It's really more difficult to chronicle a day than I thought. I mean, I knew it would be a challenge, not only to find the time to actually sit down and type it out, but to remember every detail when I can't even get my kids' names to come out right. Things have been coming to mind as I have read and reread the exciting, on-the-edge-of-my-seat account of February 4, 2009. Like, I didn't say when I ate breakfast, but I know I did eat breakfast somewhere between 6:40 a.m. and noon. In fact, I remember having a fruit bar with peanut butter and a cup of milk. Also, there was a lot more snuggling, hugging, talking to, and playing with the little ones than I wrote down--and even conversation with the older ones, as well. Most importantly, I didn't mention anything about prayer time because I did not have a certain time of just prayer. Although it is a grand thing when I spend time in just prayer, I admit I do not make that happen on a daily basis. However, I am in continual conversation with my Lord throughout the day, mostly in the form of "Help me, Jesus" or "Get him, Lord" or "Lord, pleeeeease."
And we have Bible time around here, divided into the "big kids" and the "little ones." Currently, I am reading through the Narrated Bible with the big kids and the Egermeir Bible Story Book with the little ones. Kaylyn (almost 13) has recently been promoted to the "big kids", so our older group now consists of David (when he's here in the morning), Bethany, Jaimie and Kaylyn. That leaves Aaron (10), Hannah (5), and Camryn (2 1/2) for the younger group. The older group is uh, shall we say, catatonic (especially before 9:00 a.m.), while the younger group is, well, not. But just when we think they aren't listening, they can at least tell us the main parts of the Bible story.
So, in an effort to justify my lack of concentrated prayer on February 4, 2009, I submit to you that I do pray. Just not enough. God help me.
And He does. Amen.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
A Day in the Life
Wanted to chronicle a day for sometime now. Finally took the time to do it.
February 4, 2009
6:20 a.m. Wake up and check my watch. Wonder if David is getting up for school. David getting up for school. Excellent. Go back to sleep. Camryn has apparently slept all night since I notice she isn’t in my bed.
6:40 a.m. David wakes me up. Have to leave in ten minutes to catch the bus at the mid-high. 18 degrees outside. Brrr.
7:00 a.m. Back home, quietly build fire, check email, Facebook. Enjoy the quiet.
7:25 a.m. Go in to wake up Ted but he is sitting up already. Asks me if I “hollered something” at him earlier, like “Teddy, time to wake up.” I say he must have dreamed it.
7:30 a.m. Load dishwasher and start it. Make coffee for Ted. He is going with Bob to the auction today.
7:45 a.m. Bible reading in Narrated Bible. I am a few days behind but catching up today.
8:00 a.m. Shower. Earlier than I have been getting one. Camryn still asleep after waiting up for me last night when I was out with Wanda and Sarah. She almost had her daddy asleep when I got home around 11:20. Good girl.
8:20 a.m. Sort laundry in my room, bring some to laundry room to start. Get Camryn up. She is standing in her crib with no clothes on, just her diaper. Change her diaper and help her dress which is one of her favorite activities—picking out clothes and putting them on. Over and over throughout the day.
8:50 a.m. Bible time with Bethany, Jaimie & Kaylyn. Reading about Abraham and Sarah, their name changes and God’s promise of a son.
9:00 a.m. Check new chore schedule and discover I have breakfast cleanup and Bethany has lunch cleanup. She complains, saying she wants breakfast cleanup every day. Truth is she doesn’t want any of it any day.
9:05 a.m. Clean up kitchen, wash pans, vacuum floor. Get sidetracked and don’t do Bible with the little ones. Sweep school room. Switch laundry loads. Go in search of my lip balm when I remember it is in my jeans that I just put in the laundry. Rescue it before it tastes like “clean burst” laundry detergent.
9:50 a.m. Get Jaimie in school room, go over writing lesson, watch part of writing video. She makes hair and fashion suggestions for video teacher. Today is her main school day with me. (We are trying yet another schedule.) Discover she did not do her assignments from last week. Tsk tsk. She complains about her back hurting and wanting to lie down.
