Puddle Jumping: How a homeschooling mom spent her kid-free day

Today all three of my children were at a Purim camp at a local church. I realized after they accepted my six-year-old to attend the camp that is meant for 7 to 12-year-olds, that during camp I would actually have several hours to myself.

It has literally been 13 years since I have spent more than just an hour or so to myself with not only no kids in tow but no date night or a hubby along either. This was pure time for myself, and it was more than five minutes locked in the bathroom with a child knocking, to get it.

Now I know what you're probably thinking . You are thinking that I'm either exaggerating, or you're wondering what is wrong with that woman - she needs a mental health day. Don't worry, and please don't judge me either.

I typically enjoy my kids being with me 24 hours a day seven days a week. Really!

So when the opportunity arose and I realized I would have hours of uninterrupted time to do anything I want to how did I spend my day?

For starters I had to figure out what I wanted to do. It's been awhile since I've actually been alone and able to think.

I chose to go shopping at a nearby Goodwill store, drop off some DVDs that were due at the library and pick up some make up for my girls' dance recital along with some natural cough medicine that my daughter needed from the health food store.

I also took a picture of every elephant I saw because one of my daughters loves them

While I loved this one, it's too large for our house. Not having my elephant-loving daughter with me allowed me to take a pic and move on.

And I looked at shirts for my husband

So when did the ME time come in you ask?

I still have Friday to figure that out because there's a second day of camp...

Update - Because of a snowstorm, Friday's camp was postponed to Saturday which meant my alone time was skewed a bit with heavy traffic and not as many options of where to go. So, I chose to head to the St. Louis Bread Company and treat myself to a half sandwich and Greek salad and then just sit in my van and sketch on my sketchpad.

Still, somehow, I even managed to find another elephant to photograph (a sticker on the back of another driver's van).

I'm not sure why I'm sharing these as they look rather juvenile to me, but why not? Here's my sketches: