My day in hours and minutes

AM
6:30 drag myself out of bed
6:40-7:00 make breakfast and haul kids out of bed
7:00-7:10 prayers and scriptures
7:10-7:50 dump a huge pile of laundry down the stairs to sort it for washing, make kids eat breakfast, make kids get dressed, make kids find school stuff, make kids stop playing in the snow and get into the car.
7:55 drop Gleek and Link at school
7:55-8:20 forget I have to drop Kiki at school because she missed her bus, turn around and drive toward her school, absent mindedly drive past her school because my brain is busy planning out the rest of the day, turn around and take her there, then drive her back home to retrieve her forgotten clarinet, drive her back to school hitting all the correct turns this time.
8:20-8:30 talk with Howard in the kitchen planning out how the day needs to go and some upcoming plot points in the Schlock strip.
8:30-9:00 take a long overdue shower
9:00-9:25 sit with Patches helping him write his name on valentines and talking about preschool in the hopes that extra attention will help him go to preschool happily instead of clinging to me and crying.
9:25-9:35 drive Patches to preschool after he refuses to get in the carpool car. Once at preschool he dove into the activities and did not even look up to say goodbye.
9:40-9:55 fix and eat breakfast because I’ve been to busy to get around to it before.
10:00-10:30 drive to elementary school and watch a program where all the classes take turns singing
10:30-10:50 duck out of the program early once Gleek and Link have both sung, spend time talking with a friend whom I see far too seldom.
10:55-11:10 talk with Howard, tell him about the school program, step over the huge pile of laundry at the base of the stairs, contemplate sorting it so I can start the first load, get distracted
11:10-12:00 drive to the dollar store to buy prizes for our motivational prize box which needs to be replenished before this convention weekend, discover that 50 other people thought this was a great time for the dollar store too, wait in a very long line, drive home
PM
12:00-12:10 read scripts for Howard, laugh cause they’re funny
12:10-12:20 welcome Patches home from preschool, help him get settled finishing his valentines
12:20-1:15 Open my email for the first time all day, answer every email for which I have an answer, research answers so that I can answer the other emails, discover some emails that still need responses which must wait for another day
1:15-2:00 feed Patches, read blogs, read comics, read news
2:00-2:15 Help Patches with a video game
2:15-2:25 pick up Link and Gleek from school
2:25-3:00 hand valentines to Gleek and Link, help them spell a pile of names, eat a bowl of oatmeal because I didn’t have lunch yet, contemplate sorting laundry and starting the first load, decide to do dishes first, unload dishwasher, but don’t reload because Kiki arrived home
3:00-3:15 Kiki comes home from school with a bag of ice on her left arm and a note from her typing teacher saying Kiki might have carpal tunnel, poke and prod Kiki’s arm to determine that Kiki isn’t over dramatizing to get out of typing, she isn’t,
3:15-3:25 call Howard to consult about Kiki’s arm, he recommends a drop in chiropractic clinc
3:25-3:30 send Gleek to go play at a friend’s house, settle Link and Patches with a video game
3:30-4:10 drive to clinic, fill out papers, watch Kiki get adjusted, wait while she lays on the massage table, drive home
4:10-4:20 feed Kiki, remind Link that art lessons are today so that he doesn’t throw a fit when I declare time to go, realize I should retrieve Gleek from friend’s house so she can go with us on the art carpool, lay down on the bed instead
4:20-4:30 get woken up by Patches who needed something or other, announce “time for art” to Kiki and Link, run to grab Gleek from neighbor’s house, pile four kids and a package of graham crackers into the car
4:30-4:50 drive to art, unload Kiki and Link, they were 15 minutes late to a one hour lesson, drive back home
4:50-5:20 contemplate making dinner, feel exhausted and unprepared to argue with kids about eating, decide to buy it from the grocery store instead, sit down for a few minute’s peace and start writing this blog entry
5:20-5:45 load Gleek and Patches back into the car, drive to art, pick up Kiki and Link, drive to grocery store
5:45-6:15 herd four kids through the grocery store negotiating what to have for dinner, buy both a frozen pizza and fried chicken, Kiki and Link bounce around the store like cheerful ping-pong balls (Kiki is feeling better)
6:15-7:00 feed four kids dinner, eat dinner
7:00-7:30 sit down with my computer hoping for a few moments peace in which to finish this entry, I almost do
7:30-7:45 Gleek is headed for a tantrum, I read her two stories thus giving her the attention she needed to restore equilibrium

Thats as far as I’ve gotten in this day. Yet to go are cleaning up from dinner, snack time, bedtime, writing a check for merchandise that we need for the convention this weekend. Laundry and dishes are still undone. I haven’t even opened my planner yet today because I’ve been too busy. When I do, I’m sure I’ll find a nice logical list of things that I was supposed to get done today, but which can not possibly fit in the time that remains to me.

And yet, it has been a good day. I’ve been doing important things all day long. It is true I wish they were spread out a little more, but all of these things landed on my schedule because I am the one who wants them done. They are all things that I assigned to myself rather than things others assigned to me. There are not many people in the world who get to have that, and I am grateful.