My day off

Today is my day off.  Here's how it went down peeps.

Went to the gym at 5:30 am, ran, puffed and sweated but felt a lot calmer as a result.

Got home and drove eldest child to his 7:30am orchestra rehearsal at school.

Home, breakfast, filled in the week's school notes, wrote the cheques for school and wrote the shopping list of school supplies needed.  Back out at 8:10 to drop child #3 at school early.

At 8:20 am commence piano practice with #5 child.  At 8:45 am commence dressing myself, the #5 and #4 children.  At 8:48, freak out and madly run around repeating 'hurry up' (makes no difference).  At 8:53 am leave to walk to school and it of course starts raining one minute down the street.

Chat to a friend at school for 10 minutes, get a lift with another friend to the Kindy mums' morning tea at a local cafe.

Nice morning meeting some of the new mums at school and survived the eventual, 'O, five, wow' conversation that comes up (I do avoid it for as long as possible).  Inevitably goes a number of ways that conversation.

"So you really wanted a big family then?" ('No, not really, just ended up in some kind of delusional hormonal haze and here we are, chuckle, chuckle').

"So you must LOVE kids then.  I can't cope and I only have one.  ('No, not really, just ended up in some kind of delusional hormonal haze and here we are, chuckle, chuckle' - o, no whoops wrong funny response, what I meant to say was, 'O, ha, ha, it doesn't matter how many you have it's always hard work', which is sort of true but also a bit of a lie - see earlier start to the day).

"So you must have been home with the kids full time for a long time then?  It's just that I really like my job and all ... I don't know how you do it",  (haven't got a clever response for that one.  Just feel like a bit of a bozo at that point.  Having a job now is quite handy though - although obviously I can't be all that serious about it, what with all my staying at home for vast lengths of time etc.).

Leave cafe, go to Officeworks to buy the school supplies list - quite a heavy bag by the end of that trip ('Didn't I buy a bargain packet of rulers, sharpeners and highlighters last year, because it would save me money?', I think to myself.  They can't be found anywhere in the house of course).

Survive the Post Office visit, come home and eat lunch.  While eating lunch, to my joy, I discover that Dr Phil has very considerately taken into account that it is my day off and invited a polygamist family on his show.  Guy and his three wives from Utah.  Great stuff - in that 'I'm eating my lunch and it's my day-off', trashy kind of a definition of great stuff (you all know what I mean - come on, admit it).

Read one page of my book and fall asleep.

Thankfully woke up in time to go to school.  It was of course pouring with rain - this is an inevitable part of school pickups.  Sun was shining ten minutes later.  Rain had moved on to someone else's school at pick up time.

Took #5 child to her piano lesson, but had to pick up spare pair of school shorts because the ones she was wearing were mysteriously wet (I wasn't in the mood for a closer investigation).  The spare shorts were, of course, about 25th hand and so the elastic had perished. She had to cross the road to the piano teacher's house holding onto the shorts so they wouldn't fall down.  Piano teacher is lovely and a much better person than me, so helps her fix up her shorts (I'm paying for this btw - every minute that ticks by is costing me money).

Drive home, everyone else does their music practice (involves crying, but let's not  go there), I make pizzas for the masses, comfort the child who has had a miserable day with her so called friends and here we are.

My day 'off'.