A day in my life

*Compared to my sister Hilary (her blog link to the right), I am so boring. I don't post, obviously, every day or even close to even posting weekly. But sometimes I do have cool days, and maybe I should post more about those days. Problem is by the time I remember to post something, it's usually at night when I'm on the laptop sitting on the couch watching O'Reilly, and I am just to tired to really post. If I do remember while on the big computer during the day, it's such a pain because I have my homepage as a google homepage with my hotmail email, but my blog is with my juno email, so if I sign out of hotmail and sign in with juno, then I loose my homepage and then I get frustrated because I can't remember my password 1/2 the time, so then I have to look it up... okay, you get the picture. But I have been thinking of posting *this* "a day in the life of me". I will ramble. If you don't like it, then leave. I really don't care.

*At 6:01a on school days and on Sunday my alarm goes off. On Saturday it's not on, but usually Joey is in my room by 7a asking for me to turn on a ca-toon, or if he can play DS. I tell him to go find Jacob, which then I remember he needs to 1) check his blood & 2) put dog outside. So I call Jacob saying everytime: "Jacob, if you can hear me, please come here." He comes, and I tell him to do those 2 things, plus bring me my pills (crazy pills as I call 'em) which he does like an obedient child, and then to turn on a ca-toon. I also tell Joey to take off his diaper to go find me some underwear, which he brings to me and I kinda roll over to help him put them on. If I have to be somewhere on Saturday morning, I am usually up and showering by 7:30a... if not, it's not until after 8a when I'm up, sometimes not until Lauren tells me she is ready for me to take her to work at 8:45a. So back to the other days- On Sunday I am in shower by 6:30a after pressing snooze 3 times. I also get big girls up threatening them with no shower if not in shower before I get out of shower. Kayley is good... it's Lauren that is mostly "threatened". Since "my" bathroom is in Jacob & Joey's room, when I get out of shower, I tell Jacob to 1) check his blood 2) take dog out 3) fix oatmeal for Joey 4) eat breakfast, which he does all. I leave bathroom mostly dressed, and hair about done, pound on hall bathroom door, wake up small girls so they can eat, go to my room to finish dressing, tell kids to hurry up with breakfast and brush teeth and start dressing for church, walk down the hallway, pound on hall bathroom door threatening Lauren again, finish me in my bathroom, make sure Joey is finished with breakfast or if he needs help, help little girls with tights and tell Lindsey for the umpteenth time she isn't wearing a size 8 dress or wearing red shoes with something that doesn't match, gather Joey's clothes for Kayley so she can dress him, go back to my bathroom to add more hairspray, tell Jacob to make sandwich, and blah blah blah, yelling at Lauren now to get herself off her bed to finish herself which is usually 7:56a by now, and go do little girls hair telling Lindsey again to get a bow/ribbon that actually matches her dress, have family prayer and usually leave the house at 8:05 for church. If it's potluck Sunday, I can't press snooze 3 times, but actually get up at 6:01 if I am making Mexican casserole, so I can be done with it at 6:30 to start the process that I just posted about. On school mornings: Kayley wakes me at 6:15 even though I am awake which then I lay in bed until the snooze goes off again at 6:19a. I go to little girls room... usually they are still in bed. I get them up, gather clean jeans from laundry room for them (I must wash 3-4 loads of jeans a week), help with their Nikes (hey, they like how I tie them tight and double-knot them), send them to unload dishwasher, make sure Jacob is up at the same time reminding him to 1) check his blood 2) take dog out. Jacob kinda wanders after that, so I have to remind him to do his hair and to eat. Kayley is my only morning person. She makes/packs 1-5 lunches (depending on school lunch choice that day... but she always makes her lunch) every morning without fail. Kids eat, kids brush teeth, girls hair is done, I sometimes help Kayley with her make-up, say family prayer and they are out the door by 7:13a to catch the bus. Oh, and if Shawn is home, he take Lauren to Seminary at 6:40a. If not, then I leave at 6:40a. Get home by 7a, which everything MUST be done except hair, then I do girls hair, have prayer and out the door. In the meantime, Joey is either playing DS or eating breakfast.

*On Monday-Wednesday-Friday, after kids have left and Joey has had breakfast, or at this time, I get him started on his breakfast and then afterwards, I lie on couch until 8a. I then get up, put on my walking shoes, dress Joey, brush his teeth, do his hair sometimes, and we are usually out the door by 8:20a. I take him to pre-school, then I go to the "gym" here in Ashdown where I walk on the treadmill for 45-50 minutes. I usually talk with Shawn's old PE teacher or another gal that lives up the road from me. It helps by making this time go by fast. If not, I have to walk in silence as I keep forgetting to grab Kayley's MP3 player. Acually it isn't real silent... I get to either watch TBN and/or listen to the local Christian radio rock station. I will sometimes text my sister Holly to remind her "Jesus love you Start 2 Finish" which we always laugh about. I will also text my mom, or check Facebook, and sometimes Mom will call me-- which I like because it also makes the time go faster. I am usually home by 9:30a, and I lie on the couch until 10:30a, get in shower, and be ready to leave by 11:20a to go get Joey. If Shawn is home, sometimes we head to Texarkana then, or if not, then Joey and I will usually come home. Sometimes we stop at McD's or Walmart.

