7:30 AM- Priest-husband is off to work, slaying the dragons of hospital administration and chaplaincy. His day will be finished after we have the Divine Liturgy and Bible study at 6 PM. he and the big girls will get home after 9; I'll take the little ones home at about 8. But this morning, I should have gone for a walk with one of the big girls, but we have had our sleep disturbed for days because of our sick little girl.
8:00 AM- Breakfast and cleaning up and get your clothes on! I don't know how school families do it all before 7:45 or so.
10:00 AM- Today is an easy day in that Boy is off to preschool for the morning. The girls have some history and literature to do and will continue their science experiment (flowers, sugar, graphing differences, etc) and set up a new experiment with potatoes (light, dark, etc- it is mostly to learn the scientific method of performing experiments). Baby girl is on the couch with a bad cold. We'll get to math after I put her down for a nap and before Boy comes home.
The girls are doing school work (sorry other homeschoolers, I just can't twist my tongue and say 'learning activities, etc- I'll just call it school work) at the dining room table. But loyal readers of this little blog know that I have a one-car garage that we use for storage, family room, school room, etc room- so why aren't they at their desk in the 'garage'? Well.....
- their desks are piled with random stuff from our vacation a month ago
- I haven't returned used materials to our charter school teacher so there is an 'abundance' of unneeded things
- we are in the middle of many projects (like 'Crafters for Life' activities) that don't really have a home
- I am a low-energy, slightly (?) lazy introvert who needs a sister to come over and just sit there while I declutter, organize and clean (how can an introvert need someone to be there while she cleans, you ask? I don't know- I just do)
- I can semi-despair over getting organized like a good homeschooling mom who has a lovely, decluttered area- she is able to host meetings and have people over at the drop of a hat because she has set herself up for success.
- I can say- hey! I am not that bad! The kitchen is fine (the girls do that), the bathrooms are fine (the girls do these- except the toilets), the living room is fine, the dining table is clean (so the girls can do their work on it)...but but but- the school area is a dumping ground. Technically, it is clean (no cobwebs, no rotten potatoes, the carpet is vacuumed) but it is a cluttery mess.
My goal for 5 PM today- the girls' desks will be cleared to work on, the cable for the printer will be found, all Goodwill bags will be in my van and dropped off before the Divine Liturgy (all the while- supervising the big girls' school day, getting them to ballet at 3:30, cooking dinner, doing just plain-old cleaning, taking care of the two little ones, making time to plan our Crafters for Life meeting on Friday, etc)....so, I am off to work this goal...
so- did I meet my goals today? well...
- The girls' desks are cleaned off and they'll be working from them tomorrow
- Two bags made it into the van for a trip to Goodwill
- I still haven't found the cable to the printer
- kitchen, bathrooms, etc are clean
- 3 loads of laundry done- except for a load that is still in the laundry
- girls got to both ballet and Divine Liturgy
BUT
I went to Target between ballet drop-off and pick-up to buy a gift for a young friend who was hit by a car. Baby Girl, under the weather, was being quite a pill, so I went to the pharmacy section to see what I could get for her. I bought a digital thermometer. Boy's temp was 98.something (he insisted he was sick); Baby Girls's temp was 104.5 in a few seconds. The doctor's office had me take her into the ER. I bought the girls fast food to eat between ballet and church (they ate at noon and wouldn't be home from church before 9...)- the decent dinner I had planned on quickly cooking wasn't going to happen. Three kids went to church with dad, and I spent almost 4 hours in the ER.
Poor girl has pneumonia.
so I suppose she has a very good reason for being a pill.
Ugh, why does everyone who could use my help live so far away?! I love to help people organize & clean, and I'd be over in 2 seconds. (I have a friend from college who lives in California, has 2 kids, a hubs w/ 2 jobs, is working also, and just needs an extra set of hands for about an hour at night to get settled after day care and finish up dinner/bottle...yet here I am, in Southern New England...)
ReplyDeleteBut oddly enough, when it comes to my own house, I'm more like you...when I was first getting settled, I needed my mom to just be there while I went through boxes. Almost as a proctor...every so often she'd say "I think you've spent enough time on that box, next one!" and pull it away from me, haha. I guess me helping someone else would be me paying it forward!
Sending prayers of encouragement and I hope you made your goal!
PS. Families who go to school get up much earlier ;-) My mom is a school nurse--she has to be there by 8:15, which is the earliest that the students are allowed into the building. I believe school starts at 8:40. As a kid, I got up around 6/6:30, but I also have early bird parents.
Let us know how it went. I was exhausted just reading about your plans.
ReplyDeleteWish I was there to help "proctor" like Rabbit said. Remember Great Grandma Stella said "A place for everything and everything in its place." We're still taking things to the Salvation Army from D and C's various homes when they needed someone to go through it. Hurray almost everything has a place. Oh, where did I put your Dad?
ReplyDeleteDear non-perfect lady,
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a GOOD mom to me. Thanks for your sacrifice and effort.
Regards from one old man.
yowza! hope your little princess gets better soon. will offer up any time i'm up with daniel on your behalf.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen!
ReplyDeleteThe NP didn't hear anything with the scope, and I was a little peeved that she wanted a chest x-ray- it was a good call- now, we need an action plan to avoid this in the future
Even though she is big for her age now- she is sill a preemie- and I think this shows it
Oh no! Poor little one! I hope she is on the mend soon, as well as your little friend hit by the car. (That makes me nervous, since DH was hit by one almost 8 yrs ago.)
ReplyDeleteSince I saw your mom's comment--even though we've been in our house 2 years at the end of October, things aren't 100% together. Even with the shadow of hosting holidays, help from my mom, DH being gone for a week on a trip with his dad. Some things just take TIME. :) Or so I tell myself.
Is your temperament melancholic-phlegmatic? I ask because I recognized myself in introverted, low energy, lazy, but type A description. Thanks for sharing this slice of your day with us. I'm currently an introverted, low energy, lazy, and over committed Type A person. The stress is about to kill me. One more week, then the schedule frees up!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth- I think you identified me!
ReplyDelete:)