Whiner..........

I was in a really bad mood yesterday. And I woke up in a bad mood this morning. Mostly it was because it appears that everyone around me is full of fabulous news, exciting new opportunities, and big plans. And I feel like I'm spinning my wheels waiting for something to happen, knowing it will not unless I take action, and being pissed off that I'm too busy to do anything about it.

It doesn't help that this week has been particularly busy, and by that I mean there have been evening obligations which mean getting home much later. Which means no time to cook dinner. Which means eating crap food. Which means no time to work out. Which means feeling even worse about eating crap food. And so the cycle goes.

Also, I work part time but I almost never come home after work. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I came home and actually had half a day to do what I wanted/needed to do. Most days I am picking someone up right after work for an appointment or other obligation, then often repeating that cycle until at least dinner time, usually arriving home with starving offspring and no plan for dinner. By the time I get everyone fed, everything cleaned up, make lunches for the next day, and try to squeeze in a few extracurriculars like laundry or paying bills, it's 10 p.m. and time for bed again. Not that I ever go to sleep around 10 p.m. No, it's a good night if I am in the vicinity of my bedroom by 10 p.m. Sleep happens around 11:30 p.m.. And ends at 6:30 a.m. Blarg.

So, yesterday, I was feeling particularly sorry for myself because a couple of friends, and several bloggers I follow are experiencing success with their writing (i.e. book deals, paid gigs, etc.) and my writing is currently confined to this blog, and nothing else. What I really WANT is to write for pay, write a book, have time to write, write every day. But I have this job. And this family. And blah, blah, blah. If I knew it wouldn't strap us financially, I'd quit my job in a New York minute and write full-time. Because being a writer, you have to write. A lot. And often. And yesterday, my day went like this:
6:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. Lay in bed till 6:45 ish. Pick up phone and scroll through email, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
7:05 a.m. Get ass out of bed and into shower.
7:15 a.m. Get dressed. Change clothes five times, even though I had a basic idea of what I'd wear the night before (capris since it was going to be warm out).
7:45 a.m. Finally go downstairs, and lament, once again, that I never have time for breakfast and should be leaving for work right now, or five minutes ago.
8:00 a.m. Actually make it out the door even though I'm technically supposed to be at work right now. Know I can be a half hour late at most because I stay a half hour extra once a week for planning. Still get to work ten minutes after "grace period."
1:15 p.m. Leave work late to make up for late arrival this morning.
1:35 p.m. Arrive at school to pick up Hannah, sit in car finishing lunch for ten minutes.
1:45 p.m. Meet with Hannah and her teacher.
2:00 p.m. Leave school, go home, make phone calls, check email, clean up dishes, make snacks, fill water bottles, gather stuff for rehearsal, etc. Arlie arrives home.
3:00 p.m. Leave to pick up Harrison.
3:15 p.m. Pick up Harrison, drive to high school for musical rehearsal.
3:30 p.m. Drop all three kids off at rehearsal. Make a beeline out of there before someone asks me to volunteer.
3:40 p.m. Drive to consignment shop. Enjoy some browsing/shopping while kids are at rehearsal. (Note: I thought about bringing my laptop with me and going to Starbucks to write, but by the time I got the wifi working, it would be nearly time to go back to get them and chances are I'd be in the middle of writing something truly sensational. Ha!). Buy two dresses and three shirts, and a sensational evening gown/prom dress that was on the clearance rack (and by that I mean I paid TWO DOLLARS FOR IT, even though it had never been work and still had the original tags attached). With store credit for consigning, pay $2.80 for everything. Feel smug.
4:30 p.m. Drive back to the high school and wait for kids to finish rehearsal. Check email, FB and Twitter on phone. Make lists. Eat veggies from my lunch because I'm supposed to be eating more veggies. Realize that eating a bunch of cherry tomatoes leaves tomato skin in your teeth and spit that out for the next ten minutes.
5:15 p.m. Finally leave high school after kids socialize too long.
5:25 p.m. Pick up teriyaki for dinner.
6:05 p.m. Arrive home, rip open containers, eat teriyaki standing up at counter, while trying to catch up with Jeff.
6:15 p.m. Grab keys, head out with Harrison for band practice, while Jeff prepares to head out with Arlie for   driver's ed final drive.
6:30 p.m. Drop Harrison off, head to Target to buy sports bras and cat litter.
7:00 p.m. Really only buy sports bras and cat litter, don't even browse at Target, leave with minimum purchase (gasp!).
7:05 p.m. Go to Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble. Order iced mocha and toffee crunch bar. Remember when I was addicted to toffee crunch bars when they used to be in every Starbucks. Wonder why they stopped carrying them. Wish I hadn't discovered these. Hello, new pastry I don't need!
7:30 p.m. Back to band practice, waiting for Harrison. Check email and FB on phone.
8:00 p.m. Harrison comes out to car, head home stopping by neighborhood with good sunset views to snap a few pictures of the sunset.
8:30 p.m. Home. Clean up. Make lunches. Realize how exhausted I am. Pack up laptop, portable office, purse and reading material and head upstairs - if I have to do work, still, might as well do it from the comfort of my bed.
9:10 p.m. In bed surrounded by bills. Do paperwork and bills for over an hour.
10:30 p.m. See low bank balance, become depressed, decide I've paid enough bills and push everything off bed to settle in for the night.
11:30 p.m. Turn off light after "winding down" playing Solitaire on my Kindle for an hour (!)
6:30 a.m. Start all over again.

