Put that in Your Planner and Smoke It

I know I just made a post about scheduling and my weird obsession with an old school planner but I felt the need to make a follow up post about scheduling. When The Pilot gave me his November schedule, I wanted to rip it up and pretend he didn't give it to me. It's terrible. He works every.single.weekend. Guess who works a normal Monday- Friday job and is home on the weekends? This girl.

We have found that him working on weekends just doesn't work for us right now. Sure, it's great to have him home during the week because that usually means dinner is waiting for me when I got home from work (score!) but I'd rather forage for my own food than only get to spend a couple hours each evening with him. I know that this is what most of the rest of the working world does but keep in mind that those people have their spouses home on the weekends also. Do you know how hard it is to get home improvement projects done when you only have a couple of hours in the evening (after you've just worked a full day)? Sure we could divide and conquer, which we often do, but some things you just need two people to do!

And then there's my training. I usually get home from work around 5:45. Depending on the day, I need to eat dinner and then work out. Sometimes I work out first and then eat. A shower is also required after working out (I'm a sweaty beast). If all of this takes place after work, I'm not available for talking, cuddling (eeeeww....remember, we are newlyweds), paying bills, fixing crap around the house until 8:30 pm at the earliest. We go to bed pretty early most nights...between 9:30 and 10. That only leaves about 30-60 minutes to get that other stuff done. This 9-5 girl has to save that other stuff for the weekend. And so for a month like November, I'm on my own to make that happen. If The Pilot is working one weekend in a month, its not so bad. I can get caught up on stuff and get some free time for myself. But five straight weekends all on my own = sucky.

Something else that is sucky about the November schedule and having him home on weekdays, I sometimes travel for work. I have an overnight trip next week. The Pilot is supposed to land about the same time I am going to leave for my overnight trip. After a 4-day trip, The Pilot will come home and I won't be there. That means 5 days apart just because of the timing of our trips. Yuck.

Yes, I am complaining but don't get me wrong, I am extremely thankful that both The Pilot and I are gainfully employed. No matter the shortcomings of either of our jobs, we have incomes that we can live comfortably on and I know that isn't the case for many people right now. I'm not sure if this is something I will adjust to and if its just extra hard right now because we are newlyweds and (ewww) want to spend as much time together as possible or if I will always hate when he has a crap schedule that takes him away from home when I am at home ( and not at work).

This has been our life for the past 21 months and I still haven't gotten used to it. But looking on the bright side, after an exceptionally long month, it makes us both extremely thankful when he gets a good schedule and we get to spend lots of time together. I get to miss my husband every couple of days. When was the last time a "conventional couple" actually had the opportunity to miss each other? Know that awesome feeling you get when you see someone you've been missing? I get to feel that every couple days. It's pretty cool.

I laugh at you!!

So while I've been dreading the month of November, I'm going to do my best to focus on how incredible it is to actually miss The Pilot and then be reunited with him. I'm going to focus on the fact that with him working every weekend this month, I can go for my long runs and not feel guilty that I'm out on the trail for hours on end when I could be at home spending time with him. I'm going to focus on how thankful I am to have such a wonderful husband and how thankful I am that we have jobs that we have a passion for.