So, what did I do today?

That is the question I am asking myself right now. If you walked into my house right now and looked around, it would seem like the answer should be “Nothing.”

One of the other managers at the restaurant is having some health issues so my husband had to go to open the restaurant today. Now, his plan was to come home in the afternoon to cook us some dinner and to let me take Son #1 to his violin lesson and do a quick grocery run. Yes, there was no expectation on his part that I would cook anything beyond breakfast for our children. I should be insulted, but I’m not. He’s just being honest. When he woke me up last night to tell me to wake him up early so that he could go open the restaurant in the morning my first question was “What will we eat?”

Yes, I do realize I am very spoiled.

He called to check in on us around noon and to break the news that he wasn’t going to be able to get away to come home. I assured that I had everything under control. I was actually a little ahead of the game at that point but of course that didn’t last long.

Here is the list of what I did today:

1. Fed everyone breakfast
2. Changed Precious’s pull-up (just 10 minutes after Iasked her if she had to go potty and she said no).
3. Loaded and ran the dishwasher
4. Broke up 3 fights in the span of about 30 minutes – one where my two youngest boys were trying to literally beat the crap out of each other after one accidentally hit the other in the head while having a light saber battle.
5. Swept and mopped the kitchen floor.
6. Took a broom around the corners in the kitchen to clean up all the cob webs – there is a definite cob web problem in our house.
7. Changed another pull-up
8. Made lunch – This consisted of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese – My kids think I'm the greatest for that one
9. Worked more on potty training Precious – This is becoming a losing battle -- put another Pull-up on her
10. Threw in a load of laundry
11. Picked up various items left laying around and put them back where they belong as I walked past them – This is on-going thing all day long
12. Got 5 children and 1 violin ready to go and in the van – Precious’ outfit consisted of a gray pair of knit pull on pants, a Tee shirt, a purple hooded shirt, white socks and a pink flowered summer dress over top of the ensemble – This is the outfit she insisted in wearing….at least she was dressed.
13. Hooked up the DVD player in the Van and put a movie in for the ride.
14. Dropped Son #1 at his violin lesson and sat in the parking lot with the other 4 kids to wait for him to finish – hence the movie. Whoever invented the portable DVD player is my hero.
15. Drove to the grocery store – This is normally a trip I would avoid with 5 kids in tow, but we were completely out of eggs, had less than a ½ gallon of milk in the house and no meat to cook for dinner.
16. Gave the “Mom really needs you to cooperate and I promise to be fast” speech. I also added a bribe of cookies if everyone was good. Into the store we went.
From the moment we stepped into the store people started giving me the looks. There are four types of looks:
a. The OH, NO!!! We’re going to have to listen to 5 kids scream all the way through the store look. This look includes a tsking sound, rolling eyes and a heavy sigh.
b. The Are those really all yours?? look
c. The Oh, you are either brave or stupid look (I tend to agree with this one).
d. The Oh, aren’t they all cute? look. This is usually from someone either in their early 20s or late 60s who has major babyitis.
17. Got home with the children and groceries all in one piece – I had copped out once in the grocery instead of buying some meat and vegetables to cook, I bought one of those rotisserie chickens, some pre-made mashed potatoes, a load of French bread and a bag of salad for dinner. The kids were actually extremely cooperative this trip. Cookies are a good thing and I'm luck my kids can be bought so cheaply.
18. Put away the groceries – we ended up buying a bit more than just dinner, milk, eggs and cookies
19. Changed another pull up
20. Unloaded the dishwasher
21. Fed the children dinner
22. Sat down and ate my own dinner
23. Went around the family room and play room collecting all of the dishes that have been left around the house today
24. Changed another pull-up
25. Loaded the dishwasher
26. Switched over the laundry
27. Hooked up the video camera to the TV so Son #2 could watch his performance from the 4th and 5th grade musical version of “Oliver”
28. Checked in on the boys who were playing a game on line in the office to make sure they weren’t on any site they shouldn’t be
29. Cleaned up the kitchen – again – someone had attempted to make their own cup of hot chocolate which resulted in a pack of Swiss Miss being dumped on the counter and floor. That Notme guy has struck again.
30. Changed another pull-up
31. Gave out multiple hugs and kisses to all of the children – the kiss for my oldest son did involved a chase and a head lock.
32. Sent the children to get their evening snack
33. Cleaned up after the tornado went through the kitchen again.
34. Put the sheets back on Princess' bed.
35. Told everyone to brush their teeth
36. Changed another pull-up
37. Sent everyone to bed
38. Only had to run Precious and Princess back to their own room once.

I know I’m missing some things because this is just what I remember I did. Yet my house still looks like I sat around doing nothing all day! How can this be? I blame that Notme guy.