Maycember - A Reverse To-Do List (A “What I Did” List)

May is, by far, the craziest month of the whole year.  It’s events and recitals, planning and teacher appreciation week, Mother’s Day (whyyyy) and end-of-the-year everything.  The mental load is just as stressful – probably even more stressful – than the physical load.

I have been wanting to document the craziness for years, so this year I thought it would be interesting to keep a running list of every single thing that I did (kind of like a backwards to-do list), just to see what all I ended up doing, and y’all, the sheer volume of all the things is just mind-blowing. 

You want to know what the funniest part about all of this is, though?  I was so busy with all of my Maycember things that I didn’t even have the time to keep up with this list that I started, and I ended up having to type most of it out after it was all over which means that I know I’m forgetting so many tasks.  Oh, the irony.  Haha. 

Keep in mind that this list is only specific to the special tasks that occur in May… this list doesn’t include normal tasks like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, tidying, laundry, paying bills, signing permission slips, filling out paperwork, attending doctor’s appointments, helping with homework, extracurricular activities for the kids, keeping the household running, church, socializing, working 35+ hours per week on the blog, trying to stay present on social media for my brand, a million other tasks that I do regularly, aaaand trying not to lose my sanity.  ;o)

I started by keeping a running list as each task occurred, but I realized for the sake of this post that it would read better if I divided the lists into categories, so here we go…

 

Olivia’s Teacher’s Birthday

1. Emailed parents to collect money for a class gift
2. Sent an email reminder a few days later
3. Collected money from parents
4. Transferred funds collected to our bank account
5. Went to Target to buy a gift card
6. Went to Publix to buy cupcakes and flowers
7. Photographed everything and sent an email to the parents to thank them and show them what we got
8. Delivered the gifts to the teacher on her birthday

 

Teacher Appreciation Week

1. Emailed 4th grade parents all information for Teacher Appreciation Week (I’m the room mom)
2. Emailed 7th grade parents all information for Teacher Appreciation Week (I’m the room mom)
3. Assembled 100+ teacher gifts in plastic cello bags and tied them with ribbon for our Home and School Association
4. Went to Chick-Fil-A (actually two of them because one of them was out of gift cards) to pick up gift cards for all of our kids’ teachers
5. Picked up candy bars for all of our kids’ teachers
6. Signed all gift cards from our family
7. Wrapped all gifts from our kids in plastic cello bags and tied with ribbon
8. Grouped all gifts together for kids to take to school
9. Checked with kids after school to make sure all gifts were actually delivered.  Haha.
10. Volunteered for two hours on day one of Teacher Appreciation Week taking orders and delivering coffees to the teachers from the coffee truck we had on site that day
11. Volunteered for two hours on day two of Teacher Appreciation Week setting up a baked goods bar in the teachers’ lounge
12. Volunteered for three hours on day three of Teacher Appreciation Week collecting, packing up, and delivering snack orders to the teachers
13. Volunteered for four hours on day four of Teacher Appreciation Week setting up, replenishing, and cleaning up a taco/nacho bar for the teachers

 

Mother’s Day (why oh why is this in May when there is already so much else?!)

1. Bought a gift for my mom (thankfully Brian handled his mom’s gift)
2. Bought a card for my mom
3. Wrapped gift
4. Signed card
5. Celebrated my MIL at Sunday lunch
6. Meal planned for Sunday dinner that I cooked for my mom
7. Grocery shopped for Sunday dinner that I cooked
8. Made dessert
9. Cooked dinner
10. Hosted Mother’s Day and celebrated my mom

 

7th/8th Grade End-Of-The-Year Dance

1. Contacted and booked the DJ
2. Emailed the DJ to ask for an invoice
3. Forwarded the DJ’s invoice to the school for processing
4. Contacted and booked the security guard
5. Arranged payment for the security guard
6. Discussed and came up with the theme with the other room moms
7. Browsed Amazon for items needed and created a wish list
8. Emailed Amazon wish list to the school administrator to order through the school account
9. Picked up all items from the school when they delivered
10. Discussed and came up with a list of food and beverages with the other room moms
11. Sent an email to school administration to place the catering order with our chef
12. Assembled 80 pineapple cups for party favors (Brian actually did the bulk of this for which I was very grateful)
13. Put together a detailed schedule and notes to send to fellow room moms regarding set up/chaperoning/cleanup
14. Emailed school administration for all needs from the school – auditorium setup, tables, tablecloths, balloon arch stand, etc.
15. Picked all school items up from school office
16. Picked up school key
17. Made a graphic to print and frame for the favors table
18. Met another room mom to drop off balloon arch kit
19. Met the room mom before car line pickup to help with balloon arch
20. Searched high and low for missing balloon arch clips (they were finally located after I left, thank goodness)
21. Decorated and set up for dance (balloon arch, favors, leis, glow sticks, photo props, etc.)
22. Chaperoned dance, replenished food and drinks, and took song requests from the kids and texted them to the DJ all night
23. Cleaned up after the dance
24. Returned all items from dance to the school office the following week

