2/6/09 The Work Day

I can't wait until I can go to work on Fridays -- it'd be a lot less work!

I dragged my sorry rear end out of bed at 7:15, sacrificing timely grooming and dressing for a little extra sleep, and sprang right into action getting kids moving, dressed, fed, teeth brushed, knapsacks packed, lunches out, shoes and jackets on, excuses fielded, strap in the car. In theory, spending time with my children in the morning shouldn't be work, but in practice, getting them all out the door -- including the 6.5 minutes I spend getting dressed myself -- is hard labor.

Then it was post office, jobsite meeting, lighting store, plumbing store, bath store, (shh, Starbucks), home to make immediate phone calls, upload photos, send emails including photos of various problems that came up at the jobsite meeting.

At 3:30 I lay down to ease my breaking back -- it's still verrry iffy. At 4:00, I had breakfast. Sleep is always the higher priority.

Then it was right back to action writing checks, answering email, paying bills, opening boxes, zooming out to pick up kids -- out of time to unload my completely packed car, and Gabriel had to climb over a long box between his and Julian's seat (this turned out to be a good thing!). With all three strapped in, it was back to the jobsite to unload the car, find a few things, reload with a few delivered packages -- a lot of work since the front entries to the house are blocked off right now.

Finally, after 6pm, time to go home with my arguing brood and....work some more?!

Forget it! I called Dave: "meet us at the restaurant!" Gabriel rebelled, "Why can't we go home and have macaroni and cheese?" "Because I worked hard today and I'm not cooking tonight!" "You worked hard doing what?" he demanded.

I didn't think he'd understand.

Thank goodness, Katrina was the model toddler at the restaurant this time, but it's one of our longtime favorites, a Japanese restaurant that's very kid-friendly. "Mmm, yummy!" she said of the miso soup. We pulled it off with no preparation and no kid-gear at all. The only issue we had was Gabriel hugging and kissing Katrina so much we had to move him so she'd quit screaming at him after she got tired of it.

I made of ton of remodeling progress today, such as delivering a carload full of light fixtures, and finished up most of the final ordering. It's actually way past time that I should be ordering things; they should be installing everything now. But while I can spend 10 minutes picking a kitchen countertop or staircase carpet, it can take me days to settle on the right handtowel holder. I'm still missing a doorstop here or there, but now anything I order now is to address a problem (like discovering today that a small medicine cabinet, now installed and painted, arrived without a door).

It's encouraging to get past big hurdles, but as I look around the muddy, gouged, weedy yards, I see many many years of work ahead.

2/6/09