A day in the life of an art jewelry maker

I don't really know how typical my day is compared to other people.  I'm sure for moms out there that are trying to balance a career and family life, much of what I say here will sound familiar.  I get questions form art enthusiasts and patrons just how I manage to get done what I do.  Here is my typical day:

Up between 5 AM and 6 AM.  With any luck, my kids aren't up yet.  If I manage to get to bed at a decent hour the night before, it's closer to 5 AM.  My list of things to get done in the morning before 7 AM is:

• Read and respond to emails
• Read my google alerts
• Read the blogs I follow
• Package orders and prepare them for mailing (to hand to hubby to mail on his way to work)
• Post updates and make changes to my jewelry gallery website, KMS Designs
• Write blog posts for this blog and my other jewelry blog, Handmade Resin Jewelry
• Use Hoot Suite to get my tweets ready for the day.  (I like to tweet live, but when I find good articles, I like to schedule them to go out all during the day instead of one big lump.)

About midday, while my kids are napping, I used to pour resin.  Now that my oldest two (three and a half year old twin boys) are outgrowing the need for a nap, I don't attempt it.  Since once it's mixed, the resin is "use it or lose it", I can't be distracted.  Instead, I work on projects that I can start and stop as needed.  This is what I attempt to accomplish:

• Seal papers for resin
• Photograph jewelry (weather permitting)
• Upload new pictures to my Facebook and Flickr pages.
• Prepare metal pieces and settings to have resin included in them later

After my kids are in bed (about 9 PM or so during the summer), I get back to work.  I'm up until 10 PM or possibly as late as midnight.  The later I go to bed, the later I start the next morning (although it's not really sleeping in...)

• Pour resin
• Sand, polish and drill resin pieces as needed
• Assemble finished resin jewelry components
• Make website and blog updates

Of course this all isn't set in stone, but it is a good guideline.  My husband is good enough to watch the little peeps on Sundays to allow me to get more of the business side of things done and spend some good time with the torch.

So for all you moms out there, how else do you balance work and family life?