Boring? I'll Show You Boring!

"It is not enough to be busy ...

The question is: What are we busy about? "

~Henry David Thoreau

Well Henry, busy with life. Just plain old, never boring, always moving, life. I was recently asked (by a rather self important business woman) how I could stand being a stay at home Mother. It seems she thought one would go mad from all the idle time on their hands. Ah...idle time. Do any of you ladies have any idea what that is? Uh huh. I thought not. Whether we work outside the home or INSIDE it, or BOTH, we stay busy. On this note, where did the phrase *work outside the home*originate? I certainly do not stay INside the home...nor do I *stay at home* a lot. I actually happily anticipate a few days of those sweet *stay off the streets by order of the local authorities* snowfalls. Oh but those days where we are forced to stay inside and just BE are so precious. How I WISH I had the luxury of being bored. Don't you? Then again, I love being able to do what I do every day. A few more hours in that day to get more laundry done, clean a few more cobwebs from the corners or have dinner ready before 7pm would be nice on occasion. I made a list of my *Boring Day* 2 Friday's ago. I wanted to have it in my purse in case the business woman and I bump into one another again. This is not a *typical* day. IE, no cleaning and laundry or meetings to attend. Life CAN get even busier than this!

4:45am: Alarm rings. Bill gets up to shower. I notice the dog has now taken Bill's place in bed. I go back to sleep. Hmm...so this is boring so far right? 5:25am: I get up and go downstairs to flip on lights and get the paper from front porch. 5:35am: Finally wrestle newspaper away from now wide awake dog. 5:45am: Go back upstairs, clean out two cat litter boxes, clean up bed, wash face, brush teeth and hair and yes, I did use *two* different brushes. 6:00am: Enter Diva's room and begin the thankless task of waking her. 6:15am: Bill returns from walking the dog whereupon said dog resumes destroying my newspaper. 6:30am: Begin the every 10 minute ritual of reminding sleepy Diva that she needs to hurry. 6:32am: Kiss husband goodbye, get Diva's breakfast ready. Try piecing the Editorial page back together. 6:59am: Remind Diva not to gulp her breakfast. 7:15am: Frantic dash to the door, helping Diva into coat, handing her the book bag and violin case, kissing her goodbye. 7:17am: Watch Diva fly back IN through the front door to retrieve whatever it was that I told her NOT to forget that she forgot. 7:18am: Wave goodbye at the bus, not really sure who is actually watching me do so. 7:20am: Back upstairs to make a rudimentary wipe up of the bathrooms, take shower, get dressed, get dressed again after dog barfs up shredded newspaper on my lap. 7:45am: Take son to work. (His car passed away. I wrote the obit myself. A new car is forthcoming but in the meantime, acting as his chauffeur is one of my new duties) 8:00am: Kiss son goodbye. Head to grocery store. Pass Starbucks and convince myself NOT to purchase a $4.90 Pumpkin Spice Latte. Enter grocery store, push cart past Customer Service and purchase a $4.90 Pumpkin Spice Latte from the Starbucks INSIDE said grocery store. A reward for being so strong. Hey! I could have bought it 10 minutes earlier! 9:00am: Leave grocery store and drive home. Unload groceries from van. Curse the fact that I was stupid enough NOT to shop when the men were home to help. 9:20am: Begin putting groceries away. Answer telephone. Tell recorded message from Barack Obama that I have frozen corn melting. Re-start putting groceries away. Answer another phone call. Tell recorded message from John McCain that I have frozen peas melting. Wonder if peas and corn are partisan vegetables. 10:00am: Check email, write a thank you note for a gift which I should have written the thank you note 2 weeks earlier. 10:30am: Walk dog. Dog walks me. Call it a draw. 1045am: Drive to pick up my nephew at his school. Smile at him a lot. Sing songs. Watch him cover his ears. 11:25am: Drop off my nephew at his baby sitter's home. Smile at the cute children, kiss Boo goodbye. Boo pushes me out of the door so he can begin his fun. 11: 30am: Drive to closest McDonald's. Buy a Diet Coke and a newspaper. Sit in the car, in the sunshine, drink Coke and read paper. 11:50am: Head to Credit Union. Deposit & remove monies. 12:00pm: Drive to shopping center. Buy a birthday gift for Diva's friend. Buy a gift card for brother and sis in law's anniversary. 12:25pm: Head downtown to vote early. Sign things, wait around, chat with lots of nice people on both sides of the proverbial partisan fence, vote. 1:20pm: Leave downtown and drive to dry cleaners, drop off, pick up...drive to drug store, drop off, pick up...drive to grocery store to get the few things I forgot to get this morning during brain fog attack. Drive to Target to get the ONE thing Diva desperately needs for this afternoon. 2:20pm: Arrive at Diva's school to pick up said Diva and her BFF. Drive to movie theater so the girls can bear witness to the joy that is High School Musical 3's debut. Buy girls popcorn, Skittles and Tropicana Strawberry Lemonade. Buy myself popcorn and a drink as I remember I have had no lunch and am now starving, not that I need a sorry excuse like that to purchase movie popcorn. 3:00pm: High School Musical 3 begins...Whoo Hoo! Go Wildcats! 5:15pm: Leave movie theater with giddy, giggling girls singing wildly. Think about driving to store to purchase ear plugs. 5:25pm: Stop by card shop to purchase anniversary card which I realize is at home. 5:35pm: Arrive at my Mom's house with two hysterically giggling girls. Mom has fixed chili for all of us. I help her finish dinner and set table. Bill arrives. 6:00pm: Eat dinner. 6:20pm: My brother and sis in law arrive with Boo. They leave for anniversary dinner out. Boo stays with us. 6:30pm: Clean up table, wash dishes, clean up kitchen. 7:00pm: Bill leaves for our house with the girls. I stay with Mom and babysit Boo. We watch "Cars". Go Lightning! 7:30pm: Boo gets bored with "Cars". We move on to "Toy Story". Go Woody and Buzz! 8:00pm: Boo gets tired of "Toy Story". We read 2 books about silly monkeys. Go monkeys! 8:25pm: We get out all the toys from Boo's back pack and make a big mess playing. Go mess! 9:00pm: Boo wants to watch "Cars" again. I convince him we need to clean up mess first. 9:15pm: Boo's parents return. I kiss and hug Boo a lot. They all leave. I help Mom re-arrange her family room. 9:30pm: I drive home. 9:55pm: I enter house to find sleeping husband on couch and two giggling girls singing wildly. 10:00pm: Wake up said husband. Send him to bed. Get girls to prepare their sleeping bags. 10:15pm: Kiss son goodbye as he heads out to pick up friend (who just happens to be a girl) from her nursing shift. 10:17pm: Help still giggling girls to prepare the oh so important late night snacks. 10:30pm: Walk dog. Dog walks me. Another draw. 10:50pm: Check on now sound asleep girls. Put away their uneaten late night snacks. Cover each girl with another blanket. 11:00pm: Turn out lights, check doors, make sure cats and dog have water in their dishes. Wash face, brush teeth. Go teeth! 11:15pm: Try to go to bed, realize that the dog has taken my spot and push very grumpy, sleepy dog off my pillow. 11:30pm: Sleep perchance to dream...

Yes, not necessarily a typical day but all days are equally this busy for most of us right? But boring? Okay. Boring, maybe...maybe to a well dressed business woman. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things I did not accomplish too much. But I did help my family & I did make a difference in the loves of 3 children. I received hugs and kisses, a few "I love yous", lots of smiles, a happy husband, happy kids, happy mother, happy nephew, happy brother and sis in law & 3 happy pets. Boring? Maybe, but I wouldn't have it any other way.