the little things in life...

First of all, I would like to say that I am thankful that I live in these times, mostly because of ibuprofen. If I take one or two right when my headache starts, it usually prevents full-blown whoppers. This is one of those headache-y mornings. One cannot work-out on those mornings, one cannot do much. I am thinking along the lines of that lady who has three small children and had the poster made of her and her fabulous abs, small kids at her feet, posing there in all her skinny muscular glory, with the slogan, "What's YOUR Excuse?" I must say, I hated her immediately, because MY excuse is more like excuseS. Plural. And they're darn good ones! Working out when one has a headache makes said headache turn unbearable. So there. Anyhow. Off on a tangent.

This morning I was sweeping the floor, in the quietness of the house...now remember, for years and years and years, I never had a minute of quietness in the morning, so this is something I still revel in. Not the quiet itself, but the opportunity to be able to think a thought.

Scatterbrained. Unorganized. Irresponsible. Those words wiggled their way into my dreams this morning. I woke up from a dream of me sitting at the table, writing things down that I need to accomplish. Now come on, haunt me in the daytime, but leave my dreams alone, Grown-up Responsibilities!

Nevertheless, I wrote a list this morning. And already accomplished the first thing on the list, which was to write school reports. Done. (they were only due two and a half weeks ago, oops. I really try to keep those up to date.)

I have appointments to make, and have to check the oil in the van, and have to order practice tests, check on Sonja's passport status (we are going to Norway NEXT WEEK!).

There are things I need to purchase for Norway, and things I need to pack.

And next week we have two birthdays here, Suzanne turns 15 on the 22nd, and Mirielle Joy turns 26 on the 23rd. We are thinking of celebrating tomorrow night, and have no flour in the house for a cake or cupcakes.

The point is, sometimes I have so many snippets of information swirling around my brain, making a list calms it all down. Actually doing what's on the list is a whole 'nother story, but I'm working on it.

All these little details in life...and in the midst of today, is vacation. The little girls are planning an outing today. We have been in the house a lot lately. They went outside to play yesterday, but that doesn't count, according to them. So...bowling? Mall? Charlotte says she would stay home if we clean out her closet. This is one of those projects that I would like to be done with, but don't actually want to DO. Years of accumulation, things I want gone but don't want to part with. It makes my headache hurt just to think about it, but one of these days we actually need to do it.

But not today, ha. We need to get birthday presents! See, I told you I had lots of good excuses, and not just for not fitting in a work out.

My two little girls are playing with my phone. They take pictures of themselves making their faces distorted, and use the voice changing app, and are playing silly music and dancing. I have no idea what I set about to write this fine morning, thank you girls. But, here's the thing: I have realized that day after day, we get to choose what we listen to, what we pay attention to, what we spend time doing...and I choose them. Sometimes I am absorbed in something so important on the computer, and seriously? Is it that important? It seems like it at the time. So I am working on being more conscious of when I need to re-focus, and give them more than just the distracted UH-HUH, I HEARD YOU. ha.

Today is the first day of the week we haven't had little friends here to look after. The weather seems reasonable, although we are supposed to get a bit of freezing rain and perhaps some snow. So I am thinking we will go somewhere today...