Me Time

My life tends to be busy.  In the course of ten years, I completed my bachelors (cum laude), almost all of my masters (3 classes away), had 4 children, and got married-not necessarily in that order. People are always asking me how I do it, because apparently I make it look easy. When you work, you can take a sick day, AKA a mental health day.  When you are a part-time SAHM, it's a little harder.

The answer is that I carve out time for myself. I'm not rich by any means but I do make little splurges.  They are little in that the most expensive one is $25, the least expensive, free.  Here are a few of my Sanity Savers:

• a pedicure-manicures are a waste of time for me. I work a lot with my hands and I also wash them a lot. The polish will chip by the end of the day.  I can't stand fake nails.  But a nice pedi will last weeks.
• Movies!  I love, Love, LOVE going to the movies.  They always make me happy!  This year alone, I saw: The Immortals, Breaking Dawn, HP and the Deathly Hallows, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, Cars 2, The Hangover 2, Bridesmaids, Fast 5, X-Men: First Class, Bad Teacher, Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon, Columbiana, and The Help. You'd think this movie habit costs me a lot but AMC near me has $5 matinees.   And the drive in is 2 moves for $7 for adults, $3 for kids AND you can bring a cooler.
• Coldstone Creamery!!!  Can you say Like It, Love It, Gotta Have It?  Worth. Every. Penny.
• Reality TV. There's nothing like watching Phaedra, Kandi, Cynthia, Kim, Nene and their friends cut up. That's what very rich people do.  Then there's Chrissy, Em,Somaya and nem, the ones who don't even pretend to be wives because they aren't.  I actually just watch Baseball Wives for the first time and whew those chicks are wild, too.  Clearly, Biggie was right. Mo' money, mo' problems.
• And my favorite, early bedtimes.  My kids go to bed at 8, no later than 9. This is to ensure that I have some time to myself every single day.

What do you do to keep your sanity?