It's Friday. Believe it or not, I don't usually count the days until Friday, but this week has been an unusually chaotic one and it is with relief that I look toward the end of my day. Until I realize a good 80-90% of the chaos in my life is at home!
Take Tuesday for example. After work there was a dentist appointment for Tween - which pushed the typical schedule back bit. Yet, a positive mindset prevailed and prompted me to ask for dinner input from the kids once I was home. Loaded with intel I set my mind to cooking - only to discover the kitchen was not set to rights. This of course prompted me to begin
lecturing and nagging asking Tween and Boy to take care of their responsibilities. At this point Youngest interrupted to announce the toilet wouldn't flush. *sigh*
I considered, briefly, rousing my husband from his sick-bed to tackle the chore - but empathy prevailed
shocking but true. After the usual grossness - which Tween watched with a mixture of horror and awe - the clog unstuck. Released from that focus, I tuned into my surroundings. Horror now furrowed my brow as I noted the state of the children's bathroom. Tween scurried off to retrieve some cleaning supplies and a brief - but thorough cleaning ensued.
Once everything was disinfected
especially me I started pulling out the ingredients - glancing through the window to watch Youngest enter the guinea pig castle in the back yard. She was back in record time
like spices just pulled from the pantry time and telling me "Harry Potter Pig is very tired! He's still sleeping!"
Insert mental eruption of a volcanic stream of 4 letter words here as I turned toward the child and her stiff, furry, glassy-eyed pet. You can imagine what ensued. Consoling murmurs to ease Youngest and Tween as I carried the rigid little form hither and yon in search of a
why can I never find one when I need one? shoebox. As we still had no food, I placed the deceased on the front porch to await his final resting place, disinfected - again - and
tried to continue continued the dinner prep. Tween was angst-filled and speculating on the health of the others, as well as blame. So of course, she went to retrieve the other 2 pigs to give them
and herself reassurance. This led to an unscheduled check-up - preformed by yours truly to check nails, coats, teeth etc. An urgent need for more vegetables and fruits was proclaimed - by Tween - and I set to work to chop and dice - for the pigs - not the people.
Once everyone was settled, Boy - conspicuously absent to this point, came out to say he was hungry. - Huh. Ya don't say. - Youngest went to get the mail - her favorite job - and I scoured myself and shifted gears from meatloaf to burgers. There was a knock, I called come-in, and my friend came in with the stiff little beast in her hands and a questioning look on her face as Youngest protested behind her "Hey! I was just going to show -- my Harry Potter! He's waking up now!" UGH. Return the critter to his make-shift coffin, scrub down myself and Youngest, pass crying child off to her dad, etc etc.
you get the idea.
Eventually all this was handled. The kitchen was tidied, the food was ready, the washer & dryer were running, and I was ready to crawl into bed. I settled for changing into clean PJ's - at 7pm - and encouraging the children to use their digital babysitters for a bit.
Cast no stones! You know you would do the same Then, PJ clad, I answered the door again - we are so popular! - to another neighbor who received a summons about the ticket Boy got while dog sitting. But that's a story for another day...
