News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

By Cailin Cousins 

Anyone who knows me well, or has even met me in passing in recent years would collectively use one word to describe me;  busy.

Being self-employed, I consider myself fortunate to choose my own work hours, yet I find myself working 14-18 hour days 6 and 7 days a week.  (My boss, sometimes referred to as The Dragon Lady, is a real slave driver.)  That would be fine if I were slicing through each day's to-do list like a hot knife through butter, but that is not the case.  Each day I have rollover "to-do's" which make the next day's list that much longer and more challenging right out of the gate.

I don't miss many deadlines, even though I double book myself all too often, and I can almost always look back at the day with pride and a sense of accomplishment when it comes to professional achievements.  However, I have started to notice that I have to panic-clean my house when people are coming over, my dishwasher gets used as a temporary cupboard more often than not, my walks with the dogs are getting shorter and shorter, and the only time I take to smell the coffee anymore is when I'm checking to see if the incredible heat of summer '09 has curdled the milk in it as it sat getting cold on my desk.

Quite often lately I find myself wondering how my parents managed to coordinate getting 4 children up for school every day, dressed, farm chores done, and still sit everyone down for breakfast together before heading off in our own directions.  While us kids were out of their hair all day, it sure seemed like they got every last thing done, plus had time to socialize and help neighbors out, shop, landscape and cook.  Evenings were much the same as mornings; home from school, homework done, parental checks done on said homework, family dinner at the dining room table, horses fed, chores done, clean up and off to bed.  No problem.

Were there more hours in a day back then?  Did parents have some sort of secret machine to stop-time so they could get caught up?   Obviously not, but you can bet I've daydreamed about both scenarios as I pick which priority to rush right after the one I just finished rushing.  Where does the time go?

If anyone has any secrets or helpful tips or tricks, I've got one single slot available on my to-do list tomorrow where I can pencil one in - let's hear it.

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