Pick a Day - Any Day

One of the MommyBloggers that I follow asked that we post our day – Start to Finish.

Okay, I think I can handle this. At least I thought I could until I heard my mom's voice in my head warning me not to put so much information on the web. Soooo...in an effort to confuse any potential stalkers, I've decided to change actual times to vague references.

Way too early: My alarm clock gets all annoyed at me for daring to still be asleep at such a magical time in the morning. I reach over the Queen (who is obviously going to keep sneaking into our bed until she is 32 years old) and press the glorious button that makes it SHUT UP! Then I sleepwalk my way over to wake Danielle and Emily – who each have their own alarm clocks, but won’t get up without their mommy singing to them first. Okay, I don’t always sing. In fact, I rarely sing. I usually just speak the first words “Rise and shine!” In reply, they grunt.

For the next 15ish minutes: Bathroom stuff. You don’t really want details of that, do you? I didn’t think so. After I’m properly spackled (not really…I actually don’t like heavy make up at all, but a girl does need mascara to face the day!) I turn on my computer and let it do its morning wake up routine while I fix my breakfast.

Lets take a half hour here: Sludge time! Into my blender goes a spoonful of flax seed, two spoonfuls of rolled oats, a sprinkle of fennel seed, a smidgen of cayenne and a dash of cinnamon. The top is put on and I let it pulverize while I retrieve the frozen fruit (well, I also add a lil bit of frozen broccoli but we can pretend that is a fruit right?), yogurt and fruit juices from the refrigerator. I blend all of that together and then sip on the resulting sludge (which actually doesn’t taste all that bad) while I check my email/facebook/blogs…and my farm. Yes, I confess that I have a virtual farm. It sucks my time and rewards me with fake plants. I don’t understand why I play. I just do.

Now that I'm actually awake: I try to rouse Derek and Anna. A few minutes later, I wake them up again. Danielle and Emily go to the front of the driveway with their granny(or sometimes gramps) to catch the bus. Let me just stop right here for a second and say THANK YOU Granny and Gramps!!! You are the best!

We're running out of time! Let's move it!: Lately Derek has been eating Frosted Chocolate Mini Wheats for breakfast. The fact that he has something that he actually likes to eat makes the morning much less frustrating now. I think that I need to send a thank you letter to Kellogg’s. After the kidlets are dressed and fed, we either walk to the front of the driveway to wait for the bus...or drive there. The weather decides that for us. Yes, I know that humans are capable of standing outside in temps that fall below 60 degrees, but WHY? Okay, okay, 60 isn’t too terrible IF there isn’t a wind. Yeah...I’m a wimp. Oh, another shout out here: We have a terrific bus driver. I know when my children get on the bus, they are in good hands.

Me time: Freedom! For the past 17 years I either had a child at home to take care of or a job to go off to (and of course there was work and school for the decade before that.) Don’t get me wrong. Those were all amazing years. I’m enormously grateful that I was able to stay home to raise my children. I loved teaching preschoolers. It’s just that now, I finally have ME time. Who wouldn’t be happy about that? So... how do I spend ME time?

Most mornings I wash the breakfast dishes right after the kids are on the bus. Then, if I’m subbing, I leave for the preschool. If I’m not subbing, I start cleaning the clutter that my adorable brood have strewn all over the house. I wipe down the table and the counters, sweep the floor, throw on a load of laundry, tidy the bathrooms, maybe even vacuum. No, no, no...I don’t do all of that in a nice timely order like what I’ve listed. That would make too much sense. In reality I’ll start clearing off the table and then after bringing a forgotten cup to the sink or a napkin to the trash, (umm...hold on a sec. Can someone please tell how I am able to teach 3 year olds to clean up after snack time, but can’t seem to teach my own children that basic skill?) I grab the broom and start sweeping around the island, and then I notice a dish towel so I lean the broom against the counter and bring the dish towel to the laundry room and since I’m right there near the computer, I check email/FB/blogs/Farmville for a sec. Or maybe a bit longer than that. Then I remember to go start the water for my tea. While I’m waiting for it to steam on the stove, I’ll remember to either finish sweeping, clearing the table or washing the cup from the table – and the spoon that was under the couch. No, I don’t know why the spoon was under the couch. I stop asking those questions long ago. Then once the tea is properly brewed, I have the perfect excuse to go back to the computer and sit while I sip. By then, the washer is done so I put that batch into the dryer and start a new batch.

Exciting life, no?

Sometimes I’ll have errands to run. Sometimes my hubby is home. I love that he has days off in the middle of week. ‘Nuff said.

Two by two my babies come home: The high schoolers arrive first. Without fail, Danielle drops everything she is carrying onto the table. Emily usually makes it to the couch before unloading. I remind them to pick it all up. Sometimes they listen. Sometimes I remind them again...louder. If I don’t already have something simmering on the stove at this point, I start cooking. Once that is started I tell one of the girls to keep an eye on it and then walk up to the road (or drive – again depending on the weather) to get the younger two off of the bus. They either come back to the house with me, or stop off at their grandparents. Either way, homework must be done right away. It would be nice to let them have some time off for a bit first, but experience has shown us that putting it off doesn’t work well. If our school boundary lines are moved next year, home work may just drive me over the edge since the extra bus time will put Derek getting home with his ADHD meds wearing off.

The rest of the day: Three evenings a week I bring a child or two to CCD class and then I sit in carline for an hour. That’s when I’m supposed to write. It’s not going so well. :::sigh:::

At home we all get ready for bed. I don’t read to my younger two as often as I used to read to my older two and I’m starting to feel awful about that so that is something that is about to change. Most nights, I come back to the computer and wait for everyone to fall asleep before I climb into bed myself. Although she is slowly getting better about going to sleep on her own, occasionally Anna will climb on my lap to fall asleep. Once she is sleeping deeply enough that I can move without waking her, I put her in her own bed. Finally I get to drift off to dreamland. Before I know it, my alarm clock is whining at me again.