How do you Keep your Sanity?
My days have been crazy-busy lately. I am trying to get everything ready for my imminent surgery, which is Monday, for those of you who have asked. My mother is coming to stay for a few days so I need to get things in order for her. She'll be staying in Alexander's room. Yes in 4,500 sq ft house we have no guest room. At some point the office will be. At this point navigating through that room can be terrifying! Alexander will have the air mattress and will sleep in Rebecca or Christopher's room. (He hasn't made up his mind yet. But he is really excited. So excited, in fact, he has been really good about keeping his room tidy for Moo!)
I have almost everything done and ready. Today is sheet washing and changing day. Yesterday was grocery shopping day. In the rain. I hate grocery shopping. With a passion. It's not that much fun in the pouring rain either. But it was simply too gorgeous this week to waste time on something so silly as shopping for food! So yesterday morning it was. Otherwise I would have children with me. Children and grocery stores do not mix. In fact, there should seriously be warning labels on the glass doors as you enter your supermarket.
WARNING: Grocery shopping with young children in tow is dangerous to your health!
Do you think we should all write the Surgeon General and ask him... is it a he or a she, I wonder... and ask if such signs can be posted much like they do on cigarette boxes. Do they still do that?
As usual, I digress... my great-grandfather started the first self serve grocery store chains in the States? That's a story for another day... I digress again!
Back to my busy week and my super-market story... It was raining (in case I forgot to mention that) and my super-adorable pink with white polka dot rain boots were missing. I was annoyed. I had planned my whole outfit around those boots. Seriously! I had on my new white jeans, a pink floral blouse, pink cashmere cardi around my shoulders and I needed those missing boots. So I asked Rebecca if she had seen them. Normally they are in the boot tray in the back hallway. But they were not where they belonged. Rebecca answered my question in a sassy, smirky way... "Oh, you mean the ones out here on the deck in the rain?" Because she knows that she would have gotten in trouble for not having them put away. Darnit! I ended up in a pair of old pink J Crew loafers...
I was in and out of the grocery store in an hour and a half flat. I didn't go grocery shopping last week. Did I mention how much I hate it? And so I had to make sure I had everything on the list that I had forgotten at home! (I only had 3 hours to get everything done yesterday.) I had scoured shelves for items we needed and might need. I scoured labels for nutritional content. I scoured stickers for sales. I needed to be sure we had our fruits and veggies and meats... I needed to know that we had plenty of shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet paper, Coke Zero, Gingerale... and magazines. My only indulgence, but if I am going to be stuck at home I need to be entertained!
As I struggled with my overloaded cart a nice young employee offered to help me. I was pleasantly surprised and touched. I got home with an hour and fifteen minutes to spare. I had to put away the groceries and squirrel some away. My kids tend to see and eat all the good stuff immediately. Since we have a fridge in our basement I decided that I needed to make these goodies last. Extra yogurts, puddings, cheese sticks, juices boxes all went down there. Extra non-perishable snacks went on the basement shelving. I finished putting away the groceries, vacuumed the kitchen, made my bed and the boys beds and cleaned out the kids sinks. Both Rebecca and Christopher were having friends over after school.
I had 20 minutes to check emails before getting Alexander.
Alexander and I made Chocolate Chip Cookie bars -- again the Lazy Mom way, which , by the way, is better than no way at all! Then we had lunch and then we curled up on the couch together. I had a cappuccino to warm me and a couple of hours to surf the net and do nothing.
Then off to get the kids and their friends from school. And home. Fed them the cookie bars. They all raved about them. With milk. And a short while later some strawberries. And then some yogurt. Should they have kept that up there would have been nothing left for the weekend. Sheesh!
Alexander chased the girls. The boys played chess and wii and on the computer. The girls screamed. I think that is all they did. They were LOUD!
I wanted a glass of wine. But since I was taking each child home I would have to wait.
Back home at 7:15. First thing I did was pour myself a glass of wine! And head to my tub. And locked my door! Christopher shouted that he was hungry. He wanted dinner. He would have to wait. He could always find something to hold him over. But first I needed my bath. It had been a long day. And the latter half had been a LOUD day!
After my bath, warmed and cleaned, I made sandwiches for the kids. Lazy Mom! While they were eating husband came home. He had been in LA all week. He is off again today on a conference. And I have another busy day. This one involves errand-running with ALL three! GASP! We need to pick up Christopher's ADD meds. These meds cannot be called in and I have to drive 15 minutes each way to pick up a little piece of paper. And Christopher needs new soccer cleats. His first game of the season is tomorrow. And he wants to go to Target and swap out a DS game. And Rebecca needs something appropriate to wear to Stars on Ice. Not jeans. Not Lilly. Nothing too summery. And today is my last day to get all this stuff done. And Daddy will be home this evening. And Christopher's Birthday party is this evening. And after that I'm having a glass. I might even have the whole damned bottle! (Kidding, of course!) Which reminds me... one more errand to run. Need to ensure a bottle for my mom... She'll need it for sure at the end of her day!
Because my days, for the most part, do tend to be crazy, I try to carve out some time to myself at the beginning and end of each day. I get up before everyone else in the morning. I'm a morning person anyhow. I like being up when the house is quiet. There is a sense of peace and calm that otherwise does not exist. I love my morning cappuccino. It's like a decadent treat. I look forward to it as much as that glass of wine at the end of the day.
