Wake up: I can do at LEAST five things I didn’t do yesterday. I am RESTED!
Greet The Fam: Daughter begins day with adorable, bright beautiful face that is full of hope and excitement for the day. Her mouth opens …. and doesn’t rest for about fifteen minutes straight with exactly three breaths taken in total.
Grab the nearest coffee cup, hope it’s clean, drink all the coffees.
Greet eldest child. Appreciate the quiet calm before he immediately starts goading his sister into exasperation/annoyance/tattling
Crawl under the dining room table…. maybe I’ll do four of the things from yesterday….
Make breakfast … apparently for everybody. Burn something…. they will still expect food the next day regardless.
Clean all the dishes from breakfast and the midnight ravaging of the kitchen sprites.
Time For SCHOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!
Estimate how many fork tines it will take to pluck my eyeballs from their sockets.
Get everyone situated on a device, solve a log on problem, solve a broken link issue, nag the children to check their emails, follow up with children on actually checking the inbox.
I’d feel accomplished if I did three of the chores from yesterday’s list.
Sit down for 10 minutes of peace for 45 minutes (every question from a kid resets the timer)
LUNCHTIIIIIIIME!!!
They makes the lunches, I cleans the messes
Field 37 requests for game time, and 42 demands for snacks.
TWO ITEMS WILL GET DONE TODAY!
The Precioussezzz empties the dishwasher and we fills it right back up again
Follow up on distance learning, challenge, check, and question the teenager knowing full well at least three things were intentionally “forgotten”, but move along because I now don’t care if it got done or not.
Entertain kids, referee kids, everyone watches the clock until the offspring jump the gate towards video game time.
We all take a deep breath and revel in the calm. This is where I could organize a pantry or do a load of laundry or sweep or vacuum or do the domestic things … but i don’t because now I’m considering a 3 o’clock nap
From here on out the energy lost doubles by the half hour. Throughout the day I hit high highs for hopes of family time and bonding and productivity and self motivation. Midway through we are just trying to get to dinner time. After dinner it’s a dash to bedtime, but since they are getting older, bedtime is getting further and further into the evening. It wouldn’t be so bad, except The Great Journey To Night is endless. They STILL can’t go to bed and stay there. STILL! They are 9 and 13!
I love them and I’d love to say I’m one of those parents that lounges in their kids beds and my husband and I swap kids so everyone gets that quality down time with parents to just “chat about your day” but we don’t. I hate to say it, but my tank is beyond empty by the time I kiss and hug and tuck in. As I’m shutting doors, that first final plea tugs at my last nerve and twangs it like an out of tune guitar. By the fourth final plea I’m just a frazzled, twitching being trying to claw her way to a relaxing moment where no one needs anything from me for fifteen whole minutes.
Then I recharge enough for one whole TV Show with my husband just in time to crawl into bed and mentally note all the things I will surely have time and energy for in the morning.
Rinse. Repeat.
How are YOU doing?
Sarcasmica 