Tuesday, October 20, 2009

My Mom list

While I was sewing last night I watched a rebroadcast of Oprah, which never happens because I can't stand the lady. Who has time to watch TV in the afternoon anyway? It was 1 AM and the only thing on to keep me company. The part I watched was about one of Oprah's designer guys, we'll call him Blue Eyes, switching places with his Stay-at-Home-Mom sister. Did that make sense? They profiled Blue Eyes doing his sister's daily routine with 2 school-aged kids and a 2 year-old while Mom went off for a day of shopping and pampering. At the end of the segment, Oprah read off the list of all the things Blue Eyes did the entire day. My first thought was, "Welcome to every day in us SAHMoms lives." It's such a tiring yet fulfilling job!

So in the spirit of that segment about the hardest job in the world I thought it would be fun to write down a list of one of my days. If only I was as productive every day as I was today. I've been kicking stuff off my to-do list all morning. I'm just sitting down at 2:30 to eat a late lunch during nap time, and so far today I have accomplished the following;

Got up with the kids at 7:15 am (I know, woo hoo! but I was sewing until 2 AM so I'm proud of that one).
Made oatmeal for everyone and started lunches for school kids.
Got Syd out of bed and changed that foul-smelling first of the morning diaper (ya'll know that one).
Phone call from the electrician. Their coming at 8:30 to replace outlets/switches in the kitchen. Dang!, earlier than I thought.
Unlock 2 other units for the electrician before I forget.
Smooch J, Toby and the Mister bye for the day.
Sit Squid and Mr. Cooper up for breakfast.
'Hmmm, need to eat breakfast myself.'
Finish dinner dishes from last night instead.
Clean up clutter and move everything away from outlets for electricians to work.
Clean Syd up, sing songs and get her dressed.
'I should go eat breakfast.'
Get dressed myself instead.
Five minute contacts and make-up routine.
Do Syd's hair.
Ask Mr. Cooper to get dressed then play Goldilocks and the 3 Bears at the table so he'll sit and finish his oatmeal.
Log on to Gmail to get list from Dave when he tells me he forgot to drop off J's lunch at school that she forgot this morning.
Make another lunch and take it to J's school.
Make snack and clean off the rocking chair that Syd just drew on with a hidden Sharpie.
Pull out fridge so electrician can replace the outlet and clean the floor and wall behind it. Found some missing toys and lots of Cheerios underneath.
Take a break and lie down on the floor (my back still gives me bad days) where I get piled on by the Littles.
Throw in a load of laundry.
Make lunch and then put Squidy down for a nap.
Decide to finally install the end cap on our new countertop that's been sitting there for months.
Teach Logan to help with the hammer and metal files. An hour later, finished!
'Oh, I never ate breakfast. Maybe I should eat lunch before Syd wakes up.'
Fix a quick PB&J and make Dave's phone calls while Logan and Sam play Lego Batman.
So here I sit typing as fast as I can and Syd just woke up. Later.

It's now tomorrow, but my day yesterday continued with just as much productivity as it started. I'm tempted to chill out today and snuggle my chillies. In fact, I have. It's lunch time and I'm still in jammies. ;) I should get to work.

I am not envious of Oprah or anyone else who lives 'the good life' with a big job and pricey stuff. I love to set my own schedule, slow down if I need to and enjoy my little ones before they don't want to be around me anymore. My job as an at home Mom is the best in the world, even if I do get peed, pooped or puked on every once in awhile.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wicked cool

I forgot to mention my awesome birthday date with the Mister a couple weeks ago. I found tickets to Wicked for $30 off, so Dave finally agreed to take me the day after my birthday. It's really all I wanted for my b-day; a date with my Man at Wicked. It's been here in San Francisco since January, so I was super excited to finally go. We got stuck in traffic on the bridge (of course), parked and walked over to the Orpheum in time to stop at Burger King for some quality junk food. We had too much time for fast food and not enough time for a sit down dinner, which was a bummer. I joked with Dave that we had never seen so many people dressed up nicely in a BK before. That place probably does well with all the late-comers to events at the Orpheum because they are right across the street.
Wicked was entertainerated and enchantifying! I liked all the funny Oz speak which has since rubbed off at home. My kids think I'm confusifying. Thankfully, the tall girl right in front of me in the theater took off her hat in the first 10 minutes. Otherwise, things might have gotten a little tense. Dave liked Wicked too. We both agreed that Jess, our singer-in-training, would have loved it. After talking to my Mom the next day, we decided to pay for Jess to go see it with her Grandma. I thought Mom had already experienced Wicked, which she hadn't, so she jumped at the chance to take Jess. They had their own Wicked date night the next Tuesday and enjoyed it just as much as we did.
Mom didn't have to fight the weekend traffic so they got into the city with plenty of time to spare. They stopped by the Brannan condos that Dad superintended when they were built in 2000 and took some fun pictures. I got curious and looked up what these condos are going for these days. Huh! You too can own a condo at the Brannan in the city for a mere $1.25 million bucks. The HOA fees alone are $835. Are you kidding me? That's a house payment in parts of the country. Ridiculous.
It's great to live near San Francisco to have access to great events like Wicked. Thanks to Grandma's and Grandpa's for having kids overnight (oh yes! sleeping in and waking up to quiet was so relaxing), and thank you babe for the wicked cool birthday!