Second Verse Same as the First

I think that last week I really drove to Overton 27 times-I am really not kidding. Don actually stayed in town the first 2 days of school and left on Wednesday. The last 3 years he has had to be somewhere the first day of school so he has been unable to join in the jubilee of 6am risings/gripings etc. This year he was able to share in the bliss but I am pretty sure that he has already booked his travel for next year at this time. I forgot to mention that we had FHE the Sunday night before school started for the annual School Safety talk and Father's Blessings. It was a dang good thing because everyone was so exhausted by Monday night that the most we would have been able to for FHE was read a story assuming we could even get through the opening song. We had lots of appointments last week that I stupidly scheduled for the first week of school. We had dentals for 5 of us, 4 on the same day, 3 ortho appointments intermixed with carpools, daily pickups and deliveries of various children-mine of course, grocery store runs, mail runs, library runs and Mavericks nasty drink but gotta have it anyway runs and football fiascos. I can't remember if I even went anywhere but Overton. We had to eat dinner in all of this so Tuesday night we made a ton and shared some with a neighbor family. Connor was doing football but that ended abruptly Thursday night-don't ask. That alleviated alot of stress and driving around especially with Don being gone. There were no naps last week other than a 6pm crashing on Wednesday night because if was either that or the back of my head would have exploded. The worst part about the week was not all the running around but the fact that even though I was so tired most of the nights I could not go to sleep and then when I finally did around 12 I woke up quite a few times during the night and still had to get up WAAAYYYYY to early. It's like that silly anxiety that you can't go to sleep because your afraid that you won't be able to sleep and then you will be so tired when you have to get up that you can't go to sleep. That vicious circle was the bane of my existence last week and seems to want to be this week too. Wednesday was the day of the 4:30 dinner at McDonald's because we had just spent 2 and a half hours at the dentist mingled with my trips back and forth from the various schools to retrieve children. By the time we were done the kids were starving and McDonald's was close. Only $15 for the cost of my sanity that day. Thursday seems a blur-I think a headache was involved but I can't be sure. Friday was really more of a joke because Cody, Connor and Caleb went to school around 7:30 but Cody was done by 9:30. I did not even send Cayden to school because he would have been there only 45 minutes before I needed to check him out for his ortho-total waste. Immediately after getting Cody, Caleb had to be retrieved at 9:45 for his ortho appointment and then returned to school so he could get out at 11:45. The new deal is that every other Friday the middle school will get out at 11:45 to be more in line with the with the high school schedule. The high school gets out every Friday at 12:00 UNLESS you are Cody Adams who has 2 college classes that don't meet on Fridays. When that happens he is done by 9:30. After the ortho appointments and Caleb's return to school at 11 , Cayden's return to school at 11:15, Connor and Caleb's pick up from school at 11:45 it was time for lunch. Usually mint chocolate chip does the trick but this time drastic action was required. Dreyers Double Fudge Brownie with caramel got me through. It was a close one but we recovered. Saturday was cleaning day and peach bottling day. We got 20 quarts of peaches and the floor got mopped 4 times. Last year I had 40 lbs of peaches like this year but I made alot of freezer jam and just froze the peaches in ziploc bags. We ate all the canned peaches but 2 quarts but not hardly any of the frozen. We did eat some of them jam but there is still some left. I did have grandiose ideas about making peach butter and peach salsa but it did not happen. The boys mostly did their chores with out complaint but then I went to take a nap around 1. When I got up they had snuck out with out finishing, thinking I would not notice the vacuum in the middle of the hall, the clothes thrown haphazardly into drawers left open and the clothes that did not fit in the drawers thrown back in the dirty clothes bin. They need to work on their art of subterfuge. Saturday was Wally's pizza day as it has been the last few weeks. Sunday was relaxing albeit Family Grumpy Day-mostly mom and dad. We did salvage it a little by playing a few games and going to eat bundt cake for Taylor's birthday. I made her the cutest magnetic board covered on the edges with mod podged paper and glitter paint but I forgot to take a picture of it. It was alot of fun making it and it almost took as long to find the right paper than it did to put it together. (I hope it was not a violation of copyright Vicki cuz I "borrowed" the idea from your Piecemaker blog.) Nieces beware-you might just get one yourselves! Monday of this week started bright and early and this miserable heat just won't quit. I got up and walked/jogged 2 mornings last week and I have done 2 mornings this week but if I don't do it before 7 it just too hot. Monday was numerous errands and more importantly double fudge brownie with caramel for encouragement. Then another dinner for a sick friend's family that actually ended up feeding 4 families-us, a neighbor's family, sick friend's family and they had so much that they took their 2nd pan to someone else. The greatest thing was that the main casserole really could not have cost more that $20. It fed about 25 people. Pretty good I think! Something like the loaves and fishes maybe! Monday was FHE on respect based on the Family Grumpy day from Sunday. Disgruntled parents unite! Not the worst one we have had-did feel the spirit a bit but certainly was not the best one ever. Tuesday was a visit from the phone company to address our internet problems with dropping us ALL THE TIME. They got it all going by 12 and so Don and I zoomed up to the DMV to get the trailer and Suburban registered so that we could go out of town this weekend and not get stopped for an unregistered car. There is a story that goes along with this trip to the DMV but I won't bore you with the details-maybe later when I still can't sleep. We took a little jaunt into Walmart and got home just in time for the kids to come home and others to pick up. The boys started Karate last night, met Cayden's teacher at Back to School night and learned at a parent meeting that Cody will need to be selling his organs so that he can go on the Encore Choir trip in March. I may have to sell mine as well so I can go with him. HOLY CRAP it is just Wednesday! I am really having anxiety about how crazy things are and my lack of sleep thus my lack of energy thus my lack of patience thus my lack of domesticity. Oh and I "started" my diet yesterday. That does not bode well for mental stability. If you see me eating double fudge brownie with caramel just back away slowly and don't show any fear. Exhausted mothers can smell fear you know! And if my behind is the same size or bigger than it has been for a while keep that bit of info to yourself-I already know. It has almost become its own entity needing its own introduction. "Oh hi this is Jenni and oh and this is Jenni's behind. Please pull up another chair." Happy Wednesday-even though it will be Thursday when most of you read this-if you read this tonight GO TO BED!

Note to self-need to blog DMV stupidity, Cayden's grumpy donut day, and Connor's pirate scripture reading.