It's not always possible to have a long, hot soak. I don't at all take those moments for granted. When I can't have those 20 minutes I head up to bed a little earlier. Laptop and sometimes wine in tow. My kids are still awake but they know that I need peace and quiet at the end of the day. For the most part they comply. I put on my comfy PJs and crawl onto my comfy bed. So no matter what may happen during the day, my days start and end peacefully.
I have almost everything done and ready. Today is sheet washing and changing day. Yesterday was grocery shopping day. In the rain. I hate grocery shopping. With a passion. It's not that much fun in the pouring rain either. But it was simply too gorgeous this week to waste time on something so silly as shopping for food! So yesterday morning it was. Otherwise I would have children with me. Children and grocery stores do not mix. In fact, there should seriously be warning labels on the glass doors as you enter your supermarket.
WARNING: Grocery shopping with young children in tow is dangerous to your health!
Do you think we should all write the Surgeon General and ask him... is it a he or a she, I wonder... and ask if such signs can be posted much like they do on cigarette boxes. Do they still do that?
As usual, I digress... my great-grandfather started the first self serve grocery store chains in the States? That's a story for another day... I digress again!
Back to my busy week and my super-market story... It was raining (in case I forgot to mention that) and my super-adorable pink with white polka dot rain boots were missing. I was annoyed. I had planned my whole outfit around those boots. Seriously! I had on my new white jeans, a pink floral blouse, pink cashmere cardi around my shoulders and I needed those missing boots. So I asked Rebecca if she had seen them. Normally they are in the boot tray in the back hallway. But they were not where they belonged. Rebecca answered my question in a sassy, smirky way... "Oh, you mean the ones out here on the deck in the rain?" Because she knows that she would have gotten in trouble for not having them put away. Darnit! I ended up in a pair of old pink J Crew loafers...
I was in and out of the grocery store in an hour and a half flat. I didn't go grocery shopping last week. Did I mention how much I hate it? And so I had to make sure I had everything on the list that I had forgotten at home! (I only had 3 hours to get everything done yesterday.) I had scoured shelves for items we needed and might need. I scoured labels for nutritional content. I scoured stickers for sales. I needed to be sure we had our fruits and veggies and meats... I needed to know that we had plenty of shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet paper, Coke Zero, Gingerale... and magazines. My only indulgence, but if I am going to be stuck at home I need to be entertained!
This thing is like, longer than Santa's Naughty and Good lists combined!
But, I saved almost $37!
As I struggled with my overloaded cart a nice young employee offered to help me. I was pleasantly surprised and touched. I got home with an hour and fifteen minutes to spare. I had to put away the groceries and squirrel some away. My kids tend to see and eat all the good stuff immediately. Since we have a fridge in our basement I decided that I needed to make these goodies last. Extra yogurts, puddings, cheese sticks, juices boxes all went down there. Extra non-perishable snacks went on the basement shelving. I finished putting away the groceries, vacuumed the kitchen, made my bed and the boys beds and cleaned out the kids sinks. Both Rebecca and Christopher were having friends over after school.
I had 20 minutes to check emails before getting Alexander.
Alexander and I made Chocolate Chip Cookie bars -- again the Lazy Mom way, which , by the way, is better than no way at all! Then we had lunch and then we curled up on the couch together. I had a cappuccino to warm me and a couple of hours to surf the net and do nothing.
The Ultimate Lazy Mom snack... a pre-packaged cookie mix in a brownie pan. Because making actual cookies is just way too exhausting!
Alexander chased the girls. The boys played chess and wii and on the computer. The girls screamed. I think that is all they did. They were LOUD!
I wanted a glass of wine. But since I was taking each child home I would have to wait.
Back home at 7:15. First thing I did was pour myself a glass of wine! And head to my tub. And locked my door! Christopher shouted that he was hungry. He wanted dinner. He would have to wait. He could always find something to hold him over. But first I needed my bath. It had been a long day. And the latter half had been a LOUD day!
After my bath, warmed and cleaned, I made sandwiches for the kids. Lazy Mom! While they were eating husband came home. He had been in LA all week. He is off again today on a conference. And I have another busy day. This one involves errand-running with ALL three! GASP! We need to pick up Christopher's ADD meds. These meds cannot be called in and I have to drive 15 minutes each way to pick up a little piece of paper. And Christopher needs new soccer cleats. His first game of the season is tomorrow. And he wants to go to Target and swap out a DS game. And Rebecca needs something appropriate to wear to Stars on Ice. Not jeans. Not Lilly. Nothing too summery. And today is my last day to get all this stuff done. And Daddy will be home this evening. And Christopher's Birthday party is this evening. And after that I'm having a glass. I might even have the whole damned bottle! (Kidding, of course!) Which reminds me... one more errand to run. Need to ensure a bottle for my mom... She'll need it for sure at the end of her day!
Because my days, for the most part, do tend to be crazy, I try to carve out some time to myself at the beginning and end of each day. I get up before everyone else in the morning. I'm a morning person anyhow. I like being up when the house is quiet. There is a sense of peace and calm that otherwise does not exist. I love my morning cappuccino. It's like a decadent treat. I look forward to it as much as that glass of wine at the end of the day.
It's not always possible to have a long, hot soak. I don't at all take those moments for granted. When I can't have those 20 minutes I head up to bed a little earlier. Laptop and sometimes wine in tow. My kids are still awake but they know that I need peace and quiet at the end of the day. For the most part they comply. I put on my comfy PJs and crawl onto my comfy bed. So no matter what may happen during the day, my days start and end peacefully.
How do you keep your sanity?