So, see? When am I supposed to write? And how am I supposed to write with all that chaos going on? Or without sitting in a chair, with a cup of tea and a beautiful view outside my window? Gah! Not to mention, I did not have time to eat healthy, work out, or do any type of housework (badly needed) in that whole day. So, I went to bed feeling defeated, unfulfilled, and fat.

Plus, when I took my capris off, the zipper broke! Seriously, I just unzipped them and saw something fly across the room. Turns out it was two teeth off my zipper. The zipper on one of the FEW pairs of capris that actually fit me. Great. And who really can fix a zipper? Not me! I'm certainly not going to pay anyone to fix the zipper on a 10.99 pair of capris I got at Ross. But am I pissed off that a pair of pants that actually fits my ass are now junk? Of course I am!

Also, when I tried to talk to Jeff about how I was feeling, he just made some stupid "man" comment like "well, you have to MAKE time" which is about my least favorite phrase in the world.

So, I woke up in the same bad mood I went to bed in. I repeated yesterday, right down to changing my clothes five times (again, after I already knew which pants I was going to wear!). I did NOT want to go to work, and moved quite slowly (although not as slowly as yesterday - I made it to work a little less late than the day before - still not on time - ugh!).

And when I got there, I saw this through the sunlight in the door's window:

Mrs. Moo. As in cow. As in fat. Great. Even my classroom door is mocking me! But the sun was shining. And it was (finally!) warm outside. And Thursdays are pretty straightforward, easy days in the classroom.

And the day actually did turn out o.k. My class was fairly well-behaved, work went fast, I still had to pick up a kid after school, but I had time to stop and get coffees for us first (ok, yes, I went back to the B&N Starbucks just so I could have another toffee-crunch bar!). The doctor appointment didn't take very long, and I had time to go home for a half hour and check my email and print out some stuff before heading back out for my evening obligation.

Which was getting my hair done. Which is like therapy and "me" time rolled into one. Thank you, Marie, my wonderful hairdresser!

And when I left, I had new hair, the sun was just starting to set, and on the drive home, as I crested a hill, I saw the Olympic mountains in full glory bathed in the early evening sun and I actually said out loud "God, those are beautiful mountains!"

And then I got Taco Time for dinner and stopped at Dairy Queen at the request of Arlie and Hannah for Blizzards and a Dilly Bar for me.

So, there's still the fat thing. But I'm working on that.

Ra-dick-a-lus!

Today was really long. I mean, technically, it had the same number of hours and minutes as any other day (funny how that works) but there was just a lot packed into this day that made it stretch like silly putty.

It started out with me delaying and delaying getting a shower until the last minute because I had to take Hannah to camp. But I knew I was coming home after, so I skipped makeup. And face lotion. Which always makes my face feel weird. Don't you hate that? Anyway. I dropped her off and then went to satisfy my insatiable craving for an iced mocha and a delectable little treat, aptly named "muffin top". No, seriously! This little espresso stand near my house sells muffin tops. Not the doughy white abdominal fat that squishes out of a tube top on a fat chick! No....a "real" muffin top, ergo, the top of the muffin which, as everyone knows, is the best part. But of course, this is one supersized muffin top, guaranteed to pack on the pounds so you, too, can sport your own modern version of the "spare tire". Mmm......the chocolate chip one is divine!

