I went to bed last night and woke up this morning knowing that I have exactly one day (today) to get done anything I want before I am hit with a heavy workload of returning back to classes. (I am not sure if I have ever officially said what I do on here, so for anyone who doesn't know, I teach online English at the university level for a couple of schools). My goal for the day was to do as much as I could in terms of household preparation without Barney's assistance, as he hates chores like the ones I had scheduled for myself. I assumed he would watch football, and he did. But more than that, he got to play a new video game he got for Christmas, and that made him very happy indeed.
My project list consisted of two primary goals for the day--go grocery shopping (we've been gone for 10 days after all) and put away Christmas (I can't stand Christmas decorations after Christmas--it's just depressing). This morning our children blessedly slept in, which meant that we missed church. But, when they got up, we got donuts, and then I went to make black eyed peas. Where I am from, eating black eyed peas is a crucial New Year's Day tradition, as they bring good luck. We missed yesterday, so I didn't want to miss them today too. And, I was excited because I was going to get to use my new Le Creuset Dutch oven, which Barney gave me for Christmas.
When I went to find the stuff I needed though, I couldn't find quite a few of my new kitchen items. After panicking, I remembered that I had put them all in the dishwasher before we left, and the women who occasionally clean our house emptied the dishwasher while we were gone. This lead to an impromptu total reorganization of several kitchen drawers and one of my big kitchen cabinets. Between making the peas and re-organizing the kitchen, I was looking at a good hour and a half of busy work.
I then headed upstairs to start work on the Christmas stuff, and my goal was to get the empty boxes out of the attic. But, before heading up, I decided to get some tubs of too-small clothes out of Olivia's room to take up to the attic while I was at it. That lead to me finding all kinds of infant gear in her closet that I just don't notice anymore. Next thing I knew, I had completely taken out tons of stuff to put in the attic and then re-organized all of her cubby, toy bins, and closet. Another hour and a half gone.
Finally, I made it up to the attic and got the boxes out. After a quick break for lunch (black eyed peas of course!), I took down and packed up all of the Christmas stuff during the afternoon nap time. When the kids woke up, it was time for grocery shopping. Barney volunteered to come with me, and while I let him know he was welcome to stay home, I didn't push too much when he said he would come. By this point, I was pretty tired, and I knew I could use the help. I figure that if I met my goals at the cost of extreme exhaustion or by pushing myself too far, I will end up setting us up for issues later. I have to sometimes remind myself that the goal here is not to take on all of the responsibility for myself, because that is not a healthy marriage or partnership.
So, we all went shopping, then I came home and made a new dish posted by the Pioneer Woman that I thought Barney would really like (Asian meatballs with pineapple and green peppers). It was a hit. Sadly, we ran out of time to get things up in the attic today, but overall, I think it was a very successful day. My plan now is a long bath and then an early bedtime in preparation for tomorrow. I am sad that the holidays are over, as it was a good few weeks. But, as I have explained to George multiple times in the last couple of days, Christmas can only happen once a year, and now it is over.
Daily grind here I come.
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