A day in the life...

I've been thinking about a really nice post that I wanted to do for my blog about all the things I'm thankful for. I even took pictures of my washer & dryer and running shoes for crying out loud! And everyone else was doing the whole "gratitude" thing on their blogs so I just wanted to join in. But, I can't figure out how to get the stupid pictures off of my camera and on to my blog. I think the entire photo importing process secretly changes everytime I attempt it. You would think after doing it a number of times that I wouldn't have to go to Mike for help - but I do. EVERY TIME.

So I'm giving up on the gratitude stuff for a day and writing about life. My life. Here goes...

Alarm goes off at 4:50 am. Seriously, 4:50 am! I STUMBLE into the bathroom to put on fifty million layers of clothes so I don't freeze my butt off while running with Chelsea. I was sick last week so I put in a total pansy run. TOTAL PANSY!!! I got my butt out of bed before the sun was up to run like a total pansy. Chelsea is awesome for giving me a little slack though.

6:00 am it's off to Winegars. Why in the world would I go to Winegars at 6am? To buy my daughter her poster board of course. I've known about the poster board since Monday, but did I buy it then? No. That would make too much sense. That would be too easy. So while I'm in Winegars I think to myself, I might as well buy a few other things that I need as long as I'm here. So I pile in the Marshmellow Matey's (better than the real thing btw), mandarin oranges, pancake mix and whatever else I can get my hands on. I pay the cashier, load the groceries in the car, and suddenly realize, I FORGOT THE POSTER BOARD!!! I seriously thought about how I could possibly send Kass to school without the poster board. Maybe the teacher really meant Thursday instead of Wednesday or maybe she'll have extras for the kids with slacker parents. Reluctantly, I head back in to buy the 65 cent poster board and put it on my credit card. I don't have any cash.

6:30 am and I'm trying to use my nice mommy voice and convince my children that they really DO want to climb out of their nice warm beds and head off to school. They don't seem to believe me. Finally, I end up telling each of them, "I swear, if you miss the bus again today you will have to pay me five dollars!". This time they listen - money seriously does talk! Then it's my version of the amazing race - make breakfast, pack lunches, make sure everyone's brushed teeth & hair, and has their homework, backpack, jacket. This race usually ends with me hollering, "I love you!" followed by "run guys! RUN! The bus is on its way!".

By this time my body is screaming, "must have more sleep!" while my mind is running a million miles a minute. How can I shower, clean the kitchen, and have the laundry folded, and read with Kaitlyn by the time I need to be at my hair appointment. I made a hair appointment for today after seeing a couple of photos of me taken last week. SCARY HAIR! Sadly, photos don't lie. I don't get it all done, but hey, I showered and read with Kaitlyn so the rest can wait.

11:00 am I arrive at a new hair salon, because they are the only ones who were able to fit me in at the last minute. And I couldn't wait another day. I haven't had my hair cut or colored for 6 months. It's time for some desperate measures. The gray hairs that I like to pretend are "highlights" are starting to make me look like a female Jay Leno. This is NOT a good thing! I describe to Heather, my 20 something "stylist" what I want in a hairstyle (ie. try to make me look like I actually HAVE a hairstyle and hide the gray hair please). She then proceeds to take 3 hours - 3 HOURS - to highlight and cut my hair. She is obviously not a mother of three children. She obviously does NOT understand that when you are a mom, every second you have without a child hanging on your leg is as precious as gold. She kept saying things like, "oh, I need to go mix up some more color" and "Let's just let that process a while", and "I'm going to need more foil". Once, I got so sick of waiting that I actually went looking for her. And I found her. Putting on her make-up! She was trying various shades of lipgloss from the display case in the salon, and had obviously added new eyeshadow and liner. I wanted to FREAK OUT! I wanted to say, "I'm wasting my child-free minutes waiting on you to find the right shade of lip gloss?". However, I was sane enough to realize that yelling at one's "stylist" is NOT a good idea BEFORE they take sharp scissors to your over processed hair.

2:00 pm I am livid, yes livid, over the fact that I cannot run to Costco as planned due to the insane hair appointment. No time. Kids are coming home. I run home to face the piles of dishes and laundry that I didn't conquer this morning. They are still there taunting me, so I sit down to commiserate and drink a diet coke. Hooray! There is always time for Diet Coke.

3 ish pm the kids come home and it's "how was your day?" and "hang up your jacket", and "how much homework do you have". The questions are followed by a snack and absolute chaos as we try to get everything done in the small amount of time allotted for these sorts of things. The dishes are still staring at me, so instead of tackling them, I sit down to write. Writing is good therapy, and the rates are cheap.

So the day isn't done, but I can tell you how it will end. A made rush to lessons, and friends, dinner, scriptures, Harry Potter, brushing teeth and prayers. Followed by a dash of "stay in bed" and "If you're so hungry, you should've eaten more at dinner". At the end of which I end up exhausted on the couch sitting next to that handsome man I married.

I may still be ticked at Heather for taking twice as long to do her job, but don't get me wrong, I realize that I do have a good life. A damn good life in fact. Thanks for listening, I feel much better :)