Fruit Inspection

The other night I was flipping through the channels and saw a show called “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”. After watching it for about a minute and a half I realized I had absolutely nothing in common with those ladies. If the producers of that show want to see what REAL housewives do, they ought to drive a little farther east of Atlanta.

Today I got up later than I planned and was greeted by my “monthly friend” before I even had my first sip of coffee. I swallowed a handful of Motrin followed by some vitamins, and then ate a yogurt with granola on top.

I was going to go out for a morning walk but it was cold and rainy, so I stayed in and had some quiet time while the kids played in another room. Ever since the fire I’ve been reading Streams in the Desert along with my Bible. The pink book is my prayer journal.

Next I went and rounded up the children to let them know it was time for chores and school. (“Boo”, “Noooo”, “Not today”, “But Mom…”) We went upstairs and I flipped over their chore sticks for the day, then got out their homework. When beds were made, teeth were brushed and clothes were changed I got them started with school and moved on to my own set of chores, or shower, or sleep a few more hours. Whatever.

After doing some busy work on their own, I checked to see if they were having any trouble and introduced new assignments, read, or reviewed. Usually we break around lunch time to eat, work on chore sticks and play outside.

Today we had to run some errands. I think I hate errands as much as the kids do, but I didn’t have a choice. My credit cards were stolen during one of Emery’s baseball games last month and in order for my bank to refund the money charged on my debit card, I had to not only file a police report but go pick it up, notarize the form and then mail it to their headquarters. So I grabbed my trusty travel companions (the Starbucks’ “keep it hot forever and ever” Travel Mug and my Turvis Tumbler), bribed the kids with the promise of Mickey D’s and hit the road.

We were in and out of the police station in a jiffy and then stopped by the McDonald’s drive thru on our way to the bank for a notary signature. The kids were happily eating their nuggets when I took a bite of my cheeseburger and realized there was no BURGER. I laughed when thoughts of Clara Peller entered my mind: “Where’s the beef?”

After having the forms notarized we headed to the Post Office to mail them. I also have to pick up our mail there since the fire. They won’t deliver to “an abandoned” address. This is actually kind of a pain because where we are staying is closer to our house than to the Post Office. But whatever. I’m a rule girl. I’m also the kind of girl who feels terribly guilty for hauling my kids around for an entire afternoon, so when I noticed that the sun came out, I agreed to stop by the park and let them run a bit before one last errand. (And yes, Stafford was with us the entire time. And no, I don’t usually bring him, however we were supposed to drop by a friend’s house to see if our dogs got along so they could “dog sit” for us next weekend but she called to cancel after we already left the house.)

We stayed at the park about 45 minutes before I started cramping again. It wasn’t until we got in the truck to leave that I noticed my emergency bottle of Motrin was missing from the console! Ugh! Off to Publix with cramps and 2 tired kids. The “Real Housewives of Atlanta” ain’t got nothing on me now!

Annnnnd…this is the moment I couldn’t take any more. I was tired and in pain. I was pulling into the driveway and still had to unload groceries and make dinner. Jeremy was out of town. There was a load of clothes to dry and a week’s worth of mail to sort. I was getting overwhelmed, so I took a deep breath and…. delegated.

Savannah took care of the clothes and Emery helped make Brunswick Stew. Then I sent them to their rooms for reading time while I sorted mail and let Glenn Beck make me feel like there were much bigger problems surrounding me other than my menstrual issues.

I made cornbread muffins and then we ate dinner with Papa. By 7:00 the kitchen was cleaned and the kids were taking showers. I was jealous of Stafford sleeping there by the laundry pile that still needed to be folded. If he had opposable thumbs, he’d be earning his keep around here, I can tell ya that!

Next thing I knew it was 8:30 and the DC Superfriends book made it’s appearance. I tucked in 2 sweet smelling babies, let the dog out one last time, and then crashed for the night. Tomorrow is another day, not much different from today.

And I am thankful.