Scheduling Conflict

Busy moms know that you need some way to keep it all together. And I don’t mean Xanax and vodka. I mean a way to coordinate playdates, birthday parties and school functions. Most people use a calendar to schedule things. I think I may have gone a bit overboard.
I have not one, but four calendars. Why four?? I’ll tell you.

1 monthly school calendar hanging by my phone at work. This shows all the kid’s days off from school, early dismissals and school events. I use it to plan out my own days off work, as well as anything I need to do or any place I need to be. When I’m not sure about something, I write it in pencil, so I can erase it easily. When it’s a firm commitment, I write it in pen. Only one of my dear friends knows this, and makes sure to tell me to write my plans with her IN INK. Yes, sometimes I need that reminder! This month, I have about 3 days not filled in. No wonder I feel a nervous breakdown coming on.

My Outlook calendar is used to remind me when to make phone calls, or when I have appointments during the day, Monday-Friday. Like say, an appointment with my retinal specialist on Wednesday, my dentist appointment on Tuesday, and drinks with a former co-worker on Thursday. Okay, so that one was at the END of the day, but still. Without that pop up, she may have waited at the bar for a week or so before I remembered, vaguely, that I was supposed to see her.

Both of those are condensed into a small checkbook style calendar that I keep in my purse. Prior to that little thing, if anyone called me after office hours to make plans, I had to get back to them the next day, since everything was written on my WORK calendar (see item 1) How awful am I at actually calling people back? Pretty damn awful. Usually when I say, “I’ll call you back in five minutes,” it turns out to be more like five days.

Lastly, we have a “family” calendar on the fridge at home. It’s one of those nifty dry erase things. That one shows very important things, like birthdays and Girl’s Nights. My husband can never say he didn’t know about an upcoming Girl’s Night – because it’s RIGHT THERE on the calendar! Honestly, this one is mostly for my husband’s sake. It has things HE needs to remember, like kid’s dentist appointments, our anniversary, and our few and far between date nights.

And still, with all these calendars and pop up reminders, last year on April 16th, one of my friends called and said, “Happy Anniversary!” to which I replied, “Thanks! What the hell are you talking about?” Turns out that both my husband and I forgot our wedding anniversary. Good job!