So, I enjoyed my muffin top and coffee while accomplishing "a lot of stuff" on the computer, which loosely translates to: I finally filled out some forms and checks and stuff and called a few places and got that stupid college loan thing figured out. Before I knew it, it was time to head up to my attorney's office.

Now. The thing about attorneys is that they're so intimidating. I mean, really, they are worse than cops in the "I'm way more important than you" department (apologies to nice attorneys, if there are any). I would rather poke a hot fork in my eye than meet with an attorney ANY time, but alas, it appears that my ex has created a bit of a stink over helping pay for our daughter's college education (I know, WHY would anyone want to do that?). So, off I went. And do you know....that guy was SO rude. He actually texted and typed on his computer (no doubt on Facebook!) the entire time and never even made eye contact with me. Also, he didn't give me very good advice. I mean, I'm not belittling his bar exam and all, but I could have figured that out myself. I really hope he doesn't charge me for the fifteen minutes I spent watching him check his Blackberry.

So, I hit the road back home (and did I mention my attorney's office is about 30 minutes away on a good traffic day so what a total waste of gas?). I called my husband to vent about the meeting and the general state of things and he mentioned that he needed some cash for a fishing trip he was taking that evening with a work buddy. Gas money and all. So, I stopped at the ATM and did a quick withdrawal. Then, I went home.

When I got home, precisely at 2 p.m. which I had told my kids about a hundred times was the time we'd be leaving, I found them not ready (again!) and realized the dogs had not been let out. So, I yelled a little bit and sent my husband an irate text (to vent, again, sorry Jeff!). Then I sent one of them back in to let the dog pee and the other one back in to put the cash I got from the ATM for my husband on THE BATHROOM COUNTER (remember that, it's important later). Off we went. I had a doctor's appointment because my back has been killing me for ten days, but of course, on the day of the appointment, I woke up feeling much better. Still, I had the appointment, might as well check it out. So, I gave the kids $20 and sent them to the local burger joint to eat lunch while I did the boring doctor thing.

Did I mention I was really hungry at this point? You know, because that muffin top was wearing off (the pastry not my stomach, much to my dismay). But I figured I'd be an hour, tops, and then I could grab a snack. Hm. Why do I EVER think a doctor's appointment will be just an hour? I actually arrived at 2:20 which was ten minutes before my appointment. I was checked in and ready five minutes before my appointment. And I waited. And waited. And was finally called into an exam room where a medical assistant took my vitals and asked me a bunch of questions. And she left. And I waited. And waited. And finally the doctor came in and had me do a bunch of stretches and movements to prove that my back really did hurt, and then decided I should get an x-ray. Oh, but first they had me pee in a cup to rule out kidney infection AND pregnancy. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

At this point, I was SO HUNGRY that I thought about eating the emergency protein bar I keep in my purse for just such emergencies, but the truth is, when it really comes down to it, that protein bar seems so ICKY that I can never bring myself to eat it. I'd rather gnaw on my arm. But I did text the kids to see what they were up to, and found out they were near a donut shop. I told them how hungry I was and they asked if I wanted them to go back to the burger joint for a bacon burger. Oh my goodness, yes! But, alas, they only had $4. So, I told them to hightail it back to the donut shop and get me a donut and some milk, STAT! At this point, I was waiting for my x-ray. My blessed saviors arrived with my donut and milk and I realized we only had fifteen minutes before they needed to be at camp. So, I left. I hightailed it out to my car and dropped the kids off at camp and headed back to the doctor's office. And do you know that I was still in the queue for my x-ray? It was like I was never gone!

After finally getting my x-rays, I headed back up to my exam room with my films. And waited. And waited. And finally the doctor came in and ushered me out to the lightbox in the hallway to show me and everyone who walked by my lovely spine, which is quite curvy and has some compressed disks. But nothing too serious. So, I got a prescription for muscle relaxants and physical therapy. Neither of which I will probably even take advantage of, because, like I said, the miracle of paying my $15 copay had miraculously cured me.

So, I went back to pick up the kids and headed straight for cheer practice (not for me, silly, can you imagine?). Dropped off the cheerleader and drove home. I had about twenty minutes of checking in with the kids, and the TV was on and it was a show about making wedding cakes so I had to get out my wedding album to show the kids my most wonderful, best ever wedding cake. But I could not find my wedding album. Well, actually I COULD find the album from my FIRST wedding, but not my most recent and BEST wedding. So, first I showed them my first wedding cake, which was pretty traditional and not at all interesting, and then I finally found my BEST wedding album and showed them my most delicious, tiered wedding cake with tuxedo strawberries all over it. It was really the best cake ever. EVER! And Hannah mentioned that she never got to taste my wedding cake and I thought that was just a tragedy so I need to go to Spokane and visit Just American Desserts and have another wedding cake made.

Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. After that, my friend picked me up and we went to dinner at Blazing Onion. And boy howdy, was I ever hungry, seeing as all I'd had to eat was sugar (I wonder if that's why I was talking so fast?). So, I got a big, huge, California bacon burger and sweet potato fries and an Olympic Sunset which was a delightfully fruity beverage just perfect for capping off a busy day. Then, we went to see "The Help" which was a wonderful movie and a bit of a tearjerker, but please don't see it until you read the book because it's just that good. The book, I mean. And I had Reese's Pieces at the movies and now I feel as though I might explode.

And then I came home and my husband had cleaned fish and the kitchen smelled faintly of fish guts and he complained about a noise coming from his truck and then grumbled about not being able to find a video camera but all I heard was "blah, blah, blah". And then he said "Hey, I just found this $40 on my desk". Which was the money I sent the child to put on the bathroom counter. Remember? Bathroom counter/desk. Yep, they sound pretty much the same.

At 11 p.m. I heard my 13 year old come in the door from an outing with the neighbors and ask if she could have a sleepover. Sleep over what? It was already practically the next day!

Oh look, it's already the next day! And I hear my children up and doors closing and kitchen sounds which usually means someone's making a mess. Or maybe that's the boyfriend leaving. I don't know. And so, I will officially close this very long, and very busy day and try to get some sleep. How was your day?

Monday, Monday......

Mondays are weird for me. If I'm lucky, I start them with yoga, then run an errand or two or head home to do some work around the house. Today I did both errands AND work around the house, and as always, the time got away from me. Before I knew it, it was 2:45 and I had to pick Arlie up from school and get to the dentist by 3! Oops. Even being late, we were done at the dentist in less than a half hour and at gymnastics a full fifteen minutes early. Being early is almost unheard of for me. I'm sure it's an annoyance to my husband, my friends, and my employers, who are always waiting for me to show up. I am chronically late, and it's because I attempt to use every spare minute "doing stuff" before I had to actually get in the car and drive somewhere. Now, I've considered trying to be on time. I've even made that my New Year's resolution before. But when I arrive early, I find myself waiting. And I don't so much like to wait. If I'm at a restaurant meeting a friend for lunch, there's that awkward waiting/staring at the door/should I just order my food situation when I'd much rather just arrive fashionably late where we meet in the parking lot and stroll in together. Or, if I'm heading to work, I don't want to be early because I want to get paid for EVERY LAST MINUTE I'm there (and I'm annoyed if I have to work over my shift!). I guess there's just no pleasing me, or being on time. Now, it's not like I can't wait and be patient. When I take Arlie to gymnastics on Mondays, I wait THREE HOURS while she flips and tumbles and conditions and vaults and balances. On good days, I've packed something to do. But more often than not, I'm stuck with my cell phone (which gets spotty coverage at best in the gym), and a stack of magazines. Maybe another mom to talk to from time to time. The point is, I wait. Then, I get home at 7:30 and the deluge hits. Every kid wants to talk to me, needs something from me or needs a fire lit under their butt to get chores done. Dinner is sometimes made, sometimes not. Lunches need to be packed for the next day, laundry done, chores done, dinner eaten, kids told numerous times to get a shower and go to bed, etc. Finally it's just me and my computer and it's LATE. And that's when I have my wind down time. I'd love to get to bed early and really catch up on some sleep, but it's impossible to just drop at 10 p.m. when I've been refereeing a tween drama crisis, switching loads of laundry, making my bed that I stripped this morning with all good intentions of not leaving it to be remade until bedtime (fail, every time) and finding out upon opening email that today is the LAST possible day to pay for the camping trip that is about to be canceled if I don't pay NOW. Gah! Then, my mind is running a million miles a minute and I just can't go to sleep. Until after midnight and then that 6:30 alarm clock sounds WAY too early. Mondays are a blur. Bring on Tuesday!

Stress and the real mom

Why is it that when stressful things happen they always happen when there is no time? I mean, why aren't there just pockets of time during the day for us to stress out and go nuts? Instead, we stress during pockets of time that are running out the door, or late to a meeting.

