Yesterday.
A bit busy.
Okay, a LOT busy.
But it’s been a rather typical day around here the past couple of weeks, especially since I’ve started with painting the house.
This was
YESTERDAY.
This post is dedicated to my mother, who asks me daily, “So, what did you get done today?” :)
[and this is long. my family is probably the only ones who will read it!]
– Day begins at 6:30. Got up with Olivia, fed her a bottle, put her back to bed
– stayed up. My day started with hot coffee and biscotti along with some quiet time
– checked my email and a few other internet sites
-chatted with a sister on facebook for about 2 minutes
-did 2 loads of laundry
-hung laundry out to dry on the washline
– Zoe woke up; fed her breakfast
-packed lunch to take to the Park House (what we call the new house because it’s across from a park, and that way Zoe knows which house we’re talking about)
-called Sonya to ask if she had a baby walker, since Olivia gets so bored in her playpen
-fed the cats
-Olivia woke up; fed her breakfast
-made a final grocery list (somehow thought I was going to go shopping for that yesterday but it never happened. Today we were down to using Zoe’s candy-flavored toothpaste for everyone, and down to the last roll of toilet paper.)
-loaded up the car, buckled 3 of us in
-stopped at a kid’s consignment shop on the way into town, bought a very dated walker thinking Olivia may be better entertained
-buckled the 3 of us back in the car
-stopped at Sugar & Spice Bake Shop and picked up donuts for the guys working at the house
-Zoe promptly eats 4 donut holes and is too full for any lunch
-Got to the Park House and unloaded diaper bag, lunch, Zoe’-s toys, Olivia’s walker, and both girls
-changed into paint clothes
-measured all the windows in the house so Mom can check @ the Habitat ReStore in Pennsylvania for plantation shutters.
-Ben mixed a 5-gallon bucket of trim paint for me. I organized my paint supplies.
-Talked with a sister for a few minutes.
-I forgot my paint flip-flops. Go barefoot in a FILTHY house rather than risk dripping paint on my pink flips.
-Zoe had to go potty. No toilets in the house, so we go behind a tree in the backyard. :/
-Lunchtime! Zoe is still full from 4 donut holes.
-introduce Olivia to the walker. There is no connection, no chemistry. Bummer.
-begin painting one of the four old beadboard ceilings by hand – again. Neck-breaking work. I need a chiropractor.
-move to bathroom #2 because a worker cleaning a brick fireplace in the room adjoining bathroom #1 is making too much dust.
-2nd coat of paint in bathroom #2. 2nd color too. So hard to get the “vintage aqua” look that I want. Still not settled on the color…
-begin caulking beadboard ceiling in bathroom #2.
-Olivia is grouchy. Try to settle her down. Carry playpen across the house so she can see me caulk. Exciting.
-Zoe needs to go potty again. Not the “squat by the tree” kind. The “Dairy Queen” kind. Both girls and I buckle up in the car and go 1/2 mile to DQ.
-Zoe heads straight for the restroom. She knows this place. Mission accomplished. Should be okay until it’s time to go home now.
-bought a dish of chocolate ice cream. After being in DQ daily for the past 1.5 weeks, I was feeling guilty for not being a customer and so bought something to compensate.
-buckled up in the car for the 4th time. Olivia is tired, so I explore little neighborhoods with the car until Zoe told me that Baby was sleeping. Zoe drips ice cream all over her.
-we go back to the Park House. Zoe plays outside in the dirt piles and with the water hose.
-Olivia wakes up. Zoe feeds her crackers outside the bathoom door to keep her happy. Carseat is covered in cracker-goo.
-Zoe pours shovel-fulls of sand over my toes as I caulk. Wearing my pink flip-flops now rather than get such dirty feet. Now have dirty flip-flops.
-I caulk some more. Ceiling is 2/3 completed and my neck feels terrible. Caulk gun messes up before I can finish the ceiling. Man. I so badly want to finish SOMETHING!
-Started painting ceiling in bathroom #2, but stopped because I forgot it first needs to be sanded. Start cleaning up paint supplies.
-Olivia is hungry. I feed her a bowl of yogurt.
-Zoe is playing outside with the water hose, taking off her shirt because she needs to “wash my tummy.” I check on her, then turn and run, shrieking as she turns the hose full-blast on me. Zoe soaks her remaining clothes on the bottom half.
-load everyone up in the car. Zoe is stripped down to her birthday suit. I hoped desperately I wouldn’t be stopped on the way home by a policeman and have to explain… Talk to mom on the way home. No luck with the plantation shutters.
-arrive at home. Unload the car and kids. Change the kids. Shower. Microwave leftovers for supper. Ben comes home and cleans up.
– we all load up in the truck this time. Is this the 6th time to buckle us all in? 6 times X 3 people each time = 18 buckles up and 18 buckled out. Whew. We take Zoe over to Aunt Sonya’s house – thank you Sonya! – then the three remaining of us head an hour away to B. to pick out tile. Tile man starts Wednesday and we need supplies.
-hit Home Depot first, check out their tile selection, then go to Lowe’s (1/2 mile away) and inspect their tile department; return to Home Depot. Give Olivia a bottle.
-walk around Home Depot for 2.5 hours, carrying Olivia the whole time (why didn’t I get a cart??). 2 construction carts and a whopping bill later, we check out at 9:30 pm.
-load up once more. Ben takes me by the Starbucks drive-through. Awwwwwww. Drive a hour home. Pick up Zoe after 11pm. Arrive at home about 11:30……………
And we call it a DAY!
Other than the evening trip out of town, that pretty much comprises my days right now…
Except TODAY it went like this:
-a morning that consisted of sleeping in, quiet time, feeding the girls breakfast, teaching a piano lesson.
-an afternoon that consisted of a very sweet friend who came to my house for the afternoon and watched my girls so I could go work at the house for a few hours.
-an evening where my husband was involved in a church event, and I went back out to the house and tried yet another trial color on the exterior of the house so we can give a final answer to the painter. Is this the 4th color? Hmmm, I think so. Poor painter. I went grocery shopping with the girls.
THAT is the kind of day I prefer. :)
Meanwhile, in the midst of the busy lives we have at the moment, I take a few moments now and then to daydream about what it will be like to live in the new house, and stay at home ALL DAY for days on end, just puttering around with my little projects and gardens and children…
