A Day in the Life of Me

Monday. Stardate: January 15. 6 more months till my 39th birthday party.

5:00 am. Alarm clock goes off. I crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. I turn off alarm. I crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. I go back to sleep.

6:00 am. One boy starts whimpering. I am instantaneously wide awake. FAR more effective than alarm. Feel boy's head. Wince. Crawl over husband and two five-year-old boys. Go to kitchen (Dog in kennel lifts head, looks at me as if to say, "Go back to bed!" Puts head back and down and paw over eyes. No kidding.) Get 2 tsp of children's motrin. Go back and give to feverish five-year-old. He immediately and gratefully passes out again (he loves the taste of children's motrin).

6:05 am. Feel around on dark floor. Find jeans. Find long-sleeve shirt. Find sweater. Find socks. Undress. Dress. Head downstairs.

Check wood stove. Little red light is on. Open hopper and refill with new bag of wood pellets. Hit reset button on stove.

Go to desk. Turn on little space heater under desk. Turn on computer. Say prayer of suplication. Computer makes normal computer noises. Say prayer of gratitude.

6:15 am. Check email. Check blog for comments. Check weather report.

6:30 am. Start working.

7:00 am. Hear pitter patter of little feet. And coughing. Milo, looking sick as a dog, but at least not as feverish, is sitting on stairs watching me work. He wants water. I get water.

7:05 am. Back to work.

7:45 am. Call doctor. Make appointment for both boys.

8:00 am. Dog fusses. Find boots. Find warm winter jacket. Find leash. Take dog out to do her business.

8:20 am. Back to work.

9:00 am. Potty break. All kids are up now. Dh is trying to sleep in, but not successfully. Go in and talk to dh for a bit. For no particular reason, end up sobbing over today's to-do list. Anxious about doctor appointments this week. Anxious about work due. Anxious about how light work is otherwise. Dh listens and hugs and says all the right things. Wipe nose on sleeve. Change shirt.

10:00 am. Dh dresses twinkies. I get things together and take twinkies to doctor appointment.

10:45 am. See doctor. Ben entertains. Milo coughs and coughs and coughs. Doctor says Ben is a little wheezy but getting better enough that we don't need to do anything further. Milo is a lot of wheezy and if he's not better by . . . etc. etc. We get refill of albuterol for nebulizer and some stickers.

11:10 am. Run into friend and her two daughters on way out of office. Am tempted to run off to lunch with them, but remember I have to turn that work in today. Reluctantly head home.

11:45 am. Boss of the project due today calls because her email is down. I get brownie points for asking good questions. I admit that I opened the package of materials I was sent last week late and didn't notice today's due date until yesterday. She isn't worried. She has too many other pieces to read today anyway and there's still the problem with the email. Anxiety about work goes away. I can turn this in tomorrow. I also will finish another small project tomorrow. I have the rest of the week to do otherwise light project. I feel a little better.

12:00 am. Make everyone except Max lunch. Max is in and out of house looking for his friends and has to make his own lunch.

12:15 pm. Back to work.

1:00 pm. Milo arrives at desk looking, at best, awful. He turns big puppy dog eyes to me. I take him up to my bedroom, sit with him through a breathing treatment, and then knit a bit while I wait for the sandman to take him off to a nap. He is insulted that I think a big five-year-old like himself would need a na----zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

2:00 pm. Leave for appointment with brand new shrink. Stop at Barnes and Noble on the way. Trade in baby hat book for "The Millionaire Next Door" after deciding that Barnes and Noble sold all the good knitting books for Christmas and hasn't restocked yet.

3:40 pm. Arrive for appointment with new shrink. Meet with him. Go over meds and medical history. Decide new shrink is a) older than me (always a plus), b) funny and smart , c) going to work out just fine. I get reassured that the "old school" tricyclic that I put myself back on (with help of family med doctor) after Wellbutrin stopped working was great choice, is totally appropriate with other med I'm taking. He tweaks its dosage, runs over brief plan for future . . . I leave feeling very relieved. I get to keep my el cheapo generic drugs that don't make me gain weight AND there's no need to play anti-depression med roulette with new doctor.

4:45 pm. Stop at grocery store and get some meat for meals this week, two boxes of hamburger helper, some caffeinated beverages, more milk, a box of ice cream, and a candy bar.

5:30 pm. Arrive home. Start browning ground turkey. Hide candy bar in desk after dh tries to run off with it twice.

5:35 pm. Set up Milo with another breathing treatment.

5:40 pm. Add hamburger helper to ground turkey.

5:50 pm. Serve family "dinner." Family is thrilled. I never buy hamburger helper and they LOVE it. I justify it tonight because of the ground turkey.

6:30 pm. Desperately try to focus on work. Fail miserably. Spend next two hours working on Chris' travel plans for March and talking to MIL on phone about her move.

8:00 pm. Chris gets back from pharmacy with prescriptions.

8:15 pm. Start blogging.

8:30 pm. Give everyone some ice cream.

9:00 pm. Another breathing treatment for Milo. Read a book to twins. Chris helps get Ben and Max in bed.

10:15 pm. Finish silly blog entry in which point is basically, "Jeez, I was all worried about today for basically no reason. It turned out fine. Though I didn't get very much work done, did I?!?"