10:30 a.m. Eszter calls. They all have stomach bug. Asks me to get them some chicken soup, Jell-o and popsicles if I am going to the store today. I put some chicken on to cook for the soup. Will pick up the other things on the way to her house when soup is done. Schedule change.
11:00 a.m. Typing this. Dryer is beeping. Little ones are upstairs with Kaylyn. Seems that Aaron has sneaked up there as well. Another tsk.
11:15 a.m. Check the chicken on the stove, add some seasoning. Switch laundry loads. Hang up my shirts and fold rest of the load. Hannah and Camryn have applesauce for a snack. Remind Aaron about the trash. Wish I had a dollar for every time I do that a day. Tell Jaimie to do her school work. More dollars.
12:00 noonish. Dish up chicken and noodles for Eszter. Change shoes, fix hair, put on hoodie. Leave kids to get their own noodles for lunch. Talk to Mom on phone while driving to Reasors. Pick up Jell-o, popsicles, applesauce, Gatorade. Drop it off at Eszter’s house. Kids usually swarm me when I go there but apparently stomach bug has subdued them somewhat. Don’t see Eszter.
12:30 p.m. Drive to Walmart gas station to use remainder of shopping card. Put in $16.28 which didn’t quite fill up tank. Stare at Walmart trying to remember what I need from there. Decide I must not need anything for once. Head south on 169 and make it to 86th street when I get a vision of printer ink cartridges that are bone dry. Also remember I want to check Office Depot for Dell ink and special paper for a project I am working on. Exit 86th street and head north again. Find some bargains at Office Depot but no Dell ink, so it’s off to Walmart anyway. Pick up a few other things that apparently I don’t know I don’t need.
1:20 p.m. Home. Ted is fixing his lunch for work. Haven’t seen him all morning. Noodles are all gone. Good thing I snacked on peanut clusters on the way home. Ted questions me about the brand of chocolate I bought. It is not Hershey’s—what’s up with that? Kiss Ted goodbye and get hugs and kisses from little ones. Work on taxes some more.
2:30 p.m. Grab Camryn and get her ready for nap. Read “George Washington’s Cows” (a really cute and really overdue library book), snuggle, and put her in bed. On my way out of her room, I hear, “Kumeer. Kumeer.” She is motioning me with her little finger. When I get back to her bed, she kisses her finger and motions for me to come closer. She puts that finger kiss right on my lips. That is worth the trip back across the clothes and books strewn on the floor.
2:50 p.m. Change into exercise clothes. Answer questions from Jaimie and Bethany about where I am going. Bethany has ipod on while she cleans kitchen so she asks what-where-are-you-going a few times. Jaimie wants to come too but she hasn’t done her schoolwork. Tsk.
3:00 p.m. Bethany and I go to Y. She heads directly for the large room with basketball goals and I go to the large room with the bikes. I like riding and reading at the same time. Only works on a stationary bike. Begin a borrowed book, “Petticoat Ranch.” Not nearly as corny as it looks.
3:20 p.m. Peddling and reading. Startle when I realize Bethany is standing right next to me to tell me David has been trying to call me. He is waiting at high school for a ride home. Pretty sure he is going to get his license soon. I text him that I will be about 15 minutes. He texts back with the predictable, “Hurry up, I want to go home.” Note to self: Be sure to teach younger ones patience.
3:40 p.m. Leave Y, head to high school. David jumps in car, we head home. Inform David he has supper kitchen duty. Two things that never change: God and David complaining about chores.
4:00 p.m. Work on taxes some more. Find more deductions and corrections. Call Ted at work for help on deciphering about ten rental receipts. Call David (who is upstairs in his room—hey, I already exercised) to bring me his W-2 so we can work on his taxes. He is nervous about having to pay Uncle Sam thousands of dollars. He actually gets 500+ back. Relief.
