Cara- an interesting question on the swingset. If you think it will make you guys happy then yes, go for it. You could also check Craigs list and see if anyone is dumping one — it’s the kind of thing people buy, use for 3-4 years when their kids are the right age, then no longer need, so there may be a market in used ones, esp if you could get a truck to pick it up.
As for the 30 minute window – I probably need to change up my childcare schedule/work schedule with that in mind. I could decide to not bring Jasper to school, but it’s kind of our special time right now. I have been using it to run, but I really have to go fast to get in my 3.5 mile route in the 35-40 minutes I can get. (Ok, fast is relative. Others might not find that so challenging!)

Gwen:
Good to know that about the little bits of time here and there. I am getting more distracted than I like, though I do see that some big things are getting done. As I say, there’s no point being busy just to be busy.

My husband takes the kid very whimsically so like it isn’t planned and I have trouble going back to work at night after I stop, late bedtimes and I usually don’t stop until 6 so maybe this would be better time used reading a book or doing something I don’t have to commit to as much. like your post about that 15 or 30-minute window this a.m. not being enough time to get into anything.. that is my issue with 1/2 hour when hubby grabs child.

Not sure how much time I spent figuring out how to use the spreadsheet–hopefully not too much! Am realizing I have a sort of mental disconnect where I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything if I do lots of little bits of different things all day, because for some reason I assume I need huge stretches of uninterrupted time to get things done–when in fact the opposite is true! Even if I had as much time as I needed all at once to complete a big project, I’d never be able to focus on it for that long anyway, so I actually get much more done incrementally by switching back and forth between all the different things I’m juggling in short bursts. Tracking it all reminds me to keep switching it up like this and helps me to keep in perspective that even though I may not finish any particular project on a given day, I’m still moving steadily forward on lots of things.

Andrea: Much resume and career fair time! Yes, it is not exactly a low-stress time to be looking for a job. And the problem with such activities is that it’s hard to know what exactly is productive and what is not. It’s only clear in retrospect what actually led to a job offer and what did not. When I was on Job Talk Radio yesterday, I talked a little bit about that — about setting clear goals of doable steps. You can’t put down “get a job” as a weekly goal because to some degree this isn’t entirely in your hands. But you can get 3 critiques of a resume, drop 20 resumes at a career fair, go on 3 informational interviews, call 5 “grown-up” contacts for leads, etc. I felt like that when I was originally trying to get a book deal for 168 Hours. It took 18 months. I know now what mattered and what didn’t, but those are certainly a random string of things that seemed to matter!

Cara: Wow, 50 cold calls seems ambitious! I too am trying to figure out how best to use the hours when Daddy has the kids. Work? Exercise? Chill? Hard to know. Definitely not for cleaning the house.

wake up make hot chocolate, do 168 hours log
get on treadmill, got in 1 hour and two episodes of general hospital at 9 incline which is over 400 calories..

end workout

At 9:30 leave to get cell ph one left at meeting lat night, stop at starbucks,

work on advocacy email for non profit consulting on involuntary commitment hearing in trenton
3 hours total work on this

15 minute phone chat with friend on drive home from non profit
meeting over retirement planning

work
work
work, send estimate to state
work
eat pizza with hubby
work
work
work
work, stop work at 5:45
eat dinner w oriana just me and her nice
play, visit neighbors
take grandma to sign up for english class w o
play with water fountains at school walk around school
come home, papa gives oriana a bath while I do time log, trying ot figure out how to better use time when daddy grabs child
end time log.. Going to try to go back to work for a bit to send proposal from meeting yesterday
do not do work, do 1/2 hour of putting dirty clothes in hamper, hanging clothes up, make myselsf snakc, put on pajamas, maybe less than 1/2 hour?
star work while o watches tv w daddy, get no work done
play w o
play w o
o goes to bed
go to sleep

10:02 clock out.
10:02-10:05 walk to CPA.
10:05-10:20 work on resume
10:20-10:30 Walk to Hoyt
10:30-10:45 get resume critiqued
10:45-10:50 walk to Peabody
10:50-11:15 work on homework waiting for class
11:15-12:30 class time, actually worked the whole time
12:30-12:45 walk to class
12:45-2:00 class time, learned about different buildings
2:00-2:10 walk to Peabody again
2:15-3:10 talk about persuasion with my english class
3:10-3:20 walk to CPA
3:20-4:10 observe music class i’m assisting
4:10-4:13 run to class that starts at 4:10
4:13-5:30 learn about the electronic style of music with rep
5:30-5:32 awlk to Scott
5:32-5:50 eat dinner with Luke
5:50-6:00 go to apartment
6:00-7:00 take a nap
7:00-7:15 walk to rush party
7:15-7:30 set up for party
7:30-9:30 host wonderful party
9:30-12:30 work on homework (with some facebooking in the midst)
12:30-9:00 sleep
9-10:20 play around on the computer, enjoy some free time, get some homework done, wake up, etc
10:22 catch the bus
10:30-10:45 eat breakfast at Shriver
10:45-10:55 walk to Boyd
10:55-11:15 talk to people about how awful this class is
11:15-12:30 have awful class, including a pop quiz
12:30-12:45 walk to Bachelor
12:45-2:00 go over more projects
2:00-2:05 walk to Presser (I realize I walk much faster when I’m not walking with someone else)
2:05-2:15 check up on email etc
2:15-3:30 spend the entire time with my teacher trying to decipher Sibelius
3:30-5:00 practice steel band
5:00-5:30 walk to shriver and eat dinner with Erin
5:30-6:40 Career Fair training session (Can you tell I’m worried?)
6:40-7:00 drive car (my coworker’s) back to apartment to grab phone that I forgot all day and drive back
7:00-7:15 talk to Erin for a little bit
7:15-7:30 walk to PResser, sit with other and wait for steel band to start
7:30-9:30 steel band
9:30-10:14 get a ride home, then mess around on the computer. No classes tomorrow 🙂