Bad Day 62--I'm Having A Bad, Bad Day

Today was not a good day and the longer I think about it, the worse I feel. I had to drive the high school carpool this morning, which leaves at 5:40am. No, that was not a typo. I asked for help because we only need to be in it for about 2 weeks until Child 1 can get her license, but instead of helping, they said I should drive the first week. So, now, in addition to being stressed and not getting enough sleep, I am annoyed and angry. I decided that we should do some math so that people can see just exactly why I say I have no time. So here are the things that I do on a daily basis with a very conservative estimate of how much time each one takes.

Work:  9 hours (This is how long I'm at the office on a good day, which hardly ever happens.)
Commuting: 2 hours (Again, on a good day when everything goes right it's an hour each way.)
Shower, breakfast, etc.: 45 minutes
Walking The Dog: 30 minutes
Dishes/cleaning the kitchen: 90 minutes
Laundry: 2 hours (for one load including folding and putting away)
Homework: 4 1/2 hours (90 minutes for each child and that again is on a good day not including projects.)
Cooking and eating dinner: 1 hour

So the things I have to do take 21 hours and 15 minutes each day. That leaves me with 3 hours and 45 minutes to do things like drive the carpool (30 minutes), help with school projects (these pop up a couple of times a month and take at least 5-6 hours each, grocery shop (about 3 hours a week), prepare my weekly Sunday School lesson (2-3 hours a week) and the list goes on and on and on.



Notice the things on my list that are missing? Sleep (what's that?) Exercise (you're kidding, right?) Reading (my favorite hobby which I only get to do while commuting or eating lunch.) Husband told me before he left that I should find some time to do something for myself. Ha! I didn't have any time for myself last year and he was home! The only thing I get to do that is completely for myself each day is this blog and it takes about 30 minutes and sometimes, I ignore the laundry so I can write it.

Now, I know some of you extremely well-meaning and clueless people are going to suggest that I have the children do some of the daily chores. But if that is the first thought that comes to your mind then you do not have children. Because if you did, you would remember that making the children do chores does not save time because everything takes at least 10 times as long and then you have to have to fix what they helped with. Words that strike fear into every mother's heart? "Look, Mommy! I'm helping!" For example, tonight I am on strike. People were supposed to do dishes and clean the kitchen counters when they came home and I got home 30 minutes late and nothing was done so I said I would only cook dinner when there was a clean space for me to cook on and we'll be eating dinner around midnight with the pace they are going. How is it possible to take 30 minutes to put away two plates a cup and a fork? Correction--we might be eating dinner for breakfast tomorrow the way things are going.

And if you think this gets better when you have teenagers, then you have forgotten what teenagers are like. They will mess things up on purpose so that you won't ask them to do it again. You know that is what they are doing, and yet because you don't want all your white T-shirts to turn gray, you just give in and do the laundry yourself because they swear there is no difference in the way you do the laundry and they way they do it, but then why are the T-shirts always icky gray when they do it? Even Husband told me that he really isn't that bad of a packer, but he likes it better when I do it for him, which is why he was throwing his hiking boots in on top of his dress shirts so I would shriek and take over. I knew I was being played.

So all you well-meaning people who are just dying to comment on this post, know that all your helpful suggestions will be deleted unless they involve coming over to my house and doing my laundry yourself. And I expect my T-shirts to be sparkling white when you are finished.

People in Kent, Washington are having a worse day than me. The were just minding their business, getting kids ready for school, when wham! A landing gear door (the size of a refrigerator) from a cargo plane landed on their street.



And according to the article, this kind of thing is not that uncommon! So thank you, people of Kent, for reminding me to be grateful that I'm not getting hit by falling aircraft parts every time I walk out the door. I sooo wanted to have something else to worry about today.