5:30 p.m. Doorbell rings. Megan is picking up Kaylyn to go to youth group at Megan’s church. Kaylyn is excited to see Megan. She was supposed to spend the night with us last Friday but I was sick.
5:45 p.m. Aaron and Hannah are fighting. Actually, they’ve been doing that all day so I should note sometime when they are NOT fighting. I make them sit by each other on the couch and work out their problems.
6:00 p.m. Jaimie suggests chicken burritos for dinner so we make them. Aaron and Hannah are still fighting/negotiating a peace treaty. The rest of us accidentally eat all of the burritos except for half of one when Aaron comes to eat. Oops.
7:00 p.m. Work on taxes some more. Try to jog my memory about anything I might have forgotten. It helps to let them sit a day or two after I think they’re done to allow for middle-of-the-night revelations about some deduction I forgot or some figure I need to check. God has probably saved me from an audit with this method.
7:45 p.m. Bath time for Camryn and Hannah. They are sweet and silly in the bathtub. Even more so tonight because they don’t splash me or dump water on me. Hannah stomps off before she gets in the tub when I tell her, yes, we have to wash your hair. I find her laying on my bed saying she is NOT going to get her dumb hair washed. Her hair, and the rest of her, gets washed because I am bigger than she is.
8:15 p.m. Phone rings. Eszter calls to tell me I am an angel. Her Hungarian accent makes it sound like it might be true. Get Hannah out of tub while talking to Eszter then leave the bathroom so I can hear on the phone. Hannah jumps back in the tub with Camryn. Camryn is squealing loudly and Eszter says, “I know you are beezy. I call you back.” Drag them both out of the tub and dry them off. Find jammies for Camryn, tell Hannah to go get dressed and hang up her towel.
8:30 p.m. Brush their hair and put lotion on them. Get Camryn dressed. Hannah wants something to eat. Read “The Legend of the Candy Cane” to them and Aaron plops down to listen, too. Hannah still wants something to eat.
9:00 p.m. Hannah eats some Life cereal. Kaylyn helps Hannah clean up the milk Hannah spills trying to pour her own in a little container of cereal which I told her was too small. Snuggle with Camryn, try to get her in a sleeping mood. She seems to be in a wiggly, no-way-I’m-going-to-sleep-for-awhile mood. Doesn’t match my I’ve-been-living-for-bedtime mood. I wonder why women cycle together but mommies and girl toddlers don’t.
9:15 p.m. Get hugs from Hannah, say prayers with her. Send her to bed. Send her to bed again. She continues to hug and grind kisses into my facial bones. Read “On the Shores of Silver Lake” to Aaron.
9:30 p.m. Read some more to Camryn and play with her. Take her to bed and feel the I’m-not-tired energy pulsing through her chubby little body. This could take awhile. I stand holding her by her bed while she chatters and I try to say prayers with her. Tell her goodnight and lay her down while she is still chattering. I stand and visit with her a little longer. She is quiet when I leave the room. Ah, maybe she will go to sleep after all.
9:35 p.m. Read more to Aaron. Say goodnight prayers with him.
9:40 p.m. Camryn cries.
9:45 p.m. Sit on couch and stare drowsily. Send Kaylyn to tell Camryn to be quiet and go to sleep. Kaylyn reports that Camryn got into begging position (on knees with hands clasped under chin which her sisters taught her to do for marshmallows) and begged, “See Mommy pleeze.”
9:50 p.m. Send Kaylyn to get Camryn. We snuggle on couch…I fall over and she lays down beside me. Say goodnight prayers with Kaylyn.
10:30 p.m. I think Camryn is finally convinced it is bedtime. Make note not to let her nap past 5:00 p.m. again. Put her in bed and she goes to sleep.
