Third shift time management

Working third shift puts a person in a different time frame than the normal "day-timers", let me explain. Even on my days off, by mid afternoon when everyone else is getting ready to really get the day started I am ready for bed.

At around 2 in the afternoon my body starts slowing down after having been up since 9pm the previous night (during my normal workweek). It would be like a normal persons 9 or 10 pm. After 8 hours of sleep, from 2pm until 9 or 10pm, I am starting to think about getting up and during the week when I am working that pretty much is my sleep schedule. On my days off I "sleep in" until maybe midnight or 2am and then I am ready to start my day.
Some of you right now are probably feeling a little sorry for me, but don't be and I will tell you why. (You will probably be jealous - :) )
Last Friday, I got off work (8am), came home, took care of the dogs and did my usual morning stuff - homework, housework and so on. Picked Hubs up from work at 10am (he works 3rd shift also), came home and worked more on my homework for school (an online computer class - Excel).
 I laid down around 1 pm and was asleep by 2pm Friday afternoon. I got up a couple of times to take care of the pups and use the facilities myself, then back to bed. Well I slept until 2am - 12 hours! It seems, for me anyway, that 10 or 12 hours on my "weekend" puts my back on track for my sleep schedule during the week because I may not always get 8 hours during the week. It is usually between 6 and 8 hours.
Okay, so now I am up Saturday morning at 2 am and I was a whirling dervish, I completed 3 of my homework projects, finished piecing the flannel baby quilt, finished up my last pillowcase (which was giving me fits) and did some housework, laundry, dishes and such.
By 8 am, Saturday morning, I was at a point that I could stop homework, sewing, cleaning, whatever.  I got cleaned up and left the house by 9:30, ran some errands and went to see my mother (who lives about 2 hours away). We went out for lunch and had a very nice visit and then I headed home around 4pm. I stopped off at one of my favorite shops not far from her house and bought some fabric (naturally) and then headed home.
I got home about 6ish and pretty much went right to bed. Up and down a couple of times and finally up for good around 4am. I have probably lost you by now.

It is now about 5:50 am and I am putting the finishing touches to my blog, drinking my coffee and feeling pretty good about all I got accomplished this weekend.
The thing is, these early, early morning risings are great because there are no distractions, no phone calls (political or otherwise) so it is very easy for me to stay focused and get things done.
The biggest down fall is that I am sleeping when most of my family and friends are up and I spend most of my Saturdays going here and there to keep in touch with all of them.

Here is some of what I did this weekend.

Pictures please:

 
 The flannel quilt is all pieced and ready to be quilted.

These are 4 of my birthday pillowcases for the grands this year. 

                                 2 January birthdays and 2 March birthdays. I thought they turned out super cute. I can't wait to give them out.

      This is the fabric I purchased on my way home from Mom's. I picked up another charm pack and would have gotten 3 if there had been three but sadly only this lone one. It is called the Primitive Rustic Collection from Diamond Textiles. The fabric is like a brushed homespun and is very soft. The two larger pieces are for a project that has been percolating in my mind for awhile.

I think I am starting to accumulate enough charm packs that I can seriously say I am a collector. I love the pattern The Weekender quilt (see below), it is easy and makes a wonderful throw, but a girl can only have so many weekenders. I have a pattern book called Nickel Quilts and I am thinking of something out of that book to use some these charms packs on.


Weekender quilt.

 I am going to put the binding on this baby quilt so I can add this project to my finished list. 

And

  that is pretty much it for this weekend.

I think this is my 4th blog post for the year - YAY!! and I am finishing up some of these little projects so I can get ready for the Quilt UFO challenge in February with 52Quilts.

One more thing I forgot to add, I finally got my niece's quilt and two matching pillowcases off in the mail last week. YAY!! She should be receiving them this next Wednesday.

Have a great week.
Thanks for stopping by.




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