40 Days and 40 Nights

The flood that occurred while Noah and his ark floated along. And the number of days it has been since my New Year's post to return to blogging. Sigh. And here I am, still in a Sahara Desert of blogging. Why? Sheer busy-ness. Stress. And wasting time when I can get away with it to try to get rid of some of the stress. Or so I tell myself when I play a dumb Facebook game again. And again.

A snapshop of our lives...

6:40 -- I'm up. After hitting snooze a few times. Very quickly hitting it, because while I hit snooze, Erin does snooze in the sleeping bag on the floor beside me. Our compromise to, "NOOO! Sleep with Mommy!!"

7:00 -- Out of the shower, dressed. Jack arrives, and Erin gets up at the same time. Snuggle up Erin in a blanket, put the fire truck together for Jack.

8:00 -- Mostly ready for the day. Two are breakfasted. Go to get Kyle up.

8:45 -- Out the door. Why is the last 15 minutes always a frantic rush, even though I think I have planned enough time? I go through Kyle's backpack as I add the things for today. While I take out yesterday's paperwork I see a note from the teacher. My regular day for helping in the classroom won't be needed since Binder Park Zoo is coming for a presentation -- but I'm welcome to attend that. Alright, I'm running out the door and Erin is already set up for a switcheroo. Hmm.

9:10 -- Kyle to school. Jack to school. Erin to the gym daycare where she will hang with her buddy, while my buddy works out. Get gas and a pop and head home for a minute. Grab my comforter off my bed to wash it at Beth's -- fits in her washer, not mine. To Kyle's school. I plan to stay for about 20 minutes of the zoo presentation, and get Erin early.

11:05 -- Sucked into staying for the whole thing. I was enjoying it, and enjoying sitting with Kyle in the gym bleachers. His teacher had forgotten her camera, so she was glad I had mine.

11:15 -- Ready to head to St. Joe to see my mom. Erin decides she is hungry, so I decide on a whim to not actually eat with my mom and get McDonald's so Erin can eat on the way down. My sister will be there for lunch, too, so it will work out.

11:45 -- At my mom's. She's not feeling well, so no lunch in the dining room anyway. Odd how that worked out well with Erin's Happy Meal! She was apparently so hungry that she fed the nursing home dog, Shadow, two of her chicken nuggets. :) Talk to the nurses, stop in the dining room to say hi to the friends we normally sit with, and spend time in my mom's room. We leave with Shadow snuggling in close to my mom.

1:15 -- Later than I wanted to leave because I continue to ruin Erin's nap, and we need to stop at Target for diapers and Valentine's for tomorrow's play group party. We put the diapers in the cart and Erin pouts, "No more diapers! Done!!" I tell her for bedtime. She says, "Ahh! Right!" Hello Kitty Valentine's for her, Scooby Doo for Kyle -- praying it works out okay that I picked them for him. Can't find Valentine crafts I need to have in five hours' time.

1:45 -- Leaving Target and spot Michael's -- that's it!! Valentine's crafts! Hit the jackpot because they are actually 60% off. Three stores down to get printer ink at Office Depot. Oddly both WalMart and Target were out, and I can't print in red only any longer. Thrilled that Erin is being a trooper with all the stops.

2:52 -- Pull into South Haven. Erin is sound asleep and I don't want to wake her. I really don't want to get in the pick-up line yet either, though. I decide to drive from school to the land we made an offer on to time it. Ten minutes. Not too bad.

3:15 -- Number two in the pick-up line! Never this far up. Talk to another mom. Read a few pages in my book. Erin is awake. She wants the cheese puffs she talked me into buying at Target.

3:55 -- Pull up at home. Try to put some stuff away, get a few things done, answer two American Greetings emails from my boss, snacks for the kids. Gather stuff for WILD Wednesday.

5:25 -- Leave for WILD as I call Mike and ask him to pick-up the wet comforter from my sister's since I forgot. Leave Kyle and Erin in choir -- Erin's first time. She sings at home, maybe she will be okay. Worth a try. Upstairs to set up all the crafts for the night.

6:00 -- WILD starts. By 7:15 the kids are done with the crafts, the place is a mess, and I am about to lose my mind. Help swoops in and I can clean up while the kids play musical chairs with Pastor Jeff.

7:45 -- Home. Kids are wiped out. So are mom and dad, for that matter. Bedtime. I handle Erin, Mike does Kyle.

8:30 -- Downstairs. I have 60 reports to edit. Argh! Working in the evening after bedtime is tough. I want downtime. I want to not use my mind. This is usually clear because I intersperse goofing around most nights. I swear no Facebook, though.

10:30 -- Yeah. I am finishing this post. I have only done ten reports so far. Not good. And when I decided to write a blog post I noticed a new post on a blog I follow. I haven't read it in ages. It was one I followed, but not a person I personally knew. I clicked her post, and lo and behold there are hats on her son from a friend who just made hats for my kids. What?? I click the link and end up on Amber's hat page on Facebook. I see Amber in the chat list and chat with her that I saw her on the blog. Small world, she follows that blog as well. Interesting turn, but it all took me away from reports, where I now will head back to.

Yawn. Will probably make it to bed around 1. Maybe I will try to do a picture catch-up post in the next few days. Or maybe in the next 40.