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I could write... frustrating day, or "what a day" or "Ugh". Today has just been one tough day. Nothing immensely bad went wrong, it's just the little things that wear you down. As a stay at home mom, who also homeschools my children....and has a husband out of town for most of the week.... this has been a day of the little things wearing me down.

Kim commented, "How DO I find the time?" I groaned when I read that tonight, because really I have no idea. And if anyone could have seen the day I had today... good grief. It started out with rain, not typically a bad thing, as we had a lot to accomplish inside today. Breakfast came and we used up all the breakfast food we had. We began our school with Creative Writing. Some days my children take to this easily and I am amazed that what I have been working so diligently with them throughout the first semester, is finally paying off. Today was NOT one of those days. We had historical fiction to write, and the ideas were just not coming. Nor were the words. I had to pull and prod and twist and turn, much like pulling teeth. Jabber Jaw had to write a Christmas story and thankfully he took to that fairly easily. His main thing is complaining about cleaning up and re-working a rough draft. Good grief if he would stop complaining and "just do it", he would get done a whole lot faster and save his breath in the process.

In the middle of all this Creative Writing Small Fry was just a mess. He was not happy today, and I suspect he was quite bored while I diligently worked with the older two boys. I needed to be better about breaking and doing specific activities with me. Really he just wanted my attention. So his whines became louder and the older boys struggled to write and I groaned to hear it all. Lunch came and went in the midst of all the "fun". The meal of the day PBJs and yogurt with some Ritz Crackers. Have I mentioned I need to go to the grocery store?

The King Fish is out of town in his own stressful work environment, and when I called to get some empathy, he was otherwise occupied. Totally understandable, yet still frustrating for me. While Small Fry took a MUCH needed nap, the older two finished writing their first drafts. Thankfully, I had a lasagna in the freezer, so I cooked that for dinner. After dinner around 7:30, the final drafts of the writing papers were being written, while Small Fry played upstairs and I grabbed a shower. Then around 8pm I bathed Small Fry and as I am drying him off Tiger Shark comes up to tell me that our neighbor and coach from Lego Robotics is coming over to pick up the bike helmet we used in our presentation. People! Small Fry is in his diaper and I am in my pajamas, hair wet, and without a stitch of makeup! I'm "In" for the night.

The Biggest Loser is on, and I promised the boys they could watch the whole thing as it was the finale. They are totally engrossed that they could care less that I am stressing because someone is coming to the house and I look like this. Our neighbor arrives (he lives less than a minute away) and Tiger Shark is trying to call The King Fish, because he doesn't know where the helmet was put when it was unpacked from the car. What he doesn't know is that dh turned off his cell phone and went to sleep because he has to get up at 2am for a concrete pour. I come downstairs in my PJ's and a sweatshirt, holding Small Fry dressed in just a diaper, to help our neighbor find what he needs. Our neighbor is also on a work conference call, so he is just as "preoccupied". The phone rings and it's The King Fish sounding all groggy, and I tell him to go back to bed, I have it under control. Ha! The bag needed is still in the van, and so I send our neighbor out through the garage to retrieve it. But to get there he needs to come through my kitchen. The dishes are piled everywhere and the clothes! Oh my word the clothes!! The laundry is located in the kitchen and I must have 7 loads to do, it's piled so very high! This is really why I am in my PJ's and Small Fry is in a diaper... there are hardly any clean clothes upstairs. And if they are they are at the bottom of 3 laundry baskets on the floor of my bedroom waiting to be put away! But today was pretty much Creative Writing and put out fires all day long. Referee that's what I was... and I guess writing coach as well.

Mortified as I was... we found the bag and made our way back to the front foyer. We chatted awhile longer about Lego Robotics and the team while Small Fry rode his "yellow car" all around the house in a diaper, and my other two oblivious to everything going on (including their manners) watched the Biggest Loser! Finally he said goodnight and headed out, and I promised myself once again, that my house would never look like that for unexpected company. No, my house was going to be ready the next time for that spontaneous visitor. But I knew inside that wouldn't be the case. The house is a distant priority, falling well behind schooling, mothering etc.

So, I took our Small Fry upstairs, put him in some footie pajamas and rocked him singing his favorite songs for the next half hour. Then I headed back downstairs to spend some time with Tiger Shark and Jabber jaw... watching the last part of the show they were engrossed in. And here I still sit... exhausted from a day in which I never really accomplished a whole lot. Yet, exhausting it was! My dishes still sit and I have yet to wash one load of those clothes. So, in answer to my friend Kim, How DO I do it? I guess I don't. Sure we do a lot with our kids... and schooling is a huge part of that as well as extracurricular activities.... But this post will show that I struggle mightily with the day to day stuff, especially keeping up with my home.

So, I wrote on my Facebook page that my verse today has been "His mercies are new every morning." I don't even want a "do-over"... I would like a whole new fresh day! And I'm glad I get it! I'm praying tomorrow is a whole lot better.