Both SW and I are trying to make/find/take back extra time outside of our jobs to support "the rest of life," with SW trying to support both Minnow and Spouse as well as herself. (Has anyone else noticed that, when women academics talk about balance, they tend to mean "work and the rest of life," and when men academics do, it's between teaching and research? Not all men... but it seems a pattern...)
Sometimes for me this means giving up on getting work stuff done, and prioritizing other things. This weekend, this meant finding time to visit my young friend Annika, who is rapidly heading towards her 3rd liver transplant, visit family and pick up the rest of our moved stuff that has been sitting in my parents-in-law's garage for 2 months, meet people at the Scienceblogs 10^6 Comment party, sing a solo in my church choir, and attend the annual Feast of the Hunter's Moon, at Ft Ouiatenon. (Let me just say, the story of the Native Americans was pretty sanitized.)
This is a lot for us in one weekend - usually I spend half of it working and half of it doing stuff around the house. Doing all this non-work stuff meant my Sunday evening and Monday evening were chock-full of catchup, but I am still glad we made time then. Some photos below the fold.
Windmills and golden soybeans, as we drive in Illinois.
Anni blissed out to "Jenny" (also known as "867-5309")
Frankie's favourite is "Hey Julie" and she knows ALL the words.
Frying crocqinolles (I think that's what they're called) the old fashioned way at the Feast
Making paper at the Feast
Some people take their setups very seriously
Quite right
There were a huge number of fife and drum corps who played for us, too!
See my whole Feast Flickr set here.
This weekend, my parents are visiting. We're going to do home improvement projects, maybe go for a walk at a nearby park, and eat lots of good food which will hopefully have leftovers to carry us through the week.
What are you doing this weekend? How do you keep your work-rest of life balance?
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I have to say - Feast of the Hunter's Moon is pretty much worth the time. It will ruin you for most reanactment things for ages to come because they do a pretty good job with the hand crafts and having relatively engaging information. (Yes, the battle part is sanitized, but the daily life stuff is well done).
Sounds like time well spent. Here's two wishes of mine with regard to the work life-home life balance. First, if I had the resources, I'd would have someone come and clean my house. I think it would be money well spent, as house work slips to the bottom of my priority list too often and I like the sense of order I get in general from a tidy house.
The other wish is that I wouldn't feel guilty when I do find time to spend on myself. In particular, I spent a couple of hours knitting the other day (with dishes in the sink, the lawn needing to be cut, laundry to fold, etc.) and while I enjoyed myself while I was doing it, I felt a bit guilty afterwards when I thought about the ways I could have spent that time. I don't berate myself, but wish it was easier to get to the place where all I think is, "I enjoyed that!"
In reference to your comment over at my blog:
I suspect you know about us :) but we wouldn't mind the link love.
Do I know about you?!? Does my whole freakin' life not revolve around ScienceBlogs and ScienceWomen?!?!?!?