Getting It All Done

With the lack of daylight in the winter I start to feel  like a mole - I leave the house in the dark and come home in the dark.  It's nice to see the sun still out after 5:00 now and I know it will only get better over the coming weeks.  The positive side is that I light my candles alot and it's really cozy in the evening (I even light them at work for some coziness).

My productivity in life seems to fizzle in the winter.  I attribute it to the darker days but I wonder if that is really it.  I leave the house at 7:30 AM and don't get back home until 5:30 PM.  That leaves me approximately 5 hours to get things accomplished.  Most nights I don't have to cook dinner (Im lucky that hubby likes to do that) but clean up has to happen.  Then there are the things that need to just get done - like sorting the mail, paying bills, taking care of the pets, straightening up the house, tending to whatever the teen might need (study help, drama, you know.....).  Where is the time to knit or spin or even read?  I marvel at these women on blogs who craft and cook and garden and get so much accomplished.  I realize a lot of them don't work outside the home and that does make a difference.  I feel like there is SO much I want to do - then I pass out at 10:30 PM feeling like I have failed. 

I have been making strides to keep things as simple as possible and if something is not high on the priority list - it just falls off the list for another time.  I have learned to be flexible and to be realistic.  Everything cannot be done without sacrificing something else (I'm willing to sacrifice sleep but my body said NO).  Yet I still have pangs of guilt. 

So how do you "do it all" or "not get it done".