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Sunday, November 16, 2008

The clock is ticking.

I pride myself on being organized. Multi-tasking is something that I view as a challenge. I think I have previously alluded to the fact that I like it when my schedule is the slightest bit crazy. It keeps things interesting.

On Thursday I had a full day. Not crazy full, but there wasn't any down time. It went something like this:
- Shower the night before because you recognize that you are a massive morning procrastinator.
- Wake up at 7:20 (we need to be out by 8:00) and walk room-to-room rousting sleepy children.
- Begin to run late when you snuggle too long with a particularly drowsy kiddo.
- Head downstairs to make breakfast and pack lunches before getting yourself ready for the day. This is a mistake. A wise mommy would get herself ready first. But then again, a wise mommy would have gotten up earlier to begin with.
- Get distracted discussing child's oral presentation and lose 5 precious minutes. Now you're officially pushing it.
- Race to change out of jammies, and become presentable - in 10 minutes. I am good, but 10 minutes is tight.
- Herd kids into the car and begin the drive to school.
- Contain grumpiness with the kids (which really should be directed at yourself as you were the one that cut the schedule too close), and crank up the Jonas Brothers in a vain attempt to drown out their conversation.
- Drop kids off in front of the school.
- Sit in the school parking lot for 20 minutes until it's time for volunteer stint.
- Enter the school to teach small group writing strategies in the first grade.
- Leave the school two hours later feeling as though you've been accosted by ornery wood elves. A room full of first graders is a force of nature.
- Sit in parking lot, again, for 25 minutes. 'Cuz what can you really accomplish in 25 minutes if you have to return to the exact spot you just left?!
- Enter the school to retrieve eldest daughter for quarterly doctor's check.
- Sit in doctor's waiting room for 15 minutes.
- Lie to doctor when daughter states that there was no milk in the house for breakfast this morning. There was no milk, but there were bagels and cream cheese. Sheesh. She made it sound like I was starving her for pete's sake.
- Lecture daughter about making mommy look like a putz in front of the doctor on the way back to school.
- Make mental note -- must.buy.milk.
- Drop daughter off at the school and race home for lunch so that you can get to the market to pick up milk before you have to head back to the school to pick up kids.
- Arrive at house and switch into multi-tasking mode. The goal:
  1. hard-boil eggs for lunch,
  2. check email,
  3. vacuum mountain of crumbs created when cereal had to be poured back into box because we were out of milk.
  4. finish a blog post, and
  5. head back to school to teach advanced math.
  6. complete tasks in 35 minutes.
The clock is ticking. On your mark... get set... GO!

- Place eggs in water to boil while you dive into the emails.
- Lose track of time by getting completely engrossed email.
- Hear popping sound, ignore it, and then hear it again.
- Decide to investigate and then start running for the kitchen when you remember that the eggs have been boiling way too long.
- Peer into the pot where the eggs used to be boiling. I say "used to be" because all the water has long since evaporated.
- Retreat in alarm as egg explodes and shoots toward the ceiling.
- Watch in horror as cooked egg splatters all over the cook top and the floor.
- Shriek when the second egg explodes en route to the sink and nearly hits you in the eye as it rockets out of the pan.
- Dance around like a fool trying to get the pan to the sink before additional explosions detonate.
- Curse (eh, no one's around to hear so you can use the creative ones) at the sight of cooked egg, literally, all over the kitchen.
- Curse some more when you realize the pan is probably ruined.
- Marvel at the stench and crack a window.
- Clean hastily.
- Dash out the door to go to the market to get the milk so that you won't be late to pick the kids up from school.
Time's up.
I tried to take a picture of the tiny egg fragments that were everywhere. It didn't come out so you'll just have to use your imagination. The first picture was the explosion that occurred as I was peering into the pot. The second picture is of the yolk that nearly shot me in the eye en route to the sink. The pictures really don't do justice to the brief chaos.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I am sitting in my family room by myself laughing out loud at this post. Did this really happen? Not to mention, I am so glad I am not the only one who has days like that (specifically, not getting up early to make sure the morning runs smoothly. Just. Can't. Do. It.) Have fun cleaning up yolk!

Kathy B! said...

Yes. This is my life. It really happens like that. I don't know if it is funny or sad :)

Anonymous said...

Ha!! You have no idea how happy I was to read this. . not happy at your crazy day. . .just happy that someone else has "those days" too! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

mamablogger posted 17 Nov 08 new #2
I really enjoyed your blog this morning. I was feeling a little down, but after laughing (sorry, to your expense!), I feel much better!

Your schedule sounds crazy. I think if you planned on getting up even a half hour earlier and not start the day so rushed, I think the rest of your day would go a little easier. You would probably have time in the morning to plan your lunch, so that all you would have to do is just come home and eat! :) Just some suggestions to help you.

I am very organized or try to be most of the time. But, I find when I'm not, the kids are the ones that pay the price unfortunately, because I wonder why they're not moving faster. If I had just gotten my behind out of bed earlier, everybody would be happier. :)

Again, thanks for sharing a little bit of your personal crazy schedule! I really enjoyed it.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with days like these~