I had been somewhat nervous about the travel logistics, as Amtrak was warning about track delays due to excessive heat. But I’d had my agent book me on the Keystone service, which is my little east coast train travel hack. The Keystone runs from Harrisburg, PA to NYC, meaning it only shares the main Amtrak northeast corridor line between Philadelphia and NYC. So delays elsewhere on the northeast corridor line (anywhere between Boston and Washington DC) don’t affect the service quite so much. The Keystone can get delayed, but it’s less likely to get delayed because it’s behind another delayed train, if that makes sense.

Anyway, for all the warnings the trip in was pretty charmed. We got in early — pulling into NY at least 10 minutes before our scheduled arrival time.

I have to say, after years of arriving and departing from rather dismal Penn Station, the new Moynihan Train Hall is amazing. The main hall is light and open! The food court offerings are excellent! (I tried a ramen shop on the way home). The existence of the hall also means you can now easily enter to catch a train from 9th Avenue, which runs southbound, so if you are coming from points north in Manhattan, your taxi/car doesn’t necessarily have to deal with Times Square/etc. I am a big fan.

While this is not officially on my summer fun list this year, today I think I will attempt a “tri” day (run, bike, and swim in one day). I ran this morning, so that’s crossed off the list. I’m bringing a kid to an activity that is fairly near a bike trail, so I plan to try a short ride later in the day. As it is only one kid, and he’s old enough to sit in the front, I can fold down the back seat to get my bike in there without dealing with the bike rack rigamarole. Then, going in the pool has become a fairly standard evening activity around here. I won’t really be swimming laps while life guarding, but I can do a little bit.

Not too much else to report but I guess that’s the fun of a blog…I’m trying to make the weekend schedule but needing to pivot since it looks like it will be rainy. We definitely need the rain, but I probably would prefer the rain on a Tuesday vs. a Saturday!

On a deeper level, though, this rule can be absolutely life-changing. Those of us who are managing complex family and personal situations, and those of us who don’t have an incredible amount of administrative support at work, can feel like the little things eat up our lives. In many cases the little things don’t take a ton of time (at least individually). It’s just that they are always options, nagging at us. Or we worry we’ll forget them so we keep thinking about them. Or we don’t want to do them so we procrastinate them. Or we do them during times when our better selves have decreed that we should be doing deep work (or relaxing!)

When there is a designated time for the little things, though, we both know they will get done and, since they are not always options, this reduces the guilt and the sense of being pulled in a million directions.

I’m currently writing this blog post as a break from my Friday Punch List. During the home renovation process I learned about “punch lists,” which are all-in lists of stuff the contractor still needs to take care of after the major work is done. During the week, I make a running list of all the little things I need to take care of, and then I attempt to plow through these things on Fridays.

So, this morning I have been a busy bee indeed. I filled out permission slips so my 15-year-old can go to a Science Olympiad competition. I paid the fee on an airline and chose seats so we could all sit together. I made a hair appointment. I MADE 5 ANNUAL PEDIATRICIAN APPOINTMENTS (shout out to the receptionist who worked with me to batch the kids into fewer days). I called my OB/GYN office to make my appointment but they have not called me back yet. I talked with the fridge repair guy about stopping by to check out a problem which we thought was solved, but was not. I made a stock purchase within my 401k (I made the annual deposit a while ago but I spread out my purchasing). I still need to purchase fencing equipment (a lot of fencing equipment…this could take a while). Plus a few other things.

Doing all these tasks at once isn’t exactly fun, but it is fun to check off many many things on a list. I feel very accomplished AND I don’t feel like all these things are hanging over my head all the time. There is a time for them…but if it’s not Friday morning, now is not that time.

In other news: Need some guidance and support while setting goals for 2023? Our Best of Both Worlds Patreon meet-up for December (12/15 at noon eastern) will feature Sarah’s annual goal-setting workshop. Last year I came up with a few random ones during this event, like learning to do make-up, and doing a free-writing project where I write about a character’s day in 365 chunks. I wound up doing both this year! Membership is $9/month, and there aren’t a whole lot of such workshops at this price point, so if this sounds good, please come join us. (You can cancel after the workshop of course…but I don’t think you’ll want to! We have some great discussions going in our forum.)

Photo: Batching lots of little flowers…creates lovely displays