 

Olivia’s Dance Recital

1. Emailed the office to purchase extra tickets
2. Picked up tickets
3. Ordered show tights
4. Picked up show tights
5. Ordered trophy and show USBs
6. Organized, printed, and read through all show paperwork
7. Labeled every single item that goes in Olivia’s bag
8. Picked up shoe spray paint from a local boot shop
9. Shopped for other random items she needed
10. Sprayed ballet shoes tan
11. Sprayed jazz shoes black
12. Charged vanity mirror for recital
13. Charged external charger for me
14. Packed for rehearsal
15. Sat at the theater for four hours on rehearsal night, watched the girls perform, took videos, and took pictures
16. Packed for dress rehearsal
17. Did Olivia’s makeup for the dress rehearsal
18. Did Olivia’s hair for the dress rehearsal
19. Sat at the theater for seven hours (Brian sat there for four of the seven since I had to be at the 7th/8th grade dance), watched the girls perform, took videos, and took pictures
20. Picked up flowers for both recitals
21. Pruned and arranged flowers
22. Did a photoshoot with Olivia in all of her costumes
23. Packed for recital number one
24. Did Olivia’s makeup for recital number one
25. Did Olivia’s hair for recital number one
26. Got Olivia settled into her dressing room for recital number one
27. Watched the four-hour-long recital number one
28. Packed for recital number two
29. Repacked for recital number two (you can read why here, LOL)
30. Did Olivia’s makeup for recital number two
31. Did Olivia’s hair for recital number two
32. Got Olivia settled into her dressing room for recital number two
33. Watched the four-hour long recital number two
34. Picked up trophy

 

Olivia’s End-of-Year Class Party

1. Emailed parents about end-of-the-year teacher gifts
2. Collected money for the gifts
3. Shopped for all gifts (thankfully, that was a one-stop shop as I just did gift cards and candy)
4. Signed cards from the class
5. Wrapped all gifts
6. Photographed and emailed parents to show them what we got
7. Delivered all gifts to the teachers
8. Emailed teachers to find out what they wanted to do for the party
9. Texted the other room mom to detail the items to pick up
10. Shopped for all items
11. Emailed parents about class party
12. Set up ice cream sundae bar and served the kids
13. Cleaned up after party

 

Miscellaneous

1. Emailed teachers about signing the kids’ high school graduation books
2. Dropped books off in teacher’s boxes
3. Picked up books after they were signed
4. Researched summer camps for the kids
5. Booked a music camp for Olivia
6. Booked a dance camp for Olivia
7. Attended Field Day at the kids’ school
8. Dropped Olivia off at a birthday party
9. Picked up Olivia from a birthday party
10. Chaperoned Olivia’s end-of-the-year field trip
11. Attended Olivia’s end-of-the-year awards ceremony
12. Attended the last school Mass with the kids
13. Attended Jacob’s end-of-the-year awards ceremony
14. Started planning what to pack for our beach trip
15. Started shopping for our beach trip
16. Started packing for our beach trip

 

WHEW, Y’ALL. 

That’s a total of 116 tasks, and that doesn’t even include the hundreds (thousands?) of text messages that went back-and-forth for of this to happen!  So. many. group. chats.

I know so many of you are either in the same boat or you just made it to shore for summer break, but I just wanted to pop in today and let all of you know that YOU ARE ALL ROCKSTARS!!!! 

And to those of you who work full-time outside the home in addition to all of this, OMG.  Y’ALL ARE AMAZING.  I honestly do not know how I worked at a corporate job for seven years after we had kids and handled all of this.  I know I volunteered much less back then (read: never), so that cut back on a ton of the tasks above, but I still can’t imagine throwing a 40-hour-a-week corporate job into this crazy mix.  Yes, I work almost 40 hours per week on my blog, but since I’m my own boss, I can make my own hours which is really a blessing, especially during these crazy, busy times.

Anyway, there really wasn’t much of a point to this post other than to document this craziness for future me to look back on one day.  And also, to pop in and let all of you know that if you’re feeling (majorly) overwhelmed right now, you’re not alone! 

And honestly, I’m just trying to be grateful for all of it because I know I’m going to miss it so very much when it’s gone. <3

But my goodness, am I also grateful for summer break.  :o)

Happy Monday, y’all!