I'm a pretty lousy blogger

Two months since my last blog post?  That's no good at all.  What excuse do I have for being such a lousy blogger?  None, really.  I just don't feel like I have much to talk about lately.  Ever since I started back to work full time in January, my daily routine is exhausting.  And mundane.  It goes something like this:

• Get up
• Work out (at least 2 - 3 days a week, but I'm working on gradually increasing that)
• Eat breakfast
• Get my daughter up and let her watch a cartoon before we leave for daycare
• Pack my lunch
• Get dressed
• Take daughter to daycare
• Come home, get my stuff together, go to work
• Work
• Come home, make dinner
• Put daughter to bed
• Do dishes
• Pack hubby's lunch
• Give myself half an hour of "me time"
• Go to bed

 There's not really any time in there for creativity, or experimentation, or much extra of anything.  My garden is a disaster - the weeds are bigger than the plants.  Blogging is pretty much at the bottom of the list (but I'm not sure anyone actually reads here anyway - if you do, would you just drop me a line and let me know?).  Overall, I feel like my psyche is suffering.  I'm losing ME.  And it's showing - in my marriage, the way I parent our daughter, my work, and the way I feel about myself. 

I'm gradually working on turning this around.  I've only recently added working out into my routine.  It's hard as heck to haul my butt out of bed at 5:15 (and I think I'm going to move this to 5:00 to allow for longer workout videos) and put my shoes on instead of just plunking myself down in front of the television, but I've noticed that, when I do, I'm energized for almost the whole day, with a lot less caffeine needed, and I have a much more positive outlook on things. 

Last week, after just about losing it at work over seemingly minor things, I took a day off.  My daughter still went to daycare, and I had eight hours, in the house, all to myself.  It was heavenly.  And I was so much more peaceful when I went back to work the following Monday.  So this is definitely something I'll be working into the schedule on a regular basis. 

Turned out I don't have to work full time - we were so blessed in that my husband started a new job just five weeks after he was laid off from his old one.  Unfortunately, the nature of my ability to increase my hours at work means that I won't be able to decrease them for three years.  I'm not looking to quit, so I need to figure out a way to make things work.  After being with the company nearly 11 years, I get something like seven weeks of PTO a year.  I need to focus on utilizing this as fully as possible to make sure that I'm meeting my needs, and the needs of my family, as well as doing the best job possible. 

So this is my focus.  Me.  My family.  Making things work.  Positivity.  Peace.  Calm. 
And maybe blogging will fit into that, and maybe it won't.  We'll see how it happens.