Thoughts on Thursday

I AM SICK OF THIS RAIN!!!! It's ridiculous. Yesterday it snowed all day. Just that "substantial rain" type of snow, that's white and thicker than rain and sticks but melts faster than it can accumulate. It blows sideways. The day before that, when we were enjoying some more sideways rain, the wind blew so hard for about an hour that when I arrived home, my entire deck and side of house was covered with fallen branches and the kids made a fort out of the 20-30 foot long branches they found on the playground (geesh, if they had been out there? Who knew our playground was deadly!) I can't even imagine what my roof looks like and this morning Harrison said our gutters were overflowing. It's April now. March was supposed to go out like a lamb. Well, it didn't.

In other news, this morning when I was rinsing dishes to stack in the left side of the sink (WHEN will they learn - rinse and move to the left, rinse and move to the left), I found a pencil floating among the apple peels and plates with hardened cheese on them. A pencil? What the hell? And it just reminded me of how lazy we can all be. Case in point - this morning when I arrived downstairs at an ungodly hour to prepare lunches for four children who will probably only eat half of what I packed (but I digress), the hallway rug was askew. Did I kick it back in place? I did not. And neither did the five other people who walked over it this morning. I finally scooted it back in place (and I didn't even have to bend over!) and I thought, how hard was that, really? I have walked past a candy wrapper on the ground for days, wondering when someone would pick it up (but, aha! That someone was ME!) Jeff enjoys taking the little stickers off fruit and putting them anywhere but IN the garbage - on the counter top, the edge of the sink, he once even collected them in a notebook (I know, therapy moment there) Last week the dog chewed up some unmentionable items in the garbage in my bathroom and the bits and pieces are still there. Every day when I get out of the shower, I think "I should really vacuum that up" and yet, there it sits, day after day, probably being tracked into other locales. Ugh. Everything is just so MESSY.

My next big project (that I didn't choose and don't want to do) is switching Hayley's and Arlie's rooms. For some inexplicable reason, Arlie has decided she won't sleep in her downstairs room anymore. She has spent countless nights on Hannah's floor in a makeshift bed, or IN Hannah's bed (when Hannah is feeling particularly generous) and finally, last night, Hayley said she would switch rooms with her (actually Hayley was up for this a while ago, but I wasn't sure about putting my teenager right next to the back door for easy, middle of the night escapes with her friends!). After assuring me this wouldn't happen (yeah, right) I finally decided to let them switch. Problem is, the rooms are different sized and layouts so they are going to have to keep the furniture in them and just switch personal belongings (which might seem to make it easier, but the truth is, it's the "personal belongings" part that's impossibly a mess). I absolutely refused to paint the walls, though. So, Hayley will now be enjoying bright pink walls while Arlie will be bathed in purple and pink. Add to this that Hayley has her walls ENTIRELY covered in newspaper clippings, magazine pages, and comic strips. Fun. It might be easier to just remodel and add another upstairs room. If only...........

Well, the dog is loose and in hunting mode so I better go avert his evil intentions. Time to shower and get ready for yoga anyway. Being in a zen-like mode today will do me good (and the coffee and donut after isn't a bad incentive!). Namaste!