This morning Harrison put his shoes on. Then took them back off saying "These are not my shoes! These shoes are too small!" He then reminded me that his friend had the same shoes and came to the conclusion that he must have worn Harrison's shoes home. Except that particular friend was NOT EVEN HERE this weekend. So, there is no way they could have been his shoes. No, what probably happened is that Harrison's feet grew (overnight? It's possible!) and the shoes are now too small. Or he was just being picky. Or any number of other explanations. Either way, he had to wear his "choir shoes" to school and he was mortified. Now, before you get images of spit-polished wing-tips, let me say his "choir shoes" are really just stylized black tennis shoes. Not dorky at all. Still..........no wonder people have heart attacks in the morning!

Today is crazy, as usual. I mean, if it's not one thing, it's another around here. We thrive on chaos and a bit of stress but sometimes it gets to be too much. I have learned that one of my biggest stressors is having to transport kids to different places with not enough time to get them all there. Today is one of those days. I am only one person, and I simply cannot be in two places at once. And yet, I am expected to be. I think I've got it all worked out, thanks to a sympathetic receptionist who is allowing me to be a little late to the last appointment, but it will require me to work with military precision to execute it all.

Which brings me to another issue - job searching. I mean, if that isn't stress, I don't know what is. I cannot imagine what people go through, especially those who are the sole supporters for their family. Job searching is so demoralizing and time consuming. And I'm not even sure what kind of job I want, or can do, or even if I can work outside the home and still meet the needs of my family. In a perfect world, I'd stay home and make everything run smoothly. I'd be the person who responds to all the emergencies (wait, I AM that person), and keeps things on a somewhat even keel. But adding a paying outside job to all of that seems impossible. Not that I haven't done it. I just quit a very good job, but the reasons for that were multi-faceted and it was the right option. Still, someone needs to make money to feed us. Jeff makes enough money to keep the roof over our heads and the bills paid, but not enough to feed us, clothes us or contend with the bazillion other expenses that loom each and every day. So, I need a job. Or at least I need money. I'm working on it and have a few things going, but it's not enough by any means. So, I keep searching for the perfect job, and it's elusive, if not impossible, to find. Stress.

Then, there's the daily irritation of household chores and who should do them. I can't do them all, nor should I, because there are six people living in this house and I'm sure not making all the messes. But the kids' bathroom is constantly condemnation-worthy, their rooms are scattered and messy and no one seems to be able to change the toilet paper or pick anything up off the floor. I delegate and assign chores, but when they are not done correctly, that becomes another part time job for me to oversee all of the indiscretions and fix them (or direct someone to fix them). It's ridiculous. And time consuming. And really not fun at all.

I realize my stress seems to be amplified by hormones. Which is a whole other issue. Now that I'm of a "certain age" I don't seem to be able to accurately predict which days of the month I will be a screaming banshee. So, I have these sudden flares of insanity and wonder, what the heck was that? Gotta love the "change of life".

I'd take a vacation if I could afford it. But at this point the only vacation available to me is a road trip in a smallish camper with four children and three dogs. Somehow that doesn't scream "relax" to me! It's no wonder why people drink. Is it 5 o'clock somewhere?

The Art of Busy

Being busy is an art. We're all "too busy" or have busy-ness built into our day. And being busy certainly makes the days go by fast............but honestly? I'd love to be a little less busy. We used to be busier.......if you count outside activities. We've cut back on a lot of that, including sports, so our "busy" days should have decreased, but somehow, I don't feel any less busy. Sure, I've added a job to my already-full days. But c'mon. Plenty of people work full-time AND do all the other family/mom/wife/friend stuff and I truly have no idea how they do it. I figure something's gotta give in some area.........no one can do it all!

Today, I woke up at 6 a.m., worked out to a TV workout show at 7 a.m., showered by 8 a.m., and had my "kids" arrive at 9 a.m. (the two I nanny for). They don't normally come to my house, and we thought this would be a fun switch-up. Not so much! I felt like I was busier than ever, since one of them has special needs and is into everything! Two spilled yogurts later, a few knicknacks tossed about, my digital frame about meeting an early demise, and many quickly diverted accidents (and this was all AFTER I "babyproofed" quickly before they came), and I was exhausted. I felt like having my own kids here was also just added work, especially since two of them had sleepovers (making breakfast, cleaning up endless messes). I finally took the girls back to their own house around 1:45 p.m. and took Hannah with me, since I was leaving at 2:30 and she was to relieve me. I left around 2:45, went to Jeff's work to switch vans (he needed mine to drive to Vantage tonight), then had just enough time to grab a quick coffee and run to Staples for pencil leads for Hannah's mechanical pencil. I then had physical therapy at 4, which took till 4:50, then I raced to pick up Hannah (15 minutes away) and head to a meeting for the Jingle Bell Run committee (a 35 minute drive away). We were late to the meeting, left there around 6:45, headed to Fred Meyer to pick up prescriptions for Hannah that were NOT ready - again (this was our third trip trying to get the same two prescriptions!). After we waited 20 minutes for this fiasco, we went to get teriyaki for dinner. Waited for that, got home around 8 p.m. and finally had dinner. Really, just not a minute in the day (save for that coffee!) to just relax and not be "on" all the time. And most of my days are like that!!

