This one's for you Anonymous

In case anyone is wondering what happens when I stay up way too late blogging and subsequently miss my very narrow window of opportunity to fall asleep easily, here it goes:

So, I couldn't fall asleep until well after 12:30 last night, and this proved to be quite cataclysmic this morning thanks to my early bird children. Grace was up before 7 wanting breakfast, and in my bleary-eyed, lead-footed stupor, I stumbled downstairs to get her cereal hoping I could sneak back upstairs and get a few more minutes of sleep before the others joined ranks, when Ethan stumbled himself down and wanted his daily bowl of oatmeal (because as I have heard him brag to others, I make the best oatmeal in the world -- if you'd like my "recipe," see the post script). Sophie soon followed and joined in the clamor for her breakfast of toast with butter (vegan that is) and jam. So toast it was.

My first mistake of the day was letting them have a "special occasion" to watch TV after breakfast. However, in my half-awakened state, it was far easier to surrender this victory than to stand my ground. The result? Even though we were up for almost 2 hours before Ethan needed to get to the bus stop (which is only just up the street), we still managed to miss the bus. I loaded the kids up and drove the 2 minutes to school only to have to wait another 10 minutes until teachers and buses and students started showing up.

Since we were already out and about, and 2 kids are always much easier to handle at the store than 3, we headed on over to Wal-mart to buy some organizational implementational kind of things to help me get my act together and become something other than the world's worst housekeeper.

Here's a shot of my girlie bugs upon our arrival home:

What's that on the right you say? Meet Grace's newest junk: Hello Kitty.

*Side story. Yesterday Ethan and Grace had their semi-annual dental check-ups and unfortunately, Grace did not pass the test. She has 3 cavities that we'll need to go back and get filled and the dentist is checking to see what else can be done to stop the thumb-sucking. Ethan did pass, and has 2 loose teeth to boot. They each got to pick out a little toy at the dentist's office when they were done, and Ethan's turned out to be a dud. He was so sad when we were leaving that his junky little trinket was not working that I felt really bad and told him we could go to "Once Upon a Child" (this awesome, children's consignment store) to pick out a small toy as a reward for having no cavities. Well, when we got there that "small toy" ended up being not so small (a bike), and Grace somehow finagled her way into picking something out as well (the life-size Hello Kitty doll). Oh well. I take comfort in knowing that we saved a ton of money because we bought them second-hand. And we contributed to our on-going efforts to be green. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Back to today. We walked away from Wal-mart with only ONE item that was not on the list -- a Backyardigans DVD that Grace wore me down into buying -- so really, a successful trip by any standard. And once home, I managed to start cleaning the kitchen before Ethan got back from school AND I even remembered to put Sophie down early for her nap so we could get to gymnastics on time in the afternoon.

And that's when my sleep-deprived brain reared its ugly head again. You see, I got us there right on time for 2:50. Which is when I thought gymnastics STARTED. Which is actually what time the class ENDED. I'll let you just conjure up your own mental image of the fit that ensued from Grace when she realized they wouldn't get to go in the gym at all.

In an effort to appease them and regain my status as the best mom in the whole world, I promised we'd stop at the store on the way home to buy "The Wizard of Oz" (which I have convinced them they want to be for Halloween even though they've only seen YouTubed clips of the movie so far). However, the movie doesn't seem to be in stock ANYWHERE. Evidenced by the fact that loading all 3 kids in and out of the car while looking at 2 different stores on opposite ends of the city was to no avail. Not to mention it made us late getting home for dinner which ended up slightly burning in the crock-pot.

So, there you have it. That was my day. I'm living the dream my friends, living the dream. It is almost 9 PM, I still have not showered for the day, my house minus the kitchen is still a mess (Okay. Well, minus the kitchen counters, because the floor is a nightmare and still needs to be swept let alone mopped), and my sleep window is rapidly approaching. *sigh* Tomorrow is another day? (expressed tentatively with a small hint of hope.)

Post Script:

The Best Oatmeal in the World (or at least Ethan thinks so)

1 c. milk (I always use what's on hand -- 1%)
1/2 c. Whole Oats (NOT the quick-cooking kind because Ethan does NOT like those)
4 spoonfuls of brown sugar (slightly mounded but mostly leveled out on a regular spoon that you eat with)

Turn stove to medium. Pour milk in saucepan and let it warm until it is hot but not scorching. At this point add the oatmeal but DO NOT STIR. Apparently this makes a difference (according to Alton Brown of Good Eats fame). Set a timer for 6 minutes (or 5 minutes if you live at high altitude such as in Utah). While the timer is ticking, measure out your sugar into the bowl. When timer dings, stir oatmeal and dump in bowl, mixing with the sugar. Ethan doesn't like his with cinnamon, but you can certainly add it if you want. Voila.