Today’s guest blog post is by Tracy, known as Daisy here at Work It, Mom!. If you’d like to submit a guest blog post to be published on the Work It, Mom! Blog, please send it to nataly@workitmom.com. It should be relevant and interesting to working moms and under 400 words or so.

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The biggest disadvantage to spending a school week feeling under the weather is that I fall behind. When I’m mildly ill or my children aresick, my schoolbag is heavy, heavier, and heaviest by Friday night. Add to that the work that doesn’t get done while dealing with outrageous (or normal) student behavior and I don’t even want to think about what’s waiting on my desk for me Monday morning.

My to-do list will get done, though. A typical Saturday in the life of this teacher and mother looks like this:

Wake up. Start coffeepot. (Notice how those two go together?)
Skim newspaper.
Sort laundry.
Start first load of laundry.
While first load washes, correct response papers from reading class.
Move wet, clean laundry to the dryer. Start new load in washer.
Correct comprehension test papers from reading class.
Fold clean, dry load. Rotate next load into dryer and add another to washer.
Score writing assessment papers.
Take periodic breaks from scoring to rotate more laundry through its cycles.
Analyze writing assessment scores, preparing Excel spreadsheet and
graph to impress the somewhat technologically illiterate principal.

Fortunately, the teenager in the house has his own Saturday routine. He relaxes and hangs out in his room listening to Public Radio’s weekend shows. After squandering a perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk, he’ll get dressed and head downstairs to join me for his own breakfast, usually during my second or third load of laundry.

Did anyone notice what’s missing? This type of day is a work-at-home-in-pajamas day. I often stay in my “loungewear” until the laundry is done and I’ve let the water heater fill up again. Then, and only then, I shower and get dressed and feel presentable enough to go out in public. Some weekends I amaze even myself at how much I can accomplish in my pajamas! If I ever decide to change careers, I should find one that lets me work at home in my pjs.

Tracy Ostwald Kowald is a mom, wife, and elementary teacher. She blogs under the name “Daisy” at Compost Happens and A Mother’s Garden of Verses.