A Day in the Life

Nothing terribly new to report ... my work weeks go pretty much the same all the time. It's the same just about every morning on school days. Drag my butt out of bed or off the couch or wherever I happened to pass out the night before, search for the off button for the alarm and end up throwing the clock to shut it off, trying to remember exactly why i volunteered for the 5 a.m. shift, stumble to the computer, start downloading work, brush my teeth and splash cold water on my face to try to wake up and get to work .. trying not to fall asleep in the middle of a report. Then at 6:30 I get the munchkin up and then the circus begins.

6:30 I wake her up, fighting the urge to crawl into bed with her and go back to sleep. Turn on the lights 'cause she is playing dead .. pull the covers off of her so the cool air will smack her little bottom ... and she says she needs to stretch .. so she can wake up *rolls eyes and grins* I go back out to the computer to type a bit while I wait for her to emerge from the bedroom.

6:45 I go back to her room to wake her up and remove the covers again and make threats of dragging her out of bed by her toes and dumping ice water on her head ... she giggles and gets up. I return to the computer.

7:00 she comes out of her room and announces she's ready for school. her clothes are on sideways, her hair is sticking out everywhere, she has on the socks that clash the worst with whatever she is wearing and her sad little light up tennies .. only one still flashes 'cause the other one got stuck flashing and the lights died *giggles* I straighten her clothes, send her back to brush her teeth, wash her face, find the hair brush and for heaven's sake find some white socks to wear.

7:15, we're quickly running out of time, she has brushed her teeth, washed her face and comes to give me a kiss .. at which time I realize she hasn't dried her face on a towel 'cause obviously my face is a better drying surface ... so i'm waking up now 'cause i have cold clammy water all over my face. She still hasn't found the brush, and still has on bright green socks with a red dress. I send her back again, for white socks and the brush .. she disappears back into her room.

7:20 I holler for her, she comes out, still with the green socks and has a brush in her hand and informs me that she has already brushed her hair and can't find white socks. I find both statements hard to believe because her hair is still sticking up all over the place and because I know for a fact she has about 7000 pair of white socks in her drawer. I send her back for the socks and tell her she better not come out without them again ... and bring the brush back too!

7:25 I yell for her again, i'm working on a deadline for reports that are out of turnaround time 'cause there is no midnight shift to cover what comes in at night and i am not getting this report done because i've listened to the same 2 lines about 20 times now amidst all the yelling for her and sending her back to do things. She wanders back into the living room, she has on white socks, but her shoes are missing in action now. She is carrying the brush and has tried to put her hair up in a pony tail. I send her back for her shoes.

7:30, the bus will be here in just a few short minutes.. she has her shoes on finally, I leap out of the chair to find the brush which has mysteriously disappeared, trip on the backpack in the floor which is empty and yell for her to come find her stuff and put it in the bookbag. The cats are obviously fearing for their lives and are streaking up and down the hallway, darting between my feet trying to kill me. kenzie moseys into the room, looking up at the ceiling, and swearing she can't find her homework or her PE clothes. I figure it's probably because we don't hang them from the ceiling, and mention that to her.

7:35 I finally find the brush, lasso the kid, take down the jacked up ponytail, and start brushing her hair. she's wailing before I even touch her hair with the brush because it hurts her hair (translation: she liked her hair up in a ponytail that was sticking out the side of her head and doesn't want me to re-do it). Finally I get the ponytail back up, straight, and we go tearing through her room looking for her homework and gym clothes. I throw it all in the bag and tell her to find her snacks for snack time and bring them out. She heads down the hallway, says she can't find them ... most likely because I don't keep them in my bedroom. I run to the kitchen, grab some random stuff, throw it in a bag with a couple juice boxes and hurl the backpack down the hall to the door and tell her to watch for the bus.

7:40 I'm still running crazy, hurdling the cats as they whip through the hallway, trying to find her jacket, put it with her bag and head back to her room to take one last look at her to make sure everything is on frontwards and right side out and the socks match the clothes and the shoes are on the feet ... and she's laying in the middle of her bed looking at the ceiling.

I ask her if the bus comes through the roof .. and if not how she's going to see it from there. The door bell rings. The bus is here and we didn't see it 'cause she was mesmerized by the ceiling fan.
I run to the door, grab her backpack and jacket ... she wanders out into the hallway like she has all day .. i swing her into her jacket, hand her bag to whoever came up to retrieve her, give kisses and hugs and shove her out the door with an 'i love you', watch her poke her way down the stairs and then run back to the computer to try to whip out these reports before 8 when they are due, completely exhausted and i've only been awake for 3 hours lol ..

I always think I'll take a nap when i'm done at 1, but by then I've caught my second wind so I get some house work done, chat a bit with my dad or my sister or whoever happens to be online at the time, run my errands, fix dinner, get Pookie's homework done, bath time and send her off to bed and settle in for the evening to play a game with friends and I end up being up until midnight or 1, finally toddle off to get some sleep and the alarm seems to ring before my head even hits the pillow .. and it starts all over again :-)