Nobody can say I haven't tried.

After being sick all last week I woke up this morning feeling better and motivated to get some things done. After taking the kids to school and going for a quick run I sat down with my Cliff bar, Diet Coke and last night's DVRed NBC nightly news (a new tradition that I'm quit fond of). But instead of finishing and getting to my to do list I fell asleep. I woke up at 10:30 with a new resolve to get things done. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the bathroom, made soup for dinner, and then decided that I'd surprise the kids and take them to Inflatable World after school for some fun.

I thought the break from routine would be helpful for me and them. I've been feeling like I'm in kind of a rut lately. Both the kids are in school full time now, and since I am not going to school this semester (due to our upcoming move) I am left with a lot of extra time. I thought I'd have a lot to do getting ready for the move and getting our house ready to sell, but I have to say, I'm bored. Yeah, there are lots of thing I could do- I could spend time keeping my house cleaner, making better meals, etc. But I find that with Chris traveling all week I have very little motivation to do those things. If, on the off chance that I actually cook something that takes more than 15 minutes to make, chances are the kids will complain and I'll be the only one enjoying it anyway. Don't get me wrong, I"m really enjoying the fact that they're in school all day, I'm just finding it a strange transition, the novelty has worn off and I'm bored and lonely. If I were not moving out of the country in a few months I would get more involved in school, get a job or continue with nursing school. There have been a number of preparation thing I've been working on, garage sales, craigslist selling, and next on my list is painting the majority of my house back to a neutral color. This "moving out of the country" to- do list just hasn't kept me as busy as I would have thought.

Back to today… I felt really good, I had gotten some things done and was excited to take the kids out for a fun afternoon. I picked them up for school and maintained a very positive attitude, which I have found is essential in keeping peace once we get in the car. We had not even left the school parking lot when Caleb and Ellie start arguing about the color of Caleb's new toy. She insisted it was "turquoise" and he says that's not a color, blah, blah, blah. And before I know it he has reached over and was repeatedly pounding her, and when I yelled at him to stop he threw a flip flop at me. Of course I cannot allow that behavior and I cannot take him out to have fun after he acts like that so there went the afternoon. He is currently in his room until 5pm when he finishes his homework time.

All I have to say is that being a mom is hard work!