Monday, October 13, 2008

This is My Day

As this day almost ends, I sometimes wonder how I survived it at all. And the fact that I feel this way and that I did survive it makes it a "typical" day here in Casa De Next Door (um maybe that's Casa Al Lado?) Anyway. Here's what Mrs. G and her Day In the Life have Inspired

Being a Monday we should've been up and out of bed early....

BUT because my kids go to Catholic school, they have this federal holiday off. (What's that you say? Separation of church and state? Um. We forgot. )

So I caught a little bit of shut-eye - after getting up at 6am to let out this little dog who somehow ended up sleeping in my bed instead of Daughter's.....


But she does understand that she belongs to a teenager, so after a quick trip out, she quickly went back to bed and to sleep until 730 a.m. I am in heaven having slept so long...


730 both dogs (who spent the night crammed in a corner of my king sized bed on top of me -what is that all about?!) got fed and went out again.

And I must get up why (other than feeding hungry dogs)? To take Son to this evil house of pain...




Evil you ask? Oh yes, evil in my mind. So many cool things to make unless you are craft-challenged and then it's just a giant box of temptation and even if you can get the lid off, you know you can never partake because anything you attempt will come out looking like a boathouse in New Orleans post-Katrina.



But Son and Daughter have been assigned a totally cool project for scholars' class to make a "flag" for a classmate - something they can "raise" when they want to say something, besides raising their hand. And it has to be a personal thing. Son has been assigned one of the least-liked and least-popular kids in class. And I am proud of him for rising to the occasion and planning a kick-butt project. But the project scares me b/c I have NO IDEA how to do what he envisions - a stage (because she's into theater) with a curtain (purple or blue b/c they are her favorite colors) on a string and when you open it, her initials/name appears. Hmmm. $50 and 1 hour later, I drop him off at a friend's house with a bag of wood and supplies where he will trade his hard yard labor in exchange for the sewing gifts of the mom and the carpentry gifts of the dad.

Then I go back home to google directions to the game Daughter has today - school game on her day off. Go Figure. But Lorelai wants to help...




I get the whole directions thingy figured out, load up the car leaving doggy behind and we are off, 75 miles due south, to the game.

We stop about 3/4 of the way there for a really mediocre lunch that we wait over 30 minutes for...my crabcakes were good, but the girls didn't think much of their sandwiches which bites b/c they have to play a soccer game and I just have to watch. Oh well.



Finally 3 hours after takeoff, we land at the field...
Where Daughter, as one of the co-Captains, gathers for the coin toss. (girl on the far right #5)



Let the games begin...



Oh and we score so many goals they take out the "regular" goalie (my "other" Daughter, V) and put in this new goalie, the one they put in when they want the other team to score (not kidding)
Hey wait, that's Daughter! Yes it is, but only for 5 minutes, so no goal.

We run off the field, tell coachie no Bear Bryant speeches today, we must get back to home in time for the Flute Lesson! Hurry Hurry Hurry...

Oh but we MUST stop on our way home at Rita's for Ice Cream...so we do BUT THEY ARE CLOSED FOR THE SEASON HOW DARE THEY!.

So we find a gas station with ice cream bars, and that will have to do. The girls get ice cream. I get water. (My Ass Project is ON people!).
I drive home at 80...get stuck on the off ramp behind two "gentlemen" who decide to get out of their cars for a little road rage adventure. I pick up the phone to dial 911, but decide to go around them over the curb when it appears it will end quickly without pain or destruction....

The stop on the ramp pushes us for time. We skid to a stop in the driveway, Daughter grabs flute and music, I grab dogs for a "ride" b/c they have been alone for 6 hours.

Bolt out of driveway to flute. On way to flute (10 minutes) Friend V asks, "Does Lorelai still get carsick? Because she's acting funny"

QUICK roll down the windows! Yuck. too late. Good thing she's little....and only hit Daughter's flip flop. Pour remaining soccer water over flip flop and towel off, run into flute, drop dogs back home, drop V back home, go pick up Son and check on project. ....





Are you for real? Holy cow. It Works. And it's beautiful. I am very proud of him for sucking it up. Drop Son at home, tell him to go Next Door and get Dumb Runaway Dog (DRD) who we are keeping for the week while Ex is out of town. Yes and then there were THREE.... (DRD is the one in front with the fur shaved off her front left side....)