10:40 p.m. Check my email. Tell Jaimie to get wood from back porch. I am really only joking but she does it. Nice. Say goodnight prayers with Jaimie. Revive the fire and curl up on couch with not-so-corny book. Read until my eyes won’t stay open. Say goodnight prayers with Bethany. Doze off, knowing how difficult it is to drag myself off the couch to bed later.
11:30ish. Peel contacts out of eyes and fall into bed. No nap today so I am really tired. Didn’t catch up my Bible reading after all. Tsk. (Realize after reading all this to Ted that I really had no memory of last night at all. Seems he woke me up when he got home after midnight. I do have a very faint recollection of that. He is afraid to wake me up for fear of retaliation. I am working on it.)
Middle-of-the-night. Realize Ted is sleeping in the bed because I hear his breathing machine. Remember that I forgot to add water to his machine and turn on the heater and that I didn’t remember him coming home.
5:30 a.m. (next day) Wake up and wish I was still asleep because David will wake me up in about an hour. Go back to sleep.
6:45 a.m. See above.
February 4, 2009
6:20 a.m. Wake up and check my watch. Wonder if David is getting up for school. David getting up for school. Excellent. Go back to sleep. Camryn has apparently slept all night since I notice she isn’t in my bed.
6:40 a.m. David wakes me up. Have to leave in ten minutes to catch the bus at the mid-high. 18 degrees outside. Brrr.
7:00 a.m. Back home, quietly build fire, check email, Facebook. Enjoy the quiet.
7:25 a.m. Go in to wake up Ted but he is sitting up already. Asks me if I “hollered something” at him earlier, like “Teddy, time to wake up.” I say he must have dreamed it.
7:30 a.m. Load dishwasher and start it. Make coffee for Ted. He is going with Bob to the auction today.
7:45 a.m. Bible reading in Narrated Bible. I am a few days behind but catching up today.
8:00 a.m. Shower. Earlier than I have been getting one. Camryn still asleep after waiting up for me last night when I was out with Wanda and Sarah. She almost had her daddy asleep when I got home around 11:20. Good girl.
8:20 a.m. Sort laundry in my room, bring some to laundry room to start. Get Camryn up. She is standing in her crib with no clothes on, just her diaper. Change her diaper and help her dress which is one of her favorite activities—picking out clothes and putting them on. Over and over throughout the day.
8:50 a.m. Bible time with Bethany, Jaimie & Kaylyn. Reading about Abraham and Sarah, their name changes and God’s promise of a son.
9:00 a.m. Check new chore schedule and discover I have breakfast cleanup and Bethany has lunch cleanup. She complains, saying she wants breakfast cleanup every day. Truth is she doesn’t want any of it any day.
9:05 a.m. Clean up kitchen, wash pans, vacuum floor. Get sidetracked and don’t do Bible with the little ones. Sweep school room. Switch laundry loads. Go in search of my lip balm when I remember it is in my jeans that I just put in the laundry. Rescue it before it tastes like “clean burst” laundry detergent.
9:50 a.m. Get Jaimie in school room, go over writing lesson, watch part of writing video. She makes hair and fashion suggestions for video teacher. Today is her main school day with me. (We are trying yet another schedule.) Discover she did not do her assignments from last week. Tsk tsk. She complains about her back hurting and wanting to lie down.
10:30 a.m. Eszter calls. They all have stomach bug. Asks me to get them some chicken soup, Jell-o and popsicles if I am going to the store today. I put some chicken on to cook for the soup. Will pick up the other things on the way to her house when soup is done. Schedule change.
11:00 a.m. Typing this. Dryer is beeping. Little ones are upstairs with Kaylyn. Seems that Aaron has sneaked up there as well. Another tsk.
11:15 a.m. Check the chicken on the stove, add some seasoning. Switch laundry loads. Hang up my shirts and fold rest of the load. Hannah and Camryn have applesauce for a snack. Remind Aaron about the trash. Wish I had a dollar for every time I do that a day. Tell Jaimie to do her school work. More dollars.
