My husband is out of town for a seminar at Notre Dame this month. So, it’s just me here with the kids. And I have to say, from a time perspective, it’s kicking me. Although I went through a divorce and have been a single mother before, I forgot. I forgot what it’s like to be the only one in the house who can cook, drive a car, go grocery shopping, pay bills, and clean the litterbox. Okay, the kids can clean the litterbox, but it depends on how well you want that job to be done. Not to mention do the laundry (oops, there are clothes in the washing machine right now that need to be moved), answer questions, and try to hang out with the kids, because isn’t that why I wanted to work at home to begin with?

Finding time to work efficiently has been a little more catch-as-you-can than usual this week. I was at a baseball game for nearly three hours on Monday evening. Last night, some neighbors stopped by and we chatted for an hour during time I had scheduled to work. Tonight, there is another baseball game.

Fortunately, the kids are old enough to play independently for most of the day, and I don’t have an active toddler climbing on me while I type. Small favors.

Yesterday, I read the interview with Tina Sharkey of BabyCenter, who has a live-in babysitter, because she and her husband both work full days away from home. That babysitter sounds so nice right now. (It is a great interview, by the way– Tina sounds like an amazing person!). Fortunately, I do have a housekeeper. Unfortunately, she didn’t come last week, and I don’t know for certain yet whether she is coming this week, and yesterday, the belt came off the vacuum, and I haven’t had two free seconds to sit on the floor with the electric screwdriver to try to fix it.

What on earth do you do to make it all work as a single mom?

Edited to add… I just read Mir’s post about this on her blog. She says that there are three basic approaches to dealing with kids in the summer if you work from home: do nothing, and let the kids entertain themselves; enroll them in camp; or hire a sitter. So I thought I would share what my kids are up to today (which I was embarrassed to share earlier, but now think I should). Last night, we went to the video store and I let them pick out three “scary” (i.e. rated no higher than PG-13) movies and they are having a movie-a-thon today. The only problem is when I have to go in and sit with them during a minorly scary part. But for the most part, they are happy and so am I. Now, if only I could figure out how to get my laptop into the movie theatre later this week when I take them to see Harry Potter…