Now, having some help in all of this would be heavenly. Like a maid or a chauffer.......but, please! Who can afford that? What I COULD use help with often is transporting kids to various appointments. I went over my calendar today and realized that next Monday I have an even busier day - yoga 9-10 (maybe!?), PT at 10:30, lunch with a friend (we've been trying to find a time to do this since JULY!) at 11:30, appointment to remove my stitches in my back at 1:40, dentist appt. for Arlie at 3, counseling appt. for Hannah at 4, gymnastics make up and trampoline class makeup for Arlie and Harrison at 5. That's on my "day off" (which is so laughable.....really? A "day off"?). As you can see, I cannot be in two or three places at once, so I called the seemingly most obvious person to help me - my children's father! But can he help? Oh no, he has something going on. ALWAYS!!! I love how divorce automatically puts the non-custodial parent in the envious position of being able to just CHOOSE to participate or not in their child's lives. I ask you - what would have happened if we were still married? He'd HAVE to find a way to make it work, because he'd have no other options. But, alas, he KNOWS he has options so he just says "no" and that's that. Now, I will have to ask Jeff to take time off work to help me. And he will do it because he actually UNDERSTANDS what it means to be a parent.

This is just some of the busy-ness I could do without. Appointments (endless), grocery shopping, errands, constant "running around" for things that crop up - and all on my days "off". I'd really love a true "day off" - just a day where I have absolutely nothing planned! Maybe I'd get a massage or pedicure..........but, oh yeah, I'd have to make an appointment for those.........and so the busy drags on..........and I'm tired of it!

Interminable Tuesdays..........

Tuesdays are way too long. For one thing, I go to work 15 minutes earlier on Tuesdays, not that it's a big deal, but it makes me have to get ready earlier........bleh. Then, I sometimes work later on Tuesdays.......like today I worked an hour later, and then had to race home, get all the kids ready quickly (changed into exercise clothes, get water bottles filled, yoga mats found, snacks eaten, etc.), then leave the house again in 15 minutes so I could pick Hayley up at school (drama practice). Turns out, though, that Doug picked Hayley up from school (because I told him to, but then plans got changed and I forgot to tell him). So, I had to turn around, meet him so I could get Hayley and then FINALLY head off to the gymnastics studio. Except I remembered that I needed to pick up the dog's medication at the vet. So, I made a quick stop and, lo and behold, made it to the gym with ten minutes to spare (no small miracle given my track record!). I dropped the kids off, raced to the grocery store, and made it back to the gym in time for my yoga class with the girls. In the meantime, Arlie was spending two hours practicing for her gymnastics team, Harrison was taking a trampoline class and Hayley and Hannah were doing their homework in the waiting area. An hour and fifteen minutes of hot, sweaty yoga and we headed home. But, oops, what about dinner? I decided to swing by KFC. Now, we don't eat out much and especially not fast food, so the collective gasp of disbelief followed by cheers from the kids was amusing. You'd think I was taking them to Disney World! Nope, just KFC for some greasy, overpriced and overcaloried chicken. Ah well, simple pleasures. We ate a fat-laden dinner at nearly 8 p.m. and then there was the usual finishing up homework, showers, etc. Finally, at 9:45, I thought most of the kids were heading to bed (we have a 9 p.m. bedtime, except for, apparently, Tuesdays). Turns out Harrison and Arlie were still picking out school picture day outfits, Hannah was helping Arlie (and making elaborate promises to curl her hair in the morning) and Hayley still had a couple hours of homework left...........GAH!!! I'm tired, sweaty, in need of a shower, still haven't made lunches for tomorrow and I have a headache the size of Texas. I'm not such a fan of Tuesdays.