*On Tuesday & Thursday, after getting kids off to the bus, I lie on the couch because I never walk on those days. I lie on the couch until I decide to get up. Unless of course I have to do something else. Like today... working at the flower shop, so I had to be ready out the door by 8a, even though I didn't have to be here until 9a. I sent Joey over to Mamaw's dressed and fed, and I left with Tex (with a healing broken leg) to get him to Wisdom in Texarkana so that he can have his leg rechecked and recast if needed. He is staying there all day. I dropped him off at 8:30a, and I then headed back here to Ashdown. I will hopefully leave today by 4:55p because I have to be back at Wisdom by 5:3op to pick him up. There is a visitation/funeral tonight, and I have to have the flowers/plants delivered by 4:30p, so when I get back, I'll close up and leave at 4:55p. I have no choice. Don't want to pay for an overnight stay. On the days that Shawn is home and I am home too, we sometimes will go somewhere, and sometimes we just hang out. Well, I just hang out. Now that it's warmer outside, Shawn is out there working on something.

*Kids get home from school by 4p. Then homework starts, or complaining starts, or something always starts. Usually that is when I become "alive" and start doing the things that I should have done while kids were in school, but I need breaks too you know. I will start dinner, start some wash, start dishes. Sometimes I have to go get kids by 4:30p at the school, or I get to go to a track meet (Kayley) or during the fall on Fridays I get to go watch Pep Rally and Lauren be Panther mascot. I always hear "can I play the "bad" game on the lap top (some medivial game Josh loaded up years ago) or if TV can be watched, or play on the upstairs computer or watch TV on the upstairs TV. Right now because it's so nice, and if Shawn is home, the answer is no, and they go outside to work on outside chores, as in mowing lawn, garden or just play. I remind them that on yucky days they get to stay in, but when it's nice, they need to be outside.

*If I have my act together, dinner is usually easy and about done when they get home from school. If not, that's when I am usually headed to WM to get something. I am trying to get better with my menu planning. I used to be good like my Mom was when I was a kid, but sometimes I'm not. Shawn always is working Fri-Sat-Sun, and sometimes Thurs, and sometimes extra overtime days. On those days I try to have something nice fixed/cooked for the family because he likes to have something good for dinner. Tuesday nights are usually our date night, so we try to go out at least 2-3x monthly. Sometimes he works extra on a Tuesday, or he is just to busy outside and wants to work until sun down, and by then I am usually to tired to go out, and so is he. When we do go out, we like to leave by 6p so by 10p we are home or headed home to go to bed. Remember it's a total 1 hr drive to get to/back from Texarkana.

*When Josh started driving, my life was easier for 3 years. Then he left on his mission, and I have been back to driving everywhere. I am at the church every Wednesday night. I usually have a meeting, but sometimes I don't, and lately I have been meeting my new friend Judy at Chick-Fil-A or the mall to chit-chat. We usually just have an hour before we have to head back to church. Lauren has her permit, and by next school year, she will be driving in on Wednesday nights if I don't have to go in. It's going to be nice. It's going to be nice when I can just send her wherever so I can stay home more. I like to go places, but sometimes I am on the go go go because of the big girls. Always something at Walmart they need, or the mall, or the Walmart in Texarkana, or Cato, or Merle Norman, or to get a haircut/style, or to a church dance in Gilmer so Lauren can see her boyfriend(s), or to get Prom stuff, or pageant stuff, or EFY 5 hours away so I have to plan a whole trip around that. Geez, these girls are so demanding!! Josh comes home in August, and he says he is staying here for school, so that will help with the driving some.

*After dinner most nights, kids will do their nightly chores of dishes, quick living room pick-up, baths/showers, and then by 8p we try to have family scripture study. I am not perfect. Does not happen ever on Wednesday, and sometimes Friday & Saturday, but rest of the time it's happening. We read, with the computer, the Book of Mormon from lds.org. Easy way!! I have a "read the Book of Mormon in 100 days" book, and we are doing quite good. Granted it's going to take more than 100 days, but we read about 2-3 chapters a night. We discuss things from it, and sometimes if the chapter is short, we will read it outloud instead of the computer. Our goal is to be done with it before Josh gets home (we start Mosiah tonight). We have family prayer , and then Krissy on down in bed by 8:30p, and older 3-- "I better not see your face after 9:15p!" Of course I hear doors opening and closing until 10p, but I am not seeing their face. I then can relax on laptop to Google or read my "To The Rescue" book for now (Bio of Thomas S. Monson). And like I said, watch O'Reilly or some dumb movie that Shawn starts watching even if it has 30 minutes left. I take my 1/2 sleeping pill by 10:15p or so, and usually by 11a, I am headed to bed, sometimes sooner.

*On top of this all, I have Relief Society stuff since I am 2nd counselor and in charge of extra meetings held during the week. I have one coming up in May, and another in June. It really stresses me out because I want it perfect, and sometimes I feel they aren't.

*And for those that think I *must* be on the computer all day because I post on Facebook all day, it's because it's on my BlackBerry. Easy to check all day, when I am sitting waiting on a kid (like at dentist 3x past 2 weeks... 3 more appts next 2 weeks), or waiting for a train... I tell ya, I have been stopped by the slow train more times in the past month then the whole last year!! I know they have been working a lot on the tracks so maybe that's it. The next few weeks are going to be kinda fun/exciting, so stay tuned to here or my Facebook!! This is my life, and I think I'm stickin' to it!! Oh, and this is just during the school year... once summer gets here, it's pretty much whatever. LOL!!