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The day started with church. The most fascinating thing about church for the kids is the donuts and snacks they get afterward. Today the 4yo was given a balloon animal before the service that became the center of a custody battle during worship. Like things at the center of a custody battle sometimes do, it fell apart. I had to remove it to the hallway so the disputing parties could focus. I was thrilled that I forgot my carefully packed church bag with all the pencils and crayons in it. Because I did, I had the pleasure of watching the kids dig my expensive gel pens into the paper through to the hymnals they were using as “desks.”

We were eager to get home and eat before the boys’
football games.
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IMG_1176We were well on our way when someone asked where the 10yo was. We turned around wondering why it took so long for anyone to notice. During lunch, my friend Melva called wanting to know if we had seen a craft sitting on the bench by the front doors of the church. Turns out we had visitors to our church who had a child who was crushed when her Children’s Worship craft disappeared. Yes, we took it, but not our son.

While dh and the boys went to more flag football games, I tried to escape a screaming toddler and a cone-wielding dog and get the house cleaned up. I am so over the dog cone. Daisy is much more energetic now and continually rams my bare legs and feet with that thing.

You’d think I’d like having the boys gone while I clean, but I honestly need their help! It took me a lot longer working alone. I wasn’t really alone though. I had my Dyson. The Dyson has been a great purchase. I think in normal homes, it sounds like a quiet jet engine. At my house, it sounds more like a popcorn popper. Whatever works! I wanted to get caught up on laundry, too. My reward for my hastiness was discovering I had washed a diaper. Diaper droppings are like the anti-manna. It ain’t sweet and it lasts much longer than a day.

With the 2yo in bed, I sat down to get my blogging done. That’s when the doorbell rang. It was a man handing out political flyers. He asked who I was voting for in our local elections. In the process of confronting me about my poor choice, he shared that he was recently unemployed and had voted for the right to carry concealed weapons. Okay. Who do you want me to vote for again? After carefully locking my door, I set about to help my dear IMG_1188
friend Deb with her book cover. Her book, Sarah’s Garden, is so fabulous and only needs the cover to be printed correctly through CreateSpace to be done. Deb and the 12yo daughter of my friend Gregg have worked so hard on this book, I just wanted to help
get it into proper format if possible.That’s when dh appeared and asked, “Weren’t you going to clean the house today?” I told him I had already cleaned the house. He said, “Oh the upstairs?” Um, no, the downstairs. I developed an immediate attitude problem. I think he wigged out because I told him that Phyllis said I should write my fiction book this month. Or maybe that wasp venom went to his brain? IMG_0133
Anyone could see that my house was C-L-E-A-N clean. He later apologized. I think I scared him.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of salmon and broccoli and then it was family time. My dh’s idea of family time is to get all Tony Little on us and insist that we do push-ups and sit-ups til we can’t move. I snuck away to the back room that was so full of toys and games that had been thrown on the floor in the name of “picking up” that you couldn’t even walk through it. I managed to find 7 boxes of toys to give away. I asked dh to show me his muscles by carrying them up to the garage before the kids could pull them out. I would show you a picture but I want to scream and cry over it. I don’t need a picture to remember this. I have PTSD from it and will see that room in my nightmares until the kids move out. Maybe after, too.

I ended the evening reading the second IMG_1190
principle for making the most of today: priorities. Blogging like this has helped me get a handle on those. Of course, I can’t continue to blog this way daily. We’re probably all glad of that! But what I can do is appreciate the humor and the blessings of this crazy family of eight each day. Thank you for sharing a week in my life with me. It helped me stay sane knowing I wasn’t in it alone.

Read Life After a Week in My Life