My life on paper

One of the questions I get since I have a career is "How do you manage everything?" or "I could never do what you are doing!". From some, it is genuine appreciation, for others it is "I bet you eat out every day and your house is a pig sty." I usually answer Time Management, but I guess it kind of implies that I am a super woman who does all things in order and perfection. ahem. Also my "managing everything" is work, eat, sleep (some days), but for the other person it very well could be work, cook 4 course meals, keep a spotless home, do crafts, volunteer, knit, sew, garden, teach etc.

So this is reality.

Things I don't do

1. Bake. Very rarely - once in 2 months or so a banana bread is the extend of my baking. DH and I are not big fans of baked goods.
2. Sew. No time/talent
3. Crafts. See (2)
4. Home improvement stuff - painting, ongoing decoration etc. No time or eye for decoration.
5. Window shopping. No time.
6. Garage sale-ing, thrifting - no money saved that way. Again, no time
7. Hair/makeup. Getting ready takes me 3 miuntes down to the shoes. No interest in spending hours before a mirror.
8. Vacuum/mop/clean everyday. This is more a dislike induced procrastination than time issue if I am honest with myself.
9. Blog every day. Unable to make time
10. Work out every day. Unable to make time
11. Watch a lot of TV shows/movies. Again a conscious choice due to its energy sapping capability than a time issue. Unfortunately not working very well since I replace the TV with internet. Back to square one.
12. Go for the mid week Bible study. Time and some other issues.

Things I do

1. Work full time
2. Help DH's business with sales and payroll
3. Cook every day (mostly) and keep a clean sink
4. Teach sunday school
5. Read/Study Bible and other books an hour every day.
6. Coupon (yes, it is a verb!)

As you can see there are a lot of things I am not able to do. Granted all those are not things I necessarily *want* to do except the midweek Bible study. I miss not being able to do that regularly.

Oh, and to add, I do not consider paying bills, getting dressed and doing laundry as huge tasks to put in the list since it takes less than 5 minutes each. Rest assured that both of us have clean clothes and that our bills are paid.

This is not a strict list of things I do/don't do. Pretty much this is how it works out in the end for me in real life. I have tried to do more before, but it has been crash and burn for the most part. There are some things that are important to me. Like home cooked meals. I make time for that. Like everyone else, I make choices.

I don't do it all. Nor do I know anyone in the world who does it all. I don't even think he/she exists. In fact I don't even think there is an "all" in the commonly attributed sense of the word. An all to me could be none to you and some to you could mean none to me. You get my drift, don't you? On a given day if you have given your best to what you do and do it as unto the Lord, you have done it all. And that is my definition of a person who does it all.