12:00 noonish. Dish up chicken and noodles for Eszter. Change shoes, fix hair, put on hoodie. Leave kids to get their own noodles for lunch. Talk to Mom on phone while driving to Reasors. Pick up Jell-o, popsicles, applesauce, Gatorade. Drop it off at Eszter’s house. Kids usually swarm me when I go there but apparently stomach bug has subdued them somewhat. Don’t see Eszter.
12:30 p.m. Drive to Walmart gas station to use remainder of shopping card. Put in $16.28 which didn’t quite fill up tank. Stare at Walmart trying to remember what I need from there. Decide I must not need anything for once. Head south on 169 and make it to 86th street when I get a vision of printer ink cartridges that are bone dry. Also remember I want to check Office Depot for Dell ink and special paper for a project I am working on. Exit 86th street and head north again. Find some bargains at Office Depot but no Dell ink, so it’s off to Walmart anyway. Pick up a few other things that apparently I don’t know I don’t need.
1:20 p.m. Home. Ted is fixing his lunch for work. Haven’t seen him all morning. Noodles are all gone. Good thing I snacked on peanut clusters on the way home. Ted questions me about the brand of chocolate I bought. It is not Hershey’s—what’s up with that? Kiss Ted goodbye and get hugs and kisses from little ones. Work on taxes some more.
2:30 p.m. Grab Camryn and get her ready for nap. Read “George Washington’s Cows” (a really cute and really overdue library book), snuggle, and put her in bed. On my way out of her room, I hear, “Kumeer. Kumeer.” She is motioning me with her little finger. When I get back to her bed, she kisses her finger and motions for me to come closer. She puts that finger kiss right on my lips. That is worth the trip back across the clothes and books strewn on the floor.
2:50 p.m. Change into exercise clothes. Answer questions from Jaimie and Bethany about where I am going. Bethany has ipod on while she cleans kitchen so she asks what-where-are-you-going a few times. Jaimie wants to come too but she hasn’t done her schoolwork. Tsk.
3:00 p.m. Bethany and I go to Y. She heads directly for the large room with basketball goals and I go to the large room with the bikes. I like riding and reading at the same time. Only works on a stationary bike. Begin a borrowed book, “Petticoat Ranch.” Not nearly as corny as it looks.
3:20 p.m. Peddling and reading. Startle when I realize Bethany is standing right next to me to tell me David has been trying to call me. He is waiting at high school for a ride home. Pretty sure he is going to get his license soon. I text him that I will be about 15 minutes. He texts back with the predictable, “Hurry up, I want to go home.” Note to self: Be sure to teach younger ones patience.
3:40 p.m. Leave Y, head to high school. David jumps in car, we head home. Inform David he has supper kitchen duty. Two things that never change: God and David complaining about chores.
4:00 p.m. Work on taxes some more. Find more deductions and corrections. Call Ted at work for help on deciphering about ten rental receipts. Call David (who is upstairs in his room—hey, I already exercised) to bring me his W-2 so we can work on his taxes. He is nervous about having to pay Uncle Sam thousands of dollars. He actually gets 500+ back. Relief.
5:30 p.m. Doorbell rings. Megan is picking up Kaylyn to go to youth group at Megan’s church. Kaylyn is excited to see Megan. She was supposed to spend the night with us last Friday but I was sick.
5:45 p.m. Aaron and Hannah are fighting. Actually, they’ve been doing that all day so I should note sometime when they are NOT fighting. I make them sit by each other on the couch and work out their problems.
6:00 p.m. Jaimie suggests chicken burritos for dinner so we make them. Aaron and Hannah are still fighting/negotiating a peace treaty. The rest of us accidentally eat all of the burritos except for half of one when Aaron comes to eat. Oops.
7:00 p.m. Work on taxes some more. Try to jog my memory about anything I might have forgotten. It helps to let them sit a day or two after I think they’re done to allow for middle-of-the-night revelations about some deduction I forgot or some figure I need to check. God has probably saved me from an audit with this method.
