1001 Reasons Not To Clean - #51 through #55

Welcome to 1001 Reasons Not to Clean! The main goal of this series is to see if I can actually reach 1001 reasons, 5 reasons at a time (the final post, if I get there, will be 6 reasons). I'm sure I can. It's not just my crazy brain being unrealistic, right? Links to previous posts are below. And feel free to share your excuses, and they might get added to my list (with credit, of course)!

#1 through #5 ~ #6 through #10 ~ #11 through #15 ~ #16 through #20 ~ #21 through #25 ~ #26 through #30 ~ #31 through #35 ~ #36 through #40 ~ #41 through #45 ~ #46 through #50

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51. It's time for the kids to go back to school, and that means gathering and labeling all those school supplies you've purchased so you can drag them to the Open Houses. Who wants to clean after doing that for two hours?

52. And since the first day of school is rapidly approaching, you feel you need to spend more "quality time" with the kids because you have a bit of that parent guilt wondering just where the entire summer went and you haven't done nearly as much as you'd planned with your little hellions.

53. The kids are finally in school. Not just for part of the day either. This is the first day ever that all the kids have a full day of school. The house is so quiet - too quiet. How will you fill this uninterrupted time? Either you freeze up, not knowing what to do with yourself, or you decide cleaning sounds way too annoying and not enjoyable enough to do on this first glorious school day.

54. Of course, playing Persona 5 is calling to you, insisting cleaning is less important. Especially when you realize as a completionist, you have at least 170 hours of game play ahead of you (according to How Long To Beat). Sounds like an awesome thing to do on that first day of school for the kids. Am I right?

55. Your kids come home from their first day at school. The Middle Schooler (holy crap, how is she a Middle Schooler already?) is freaking out over her new school and schedule, while the Kindergartner is so overtired that she devolves into a fit when you simply ask her to take her folder out of her backpack. So much for that plan to clean this afternoon (I use the term "plan" loosely).

NOTE: My kids have yet to start school yet (soon, yes, soon!), so 55 is also a prediction for when they get home after the first day. We'll see how spot on I am - lol.

School Time

No, I am not going back to school again, but it is that time of year where school-aged children say good-bye to summer and spend a good chunk of their days attempting to cram knowledge into their brains.

My daughter started 4K yesterday. Now, this is only two and a half hours worth of school, five days a week (last year for preschool it was only two days a week). But when she decided naps were a thing of the past this summer, I lost my afternoon writing time.

School time for me, and many other writing moms and dads who stay home to care for their children, means more time to write! However, it's a shift from the summer schedule, a different routine that I need to get used to. The writing doesn't always flow from my fingers, and I need to get back into the groove of afternoon writing, fighting the afternoon sleepies the entire way.

I thought it would be neat to draw up a list of "Things writers do when they should be writing--the kids are back in school".

1. Take a nap because you've been trying to stay up late to write.

2. Take a nap because your children keep waking you up in the middle of the night.

3. Take a nap just because you can--the house is quiet!

4. Watch TV. Yes, I will admit my addiction to those court shows--I grew up on People's Court!

5. Play video games.

6. Browse the internet. So many blogs and articles to read!

7. Read Facebook posts and convince yourself that since you are reading posts from your writer friends, you are in some way doing a writing related task.

8. Stare at the blinking cursor, convincing yourself that you are thinking hard about what you plan to write or revise, when in actuality your mind is wandering to the episodes of "Big Bang Theory" that you watched last night.

9. Consider cleaning the house, but then remind yourself that's harder work than writing.

10. Blog. *coughs*

Are you guilty of doing any of the above when you're breathing a sigh of relief that you have a break from your children? Should you be writing or working instead? What other things do you find yourself doing instead of writing? My list is by no means complete!

NEXT UP: Gamer's Lexicon, Entry 2