oh heavenly day!

It is scrumptiously deliciously wonderful outside right now. I took Rosie out this morning, and we were out by the edge of the yard, where the grass is higher and the little creek runs. The birds of course were singing, and a bee was buzzing around. The sky is totally blue, and the leaves and grass are still that young tender shade of green. And this is what I thought: I do not want to send the kids to school today! It should be summer. It is going to be in the eighties today, what do they really need to learn?

I am thinking to keep them home tomorrow. I haven't said anything about it yet, but I am thinking. It is supposed to be near ninety degrees. I already told them I would be waiting in the back near the pool with snacks when they get home today.

Last evening, one of the things I had to do was to clean up from dinner and put away the pizza....well, Aaron came home and unloaded, loaded, ran the dishwasher, put all the pizza away in a big container, and cleared the counters....without even being asked. I was so thankful! Not for the work he had done, but the work that must be going on in his seventeen year old heart, to do something like that. Now no disrespect to Aaron, I love him to pieces, but he isn't what one would call a "big help". Usually, all I have to do is say his name, and he answers, "What???!" in that dreading voice, certain I am asking him to do something.

Well, they all got on the bus this morning. And I have tons of work to do. I don't seem to learn that when I am busy all weekend and slack off on laundry and housework, it grows to monsterous proportions, too big to shake a stick at. The kids rooms are messy, the bathroom needs a scrubbing.....the clothes pile on the couch is still a small monster, but this mommy better attack it before it is too late. Now that the swimming season is in swing again, I had to remind the kids to fold up their clothes and put them on their beds when they change into their suits....it looked like someone had played hip-hip-hooray with a big pile of clothes, they were so excited to try out the pool, they just got dressed all over the living room and skipped out the door. And the towels: I hate rules, but wrapping up in a towel and swinging on the swings, letting the towel corners drag through the dust and dirt under the swings? rrr. Leaving the towel out on the swingset?

Today I have a mental list of things I want to do. In no particular order:

1. laundry....towels, bedding, kids' clothes.....

2. clean up around here, sweep and mop and general picking up.

3. go to walmart for more pool shock.

4. go to walmart for milk.

5. stay home and get things done.

6. figure out what to do with Charlotte Claire and Camille and their bed situation...Camille's little green bed broke, she slept on the mattress with some comforters on the floor of our room last night. That was after we tried to have her sleep in Charlotte Claire's room with her. The were out here every twenty seconds, sometimes grabbing piles of books from the bookshelves. What? Bedtime means go to sleep! They thought we said it was party time, I think. Charlotte Claire has been sleeping with the light on for quite some time, and Camille sleeps in the dark....that light on meant playtime. One time Camille came out with a dollhouse van and some people....that's why we gave up and put Camille on our bedroom floor. I think we might have to get her a toddler bed and put it in the Suzanne, Sonja, and Jonathan's room.

7. wash my hair

8. brush Rosie.

9. figure out what's for dinner...we are having company, a nice girl from Norway who came for the wedding and is staying with friends for a week or so.

10. Hire a maid or two or three.......and some cleaning ladies, and a gardener and a screen repairman, and a hot tub fixer.....

One thing I REALLY have to do is soak some of my clothes...the strangest thing happened: On Friday night, we had a really nice bonfire in the back yard. Emily came over, Abigail came over, Ben came after work, Aaron came after work....anyway, most of the kids were there, and it was too much fun. Then Paul was whittling the leaves off a nice marshmallow stick and he cut the top of his finger, a nice deep slice. There was a LOT of blood, and the kids were just shocked. Jon was flipping out a bit, but Emily-the-nurse was there, and she helped him wrap it up. She advised him to go get a stitch or two, but nah, he was fine. Fast forward. He got up in the night to use the bathroom, and must have bent his finger enough to open it back up, and he bled all over my clothes. (he didn't realize it was bleeding again until it had dripped and dropped all over....) I hang lots of things from the lavender pram in our room, and I had all the possible outfits for the wedding there, along with a few things hanging in the bathroom....when I got up in the morning, and started going through my clothes and discovering that he had bled on every single possiblity, I did what every upset wife would do. I got in the minivan with Sonja and went shopping before he even woke up. I bought a new shirt and new skirt, and a new purse. They were on sale, but much more expensive than I ever pay. But I had to have something and didn't have time to go all over town. Now i have to gather those other clothes and try to get the stains out.....rrrr. But the funniest thing was right after it happened, when Suze picked up the stick, which was quite bloody, and asked, "Can I still use this stick?" I said, "The bloody marshmallow stick?" We laughed our heads off, for some reason it was so funny to see her sitting there in Gramma's nightgown with that stick in her hands....we laughed so hard probably because that comes easily after a shock like that...and Suze started crying because we were laughing at her, which wasn't true at all....oh, life is stranger than fiction.

Now my procrastination is over....