7:45 p.m. Bath time for Camryn and Hannah. They are sweet and silly in the bathtub. Even more so tonight because they don’t splash me or dump water on me. Hannah stomps off before she gets in the tub when I tell her, yes, we have to wash your hair. I find her laying on my bed saying she is NOT going to get her dumb hair washed. Her hair, and the rest of her, gets washed because I am bigger than she is.
8:15 p.m. Phone rings. Eszter calls to tell me I am an angel. Her Hungarian accent makes it sound like it might be true. Get Hannah out of tub while talking to Eszter then leave the bathroom so I can hear on the phone. Hannah jumps back in the tub with Camryn. Camryn is squealing loudly and Eszter says, “I know you are beezy. I call you back.” Drag them both out of the tub and dry them off. Find jammies for Camryn, tell Hannah to go get dressed and hang up her towel.
8:30 p.m. Brush their hair and put lotion on them. Get Camryn dressed. Hannah wants something to eat. Read “The Legend of the Candy Cane” to them and Aaron plops down to listen, too. Hannah still wants something to eat.
9:00 p.m. Hannah eats some Life cereal. Kaylyn helps Hannah clean up the milk Hannah spills trying to pour her own in a little container of cereal which I told her was too small. Snuggle with Camryn, try to get her in a sleeping mood. She seems to be in a wiggly, no-way-I’m-going-to-sleep-for-awhile mood. Doesn’t match my I’ve-been-living-for-bedtime mood. I wonder why women cycle together but mommies and girl toddlers don’t.
9:15 p.m. Get hugs from Hannah, say prayers with her. Send her to bed. Send her to bed again. She continues to hug and grind kisses into my facial bones. Read “On the Shores of Silver Lake” to Aaron.
9:30 p.m. Read some more to Camryn and play with her. Take her to bed and feel the I’m-not-tired energy pulsing through her chubby little body. This could take awhile. I stand holding her by her bed while she chatters and I try to say prayers with her. Tell her goodnight and lay her down while she is still chattering. I stand and visit with her a little longer. She is quiet when I leave the room. Ah, maybe she will go to sleep after all.
9:35 p.m. Read more to Aaron. Say goodnight prayers with him.
9:40 p.m. Camryn cries.
9:45 p.m. Sit on couch and stare drowsily. Send Kaylyn to tell Camryn to be quiet and go to sleep. Kaylyn reports that Camryn got into begging position (on knees with hands clasped under chin which her sisters taught her to do for marshmallows) and begged, “See Mommy pleeze.”
9:50 p.m. Send Kaylyn to get Camryn. We snuggle on couch…I fall over and she lays down beside me. Say goodnight prayers with Kaylyn.
10:30 p.m. I think Camryn is finally convinced it is bedtime. Make note not to let her nap past 5:00 p.m. again. Put her in bed and she goes to sleep.
10:40 p.m. Check my email. Tell Jaimie to get wood from back porch. I am really only joking but she does it. Nice. Say goodnight prayers with Jaimie. Revive the fire and curl up on couch with not-so-corny book. Read until my eyes won’t stay open. Say goodnight prayers with Bethany. Doze off, knowing how difficult it is to drag myself off the couch to bed later.
11:30ish. Peel contacts out of eyes and fall into bed. No nap today so I am really tired. Didn’t catch up my Bible reading after all. Tsk. (Realize after reading all this to Ted that I really had no memory of last night at all. Seems he woke me up when he got home after midnight. I do have a very faint recollection of that. He is afraid to wake me up for fear of retaliation. I am working on it.)
Middle-of-the-night. Realize Ted is sleeping in the bed because I hear his breathing machine. Remember that I forgot to add water to his machine and turn on the heater and that I didn’t remember him coming home.
5:30 a.m. (next day) Wake up and wish I was still asleep because David will wake me up in about an hour. Go back to sleep.
6:45 a.m. See above.
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