Monday Blues

Some Mondays, I just like to go hide out in my room and play Mindsweeper. Today was one of them.

I actually normally enjoy Mondays. I get a feeling of satisfactions that things are getting done. It's a fresh start. A chance to redeem missed opportunities from last week.

But our school day today was abysmal. I had the kids do bare minimum while we did housework. The never ending housework. Kody peed in the dining room so I pulled out the steam cleaner again. And once the steam cleaner was out, I decided to do the family room as well, since it was starting to smell funky. Then, I got depressed because I really needed to do ALL the rugs, especially the rug going up the stairs. That reminded me that I also needed to steam clean the breakfast room and bar chairs. But I stopped at the family room and told myself to do a little at a time. Maintain, maintain, maintain.

So, I pushed ahead and did what I really needed to do -- the usual -- dishes, tidying up the main rooms, sweeping, vacuuming. I allowed myself one out-of-the-ordinary job, cleaning out the floor in the pantry. (It's those little jobs that kill a day.) And I got the kids to clean up their rooms and bathrooms, too. Kade and Konner were threatened with no playtime, no candy time, no outside time until their room was clean and they had finished their school lessons. To my utter relief, they are now enjoying their playtime!

But now begins the real work, and probably the reason why I'm more stressed than usual today. We have a bunch of bags of cement left over from the fence work that took in moisture and are now very nice tombstones. We can still use them, though, for cement that we'll be putting in at the basement door. Guess who's moving the cement bags? Me and the kids! Whoo-hoo! Keith worked on a patch of cement at the driveway and then measured where the baby maples are supposed to go. But guess who's actually planting the trees? Me and the kids! I'm not upset with Keith for not doing this work, since it was just not physically possible for him to do it. He did all he could over the weekend. I just get tense when there are other things to be done at the same time!

So what am I doing instead? Writing my email!

Other things on the agenda are going to take Kody for his first manicure. : ) His nails are really long and I don't want to cut them too close to his nerve endings. I'd feel horrible. Petsmart will do it for $12.95. Taking him there, I can see how close they cut and do it myself next time. If you ask me, though, it's gross. Then again, I guess cleaning up dog mess from the dining room isn't exactly Etiquette 101 either.