When Life Happens...

I took a day off today (Monday, as I write this).  Not for any reason other than I needed a mental health day.  I think we’re allowed one of those every now and then.  I talked to my boss well in advance and we agreed this was acceptable, I got someone to cover the phones and handle any administrative-type things that might come up, so all my responsible little ducks were in their happy little rows.  I had intended to spend a good portion of the day doing absolutely nothing.  Yes, you heard me: Nothing.  No thing.  Not one thing.  And it was going to be good.  Plus, the story I was making up in my head was the day would include copious amounts of coffee.  So…excellent plan, right?

Then, life happened.

Get kids up and ready for school, showered and completely dressed, hair dry, breakfast in bellies, teeth brushed, backpacks ready, lunches made, planners signed.  (We do this every morning, except most mornings I’m gone by 6:30 so whatever happens after that is a mystery to me.)  And then I got to go with them to drop them off at school, and it was nice for me to be part of the routine my kids are so used to and flow through so well.  (To answer your question: Yes, I did get coffee.   Hubby drove to McDonald’s and went inside – in the rain – to get me a large cup of the black brew that flows through my veins and keeps me alive.  Boy-child didn’t dub it my Life Juice for no reason.)

We went home, and then the frenzy began.  First with the living room – because I couldn’t stand looking at it anymore; then with girl-child’s room – for the same reason.  At some point late morning hubby and I went to see SPECTRE (“Bond, James Bond.”) which was awesome.  It prompted me to go back and start watching all the Bond movies again; more on that later.

Then hubby went to get girl-child (I later went and picked up boy-child because he had a Cross Country party and didn't get done until 4:30) and when she came home, she almost flipped out about her room suddenly being mostly clean, but checked herself before a Full-blown Flip actually occurred and decided to help.  I think she decided to help to make sure nothing else got thrown away, but I’d been kind and hadn’t relieved her of anything she truly loved even though I was sorely tempted.  (Remember that hashtag?  #overit.) 

Anyway, we sorted books, stuffed animals, dolls, clothing…  It occurs to me the kid has more stuffed animals than she does clothes.  Is that a bad thing?  (Maybe if I could get her to wear stuff normal kids wear – like jeans – we would be OK but she’s so sensitive about her clothes and how they fit and the way they feel it’s hard to buy her anything she’ll actually wear.  And sometimes we buy something she loves but when we get it home and try to actually wear it, she decides it won’t work and will never touch it again.  This occurs after we’ve washed it and thrown away all the tags so returning it isn’t possible.  So frustrating.  Ok – I just left the tracks in true Tangent style…)

Boy-child had Scouts, so while he and Hubby were off doing boy-stuff, the girls (that’s us) hung out.  I taught her how to properly make her bed (including hospital corners), and then we played checkers, where she promptly – solidly and legitimately – beat me.  Little stinker.  She wanted to learn how to play chess, and at some point in my life I knew how (Grandma Tennie taught me) but it’s been so long I couldn’t remember.  So off to the good old inter of net and I started teaching girl-child about the pieces; what they’re called and how they move.  Memory served me pretty well, but the internet helped where my memory failed.  We didn’t actually get into a game, because by that time it was late, but we had fun.  She giggled – a lot – when I called the Bishop “The little frowny dude.”  I think that’s what he’ll be ever after in our house.

Anyway – with the cleaning and the normal life stuff and just hanging out with kiddos it was late before I knew it.  I did watch Dr. No (Hubby, who tried to watch it with me, fell asleep) but after that, and typing up this post, it was lights out.  Back to work tomorrow (Tuesday, as I write this).

I like it when life happens.

TTFN
JMS