel (while training for a marathon and getting a solo print show.)
Spot on post, as always.

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bluesabriel

March 25, 2015

After my daughter spent the evening trying to shove as many two-year-old moments in as she could before bedtime, the idea of three days to myself is enough to make me weep.

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nora1

March 25, 2015

i had nearly 2 whole days to myself last weekend, and you have pretty much summed up how i spent that time too.

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Catherine

March 28, 2015

The times I actually DO get a lot done when someone else is watching my daughter, I end up so exhausted that I need a major break after that break.

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luna

April 2, 2015

yeah at least you got to relax! you deserve that!

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Sandy

April 2, 2015

good god, why rhodesia?

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  April 3, 2015
  
  That’s where one of the characters in the movie was from and I didn’t know anything about it except that they have ridgeback dogs.
  
  Reply
Laura

April 4, 2015

This is the funniest, most scarily familiar article I have read in a while.
Too familiar for comfort in fact!!

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V

April 9, 2015

HA. So true. You are not alone!

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Alexis

May 6, 2015

Hee 🙂 A giant facebook button is just a jpeg only instead of linking to itself (default) you link it to your FB page. You could make your own (www.canva.com is great) or download one as there are a billion freebies. Good luck!

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1. theuglyvolvo
  
  May 6, 2015
  
  this is a super helpful tip. Thank you. Will check out the site 🙂
  
  Reply
justin

September 27, 2016

haha this is great. It’s crazy how much time kids take up even when they’re not doing anything!

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