If It's Not One Kid, It's Another

J is back in school today, just in time for Pajama Day.



Now it's B's turn to stay home sick. On the plus side, his stomach is fine! My nephew was diagnosed with strep earlier this week, so when B came to me this morning complaining that his throat hurt, I made an appointment immediately for him to get a strep test this morning. It took a looooong time for him to be seen (and they didn't seem that busy, but what do I know), but the nurse told us pretty quickly that his test was positive. They fax prescriptions right over to Rite Aid for us now, so the nurse told us just to head over and wait, that as soon as the doctor is finished with the patient she is currently seeing she would fax it over for us. So after spending an hour (!) at the doctors', we headed to Rite Aid.



And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. It seems that the doctor had typed B's birthday incorrectly into the computer and when the pharmacist called to find out what was taking so long, the office staff couldn't find any record that we had even been there this morning. They finally found the mistake and corrected it, but needed to wait for the doctor to once again be finished with her current patient to be able to fax it. After waiting another hour (!!) with a little boy who was feeling increasingly worse, we finally got the prescription and headed home.



It's almost 12 o'clock now, so we ended up wasting the whole morning!



Thinking about everything I was able to accomplish while home with J yesterday I'm very disappointed, especially since we are going to have to leave in an hour to pick up both J and DN-J and bring them back here, so I doubt I'll be able to get too much more accomplished with all three home, and then at 3:45 A comes home too. In any case, here's what I'm hoping to do in fifteen minute increments:

1. More Laundry
2. Finish the comments of my Religious School Progress Reports
3. Make those vegetarian lunches I was trying to make yesterday
4. Clean out the fridge, which somehow got super crowded all of a sudden
5. At least begin my Preschool Progress Reports

I will once again be updating this as the day goes so I can feel a small sense of accomplishment.

J and the 15 Minute Day

Sometimes when I have so much to write about I end up writing nothing. I plan the posts in my head as I'm falling asleep or driving in the car, but don't take the time to actually write them. It's foolish of me, because I know how much better I feel to put my thoughts in writing, plus I know how little I remember day to day of my life, so if I don't write it down, it's as if it didn't happen.

This is not an exciting post, but it is what it is.

J is home sick today. She woke yesterday complaining that her stomach hurt. DH's stomach didn't feel so great either so he was already planning on staying home. I doubted if her stomach actually hurt or if she was just hungry (the girl must be going through a growth spurt - she keeps waking up STARVING!) but she was really upset so I told her she could stay home. She vegged on the couch all day with Daddy watching TV, and had to run to the bathroom a couple times with the runs (get it - run/runs? I crack myself up). I got home from school a little after one, and soon after that she threw up. I was very proud - she actually made it to the bathroom! I went to the store to go grocery shopping for the week (a benefit of them both being home together) and she threw up again while I was gone. Things got a little scary after that. She agreed to shut her eyes (!) and actually fell asleep for about an hour (!) on the couch. Out of all three kids, she consistently wakes up miserable from naps, but I figured if she actually agreed to take one, she must REALLY need it. Anyway, she woke up crying (as usual) and soon started screaming in pain, complaining her stomach hurt. This kept up for almost an hour before we called the doctor for advice. Everything worked out okay, it was just "typical" gastro-intestinal pain, but it sure was scary!

Which all brings me to today: J is feeling better, but still needs to be home today just to be sure. And I'm home too. I convinced her that today should be a "fifteen minute day," that we would make a list of what we want to accomplish around the house, set the timer for fifteen minutes and start hitting the list, fifteen minutes of work, five minutes for a break. So far she's excited about it, especially since I have her focused on organizing her room. Is she my daughter or what?!!

Just to make this post super exciting for anyone reading it, here is my list for the day, which I plan to update throughout the day to keep me focused:

1. Laundry - 3 loads folded and put away, more in both the washer and the dryer
2. Post three items from J's room on Freecycle done, arrangements have been made for two items to be picked up
3. Kitchen - unload dishwasher done, clean off counters done
4. Write sign for DH's b-day for J to color done
5. Dining Room table - loaded with all kinds of stuff, so let's see if I can clear it all off done
6. Living Room - it's a mess done
7. Progress Reports for Religious School - J is one of my students this year, so I told her she can help me write the comments for her report, something like, "J is an amazing student, one of the best this teacher has ever seen...." only have comments left
8. Progress Reports for Preschool - This will take a while
9. Go to Dollar Store to get balloons to celebrate DH's birthday (J wants to decorate) not going to happen today - will do on Saturday
10. Go to produce store to get fruits and vegetable maybe tomorrow?
11. Make meatloaf for DH's birthday dinner tonight done - made 16 mini loaves (some for tonight and some for lunches) and one big one (for Saturday dinner with the extended family here to celebrate)
12. Make birthday cake done
13. Make some vegetarian lunches for myself, like Brown Rice Lentil Salad and Avocado Quinoa Salad - I'm trying to eat more healthy in an effort to lose weight, and I really like vegetarian meals.
14. Work out with the Wii Fit (I just told you, I'm trying to lose weight!) Ha - not happening today!