Run back to flute to get Daughter. Read for 2 minutes until Daughter comes out...go back home. Feed dogs. Sister calls while I try to throw together some Paninis for dinner b/c it's now 830 pm and the kids haven't eaten. And they have projects to finish, and other stuff to do...

Make dinner. Get called to fix printer that will only print in black and white. Spend 45 minutes trouble shooting and decide it is over my head. Plan B - color paper with crayons like the olden days. Spend 45 minutes uploading photos from the day to send to Soccer Team ...corral dogs and keep happy in the meantime, trying to make sure DRD and Lorelai do not pee in the house or chew things or take food off counters...

Finally finally finally have 30 minutes to myself to blog about MY DAY.

Whew, need to go to bed - oops after I wash Soccer Uniform b/c they have ANOTHER game tomorrow...away...but this time she's taking the BUS....

Welcome to Chaos Central. And I only have 2 kids. I will never understand some of the folks out there with 6 and 9 kids!!!! how do they do it?!

15 comments:

Karen said...

First, what kind of puppy is Lorelai? She is too adorable! I think I'm in love. Except for the car sick part.
And second, dear gracious, that's a day for you without going to work? How do you do it all?

dkuroiwa said...

Holy Crap! Now THAT is a full day!! and really? yesterday was a holiday? here too!! ours was a sports related one...I've forgotten American holidays, except the big ones!
and ewww...puppy puke...not fun.
Thanks for taking the time...and nice picture of yo-self, by the way!!

Paranoid said...

Yeeks. If that's what I have to look forward to, I'm giving M growth-stunting hormone right now. How on earth do you survive on days when you're at the office?

TinkerDoodle said...

Now that is a busy day...after reading that i'm tired!.....I deal with puppy vomit and food stealing dogs but not so much the projects and practice...your an inpiration

Busy Bee Suz said...

well, I am exhausted. Thanks. :)
I hate days like that...seems you never get a chance to breathe.
Take care,
Suz

Big Hair Envy said...

You've been TAGGED! Come on over and check it out. I know you needed one more thing to do....heehee!

Persnickety Ticker said...

Yeah...um..you need to bottle some of that energy and ship it my way, cuz me? so running on empty and not able to even keep up with my ONE child.

Dog puke...::shudder::...ewww.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Vomit of any sort always throws the day off--I'm glad it happened toward the end of yours.

Colombus Day and Catholic schools crack me up--they're the only ones that still take it off. I figure they can't drop it because the Italian Catholics would revolt.

Caution/Lisa said...

Over from BHE. I want to say that I hate Michael's. It absolutely confirms my inadequacy in the crafting department. You do chaos amazingly well :)

Hula Girl at Heart said...

Lordy, that made me tired just reading it.

ChiTown Girl said...

I've been cracking up at the Columbus Day/Catholic school comments. Maybe things are different here in Chitown? My son and niece both attend private, Catholic high schools, and they both had school Monday. ALL public schools were off here, and I believe all Catholic/private schools were in session. But, as an Italian Catholic, I'm not sure if I should be offended by Jenn's comment, or if I should just confirm her suspicions ;-)

BTW, the Columbus Day Parade is a pretty big deal here, so maybe it IS just a Chicago thing...

katydidnot said...

can i have just one of those dogs? please?

laurie said...

that is not a bad day at all. and that dog is so cute.

my parents had 10 kids. count 'em, 10 kids. but they never did things like actually go to a soccer game. they were always too busy, doing laundry, or buying groceries.

Sugee Andersyn said...

You have a nice blog and I really enjoy your pictures! :) That theatre thing looks really cool and your dogs are awesome :) I sure hope you catch a break here and there with all that mom taxi'ing and dog caring you do! :)Cool header too :) Ran across your blog, sorry not sure how I found it. :) ?

just jamie said...

I really want more kids. Really. And YOU have boy/girl twins, so YOU know the game.

"Wow. Boy and Girl. You're done. Right?"

For a long time...yes, I was. But now. I'm wanting more.

Hard to see beyond the now. But you are at the "later."

So, whatcha' think? More? Could it be done? Or are you crazy-fulfilled with your rituals/routines of two?