@Lori C – yep, I think a lot of the narrative on outsourcing misses some of the nuance. People say they don’t want to use childcare because “I want to raise my children myself.” Well, I spend plenty of time with my kids – it would be almost impossible to get this to zero, even if I wanted to, because that’s the nature of living with small people who are around 24/7. Or that question in the podcast this past week about “holding on” to a task despite the ability to outsource. I “hold on” to some stuff whether I want to or not because there’s just so much work to be done in a house hold of 7 people over 7 days. I empty the dishwasher, just usually not 7 days a week. I cook, just usually not 7 days. I cleaned bathrooms over the holidays because the timing didn’t work between guests with when the cleaners could come. And I drive a lot, just not 100 percent of it.

I think I sort of fantasize that this chore can be greatly reduced, but it goes to show that some shuttling of kids around is unavoidable.

@Coree – I’m a big fan of trying to batch meetings (or at least errands) for this reason. It would be my goal to meet up with folks in person on Friday as that tends to be my more “open” day and one I don’t plan on doing significant work on. Alternately, stacking meetings after each other, or at least planning to do something else nearby can make it feel like less of a time drain.

@Maggie – I guess Bach wasn’t terribly modern – Beethoven was significantly later, so there’s that. Also I believe a lot of Bach’s work was lost or at least not recognized as significant until it was championed by others later. So that would have limited the immediate influence after his life too. For what it’s worth I’m a bigger fan of Bach 😉

“The flexibility is great, but also, one meeting in the city can lead to a really fragmented day – yesterday, I spent 40 minutes waiting for a bus (I might have missed one because I was reading my book?) and while I got everything off my list, it felt pretty unfocused. Maybe I just need to go in for the whole day and work from the local library?”
I relate so much to this! When I work from home and someone asks to meet in the city, I am like “Eh, that is going to destroy my entire day…”

Laura, last night I saw an expert saying Beethoven was the most influential/important moder composer. I thought immediately: Wait, wait about Bach?? What’s your take on this?

I am not teaching this term and I need to figure out how to structure my week. The flexibility is great, but also, one meeting in the city can lead to a really fragmented day – yesterday, I spent 40 minutes waiting for a bus (I might have missed one because I was reading my book?) and while I got everything off my list, it felt pretty unfocused. Maybe I just need to go in for the whole day and work from the local library?

We have our normal Saturday activity routine, are hosting family friends for coffee and cinnamon buns on Sunday am, and going into the city for dinner with my brother in law. We normally do the meal plan/grocery shop on Sunday, but I think I’ll make the plan/list today and see if my husband will go while I do bedtime tonight.