I'll be amazed if I get this all accomplished, but we do have until 3:30 when the boys get home to try. It's 10:15 now - here goes!

The boys are now home doing their homework. All in all, I'm really impressed with what I accomplished! Now I'm off to finish washing the dishes I used to make the cake and meatloaves.

I love my timer

I talked a good talk in my last post, didn't I? Oh yeah, I'm committed to writing every day. Blah, blah, blah. Oh well, I missed yesterday, I'm writing today!



Thought I'd share what my afternoons are like. I teach until 1 and then drive home with DN-J, picking up J at whatever house she is at for the day. We have a real piece meal kind of coverage for her until 1, somewhere different every day. Next year when she is in school all day long things will be a lot easier! Any way, after I bring the girls home, I usually give myself some time to read the mail, (both paper and electronic), catch up on FB a little, and then I usually set the timer to allow myself a little time to play my favorite FB games (currently Word Challenge and Tetris are at the top of my list). And then on good days, I get moving.



Today has been a timer kind of day, which seems to be the most efficient for me. I set the timer for me to work for ten minutes and take a break (at the computer) for five minutes.



Here's what I accomplished during each ten minute segment:

1. Unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher with stuff in the kitchen and around the house


2. Cleaned off the counters


3. Cleaned out the fridge (yuck!)


4. Washed all the mini plastic containers that have been piling up (I consider myself the container queen!)


5. Made the kids' lunches

And then everything came to a screeching halt when the boys got home. They were whispering about when to tell me something. I knew that either meant that they started making a Mother's Day present at school that was supposed to be kept secret (awww) or one of them had done something wrong. I reminded them that the most important thing is to be honest, that if they're worried about telling me something it's best to just get it over with instead of worrying about it, and finally B cracked. Apparently during science today he had taken a pair of tweezers that had been holding steel wool inside of vinegar and stuck it in his mouth to be silly. It must have tasted awful so he ran to the back of the room to get a drink of water and told the kids around him who saw to not tell the teacher. Of course, one of them did. She found him in the back of the room crying. Understandably, she was angry - not just because he had a problem and tried to hide it from her, but because he put something from a science experiment into his mouth. Luckily it wasn't dangerous this time, but it could have been, so she really wanted to drive home the importance of NOT putting stuff in his mouth. She told him, "You're done," and made him stop the experiment and sit down at his desk. He was sobbing as he told this to me, thinking this meant he was not going to be allowed to do science for the rest of the year.

I decided to call his teacher to hear exactly what happened. She had told him he was finished science for the year (but also pointed out that this is really one more lesson) but asked for me not to let him know what this really meant. She wanted (and I agree) to drive home the mistake he made and make the significance stick.

After that crisis was resolved, then A remembered (with a little help from me) that he lost his electronic time for today because he was on the computer when I came downstairs this morning. Yes, my son is obsessed with Power Point presentations at the moment and every moment wants to make a new one. Lots and lots and lots of whining later, that crisis was resolved.

And now we're off to meet up with my parents for dinner to celebrate the one year anniversary of my mom quitting smoking. What a day!

I Should Be Committed

The cat is loudly purring at my feet, banging his entire body into me every once in awhile so I will stop what I'm doing and pet him. J and DN-J are playing together upstairs, and neither is crying or screaming for me at the moment. And so my work time begins.

I have been writing so many wonderful posts in my head. You'll have to take my word for them since I never wrote them down in this blog and now they're gone forever. One of the biggest problems with having very little memory is that if I don't write it down, it's out of my head. I might remember for a week, sometimes more if I retell the event or funny thing that happened to one or two other people, but that's about it. So once again I am reminded how important it is for me to write things that happen in this blog.

I feel like I have to keep reminding myself that this is, first and foremost, for me. Yes, I love having all of you read (and comment!), but the main purpose is for me to have a place to record my life so I can look back and remember what happened.

With that in mind, I'm recommitting to writing in here every day. It won't be exciting all the time, it might not even be interesting, but it needs to happen if I'm to get back in the habit.

As for today, the main thing I'm thinking about is how crazy this time of day is. I'm caught up on email and FB, have eaten my lunch, the girls are playing, and I have exactly one hour before the boys get home. One hour to: sort and put in some laundry, clean out the fridge and pick something to make for dinner, unload and reload the dishwasher, clear off the dining room table, and . . . fill in the blank. It's a lot to do, and I know there's not much time to do it, so I better push myself to get moving NOW!