BLISSFUL early spring weather
...makes everything better!
The blue skies out my window made me want to get up and go outside, even though it's a Saturday and I could have slept a little longer. I didn't make it outside because the kids woke up and the obligatory pajama time ensued (where we feel we have aaaaall the time in the world to get around to chores, and bask in the rare luxury of unstructured time at home), but who cares? We played peacefully for a couple of hours,in all possible configurations: the three of us cuddling and tickling and eventually reading some of The Children's Book of Myths and Legends from Around the World; C playing horsey on my knee; then the kids playing together while I ventured in the garage to empty some boxes of old books and toys from when I taught preschool, from where I came back with "new" playthings; K and I tossing a beanbag; and the two of them collaborating to sort a huge set of plastic tiles into colors and shapes. Most satisfying, all this while I was actually getting laundry done, which I have always tended to put off Saturday mornings and I have just discovered why: My least favorite part of it is sorting the dirty laundry into cold/warm/hot loads - ugh! But I discovered a week ago practically by accident, that if I do this part of the chore on Friday evening (when I'm actually too tired to mind the mindlessness of it as much!) and have the loads sorted neatly into the stackable plastic baskets that I just got from the dollar store, on Saturday morning it's actually easy to prance downstairs and throw that first load in the wash, a task that, weird as it sounds, I used to dread (when it involved sorting through the piles on the floor to come up with that first load!) Yay me!
K also reminded me that soon starting the wash loads will start being her responsibility, too. (Right now she switches stuff from the washer to the dryer and delivers the dry loads to the top of the stairs). Yay delegation!
Other than that, my top achievement of the day was the yummy from-scratch lemony blueberry muffins (not even one burnt, and the 'secret ingredient' -an extra scoop of powder milk- made them creamy soft). Now I'm joining my crew out in the backyard to weed for an hour or so, where C is playing solo soccer and K weeding VOLUNTARILY, until it gets time to go drop her off at the swimming pool.
There are obviously still lots of things left to do inside (not the least of which is cleaning the mountain of stuff on my desk and getting started with taxes....aaaaaaaahhhh!), but at least the kitchen is clean, the dishwasher is running, and hey, even though I can't see the surface of my OTHER desk either (the one in my classroom), at least I did get ALL my report cards done yesterday, even without child care for the no-school day, since the kids were happy to be playing out on the school grounds, checking in every 30 minutes, while I worked away on the computer, practically uninterrupted!
Did I mention - blessed early spring!
The blue skies out my window made me want to get up and go outside, even though it's a Saturday and I could have slept a little longer. I didn't make it outside because the kids woke up and the obligatory pajama time ensued (where we feel we have aaaaall the time in the world to get around to chores, and bask in the rare luxury of unstructured time at home), but who cares? We played peacefully for a couple of hours,in all possible configurations: the three of us cuddling and tickling and eventually reading some of The Children's Book of Myths and Legends from Around the World; C playing horsey on my knee; then the kids playing together while I ventured in the garage to empty some boxes of old books and toys from when I taught preschool, from where I came back with "new" playthings; K and I tossing a beanbag; and the two of them collaborating to sort a huge set of plastic tiles into colors and shapes. Most satisfying, all this while I was actually getting laundry done, which I have always tended to put off Saturday mornings and I have just discovered why: My least favorite part of it is sorting the dirty laundry into cold/warm/hot loads - ugh! But I discovered a week ago practically by accident, that if I do this part of the chore on Friday evening (when I'm actually too tired to mind the mindlessness of it as much!) and have the loads sorted neatly into the stackable plastic baskets that I just got from the dollar store, on Saturday morning it's actually easy to prance downstairs and throw that first load in the wash, a task that, weird as it sounds, I used to dread (when it involved sorting through the piles on the floor to come up with that first load!) Yay me!
K also reminded me that soon starting the wash loads will start being her responsibility, too. (Right now she switches stuff from the washer to the dryer and delivers the dry loads to the top of the stairs). Yay delegation!
Other than that, my top achievement of the day was the yummy from-scratch lemony blueberry muffins (not even one burnt, and the 'secret ingredient' -an extra scoop of powder milk- made them creamy soft). Now I'm joining my crew out in the backyard to weed for an hour or so, where C is playing solo soccer and K weeding VOLUNTARILY, until it gets time to go drop her off at the swimming pool.
There are obviously still lots of things left to do inside (not the least of which is cleaning the mountain of stuff on my desk and getting started with taxes....aaaaaaaahhhh!), but at least the kitchen is clean, the dishwasher is running, and hey, even though I can't see the surface of my OTHER desk either (the one in my classroom), at least I did get ALL my report cards done yesterday, even without child care for the no-school day, since the kids were happy to be playing out on the school grounds, checking in every 30 minutes, while I worked away on the computer, practically uninterrupted!
Did I mention - blessed early spring!