It is 8:30am. The kids and Steven are at school. I'm listening to Disney Songs on iTunes and eating cake and hoping that the fact that I've already cleaned up from breakfast, taken trash out to the dumpster and that there is laundry in the dryer justifies that. I'm feeling lazy today.
This has been a busy week so far - but then every week is busy, it seems. On Monday I didn't have anywhere to go, but I spent the day working. First, I cleaned all the lint from inside the dryer and tried to figure out if anything I could do would speed it up at all. Then I washed and dried four loads of laundry. While the laundry was washing, I scooped everything on the floor in the boys room into a trash bag to throw away. (They had warning I would do this so most everything they cared about had been put away.) When the floor was cleared I vacuumed thoroughly. Then, I emptied out the dresser that has been in our entryway since we moved in. It had been used for keeping school papers, old magazines, maps, cassette tapes, and a lot of my sewing and knitting supplies. I ended up throwing away a lot of what was in there, and I stuck the rest in a storage bucket. I still need to find permanent homes for the stuff in the bucket, but when all the drawers were emptied, I moved it into the boys room so Josh and Peter could have more drawer space and would be able to fit their clothes in their drawers more easily. John has decided that he REALLY wants his own room, so he moved into the walk-in closet of his bedroom a few months ago and has been sleeping very comfortably in there. So also on Monday, with his wholehearted permission, I took down the trundle bed in the boy's room so there would be room for the additional dresser in there. Somehow in all the furniture moving on Monday I pulled a muscle in my neck, but the boys' room is a lot cleaner and I was happy with my accomplishments.
On Tuesdays, I drop the children at school, and then I have half an hour to throw laundry in the washer, check email, and do what needs to be done at home before I head back to the school for the rest of the school day. I start out in Joshua's class while they have math. Josh's teacher, Mrs. A, taught Peter's Kindergarten class last year, and taught Josh when he was in kindergarten, so we know each other well and I enjoy helping her. Usually I help the third graders when they have questions doing individual work, while Mrs. A is working with groups. Occasionally she will have me work with an individual or a small group of students who are struggling with a particular concept. I have also helped Mrs. A with other tasks, including running errands, filing, labeling, etc. On Tuesday she had me run to the grocery store to pick up some things she needed for the class Valentine's Day party. Then I helped while they did a Valentine's Day Math activity. When math time is over, I head to Peter's class to help his teacher, Mrs. D. For the first hour in Mrs. D's class, Peter is across the hall in Ms. M's class, while Mrs. D has the ESL students in her classroom for Literacy instruction. I help when the children are doing individual writing, to circulate and help the 1st graders spell words, or help them organize their stories while Mrs. D works with individual students to help them polish their stories. When Literacy time is done, the children go back to their homerooms in time to grab their coats and go to lunch. I usually eat lunch with Peter. After lunch and a short recess, the kids come back for calendar, or sometimes a trip to the library. My chance to help comes in at math time, when the children are divided into four groups. One group works with Mrs D, one group does individual math in their books, one group plays math games (usually with help from their 3rd grade buddies from Mrs. A's class) and the fourth group meets with me. Sometimes we play games, sometimes I help them with a worksheet. I do feel pretty special to have my name on the chart on the wall that tells the students which station to go to. By the time the 1st graders go to specials (art, music or PE) at the end of the day, I'm usually exhausted. Sometimes I spend that last hour chatting with Mrs. D or going to see if Mrs A needs help in her classroom. This Tuesday after math, I helped Mrs D with her Valentines party, then when the kids went to music, I went to John's class to check out his Valentine's Party, then went to Josh's class for a glimpse of his party. After spending most of the day on my feet, I didn't feel like doing much when we got home after school, but that evening we went to our Cub Scout Blue and Gold Celebration, for which the boys and their dads had made cakes to share. Steven and the boys made a "golden plates" cake.
Wednesday morning, I had a presidency meeting first thing after taking the kids to school. That lasted about two hours while we discussed the needs of some children and teachers, and made plans for an activity we will have in March. After the meeting, I went to the church to retrieve Hannah's coat which she had left there the night before, then I headed to Sam's Club and the bread store for groceries. I got home in time for lunch, and some bill paying before the kids got home. Wednesdays are early dismissal days so the kids get out early and I make them walk home from school. Often I will walk up to meet them and walk home with them, but yesterday I was too tired. They had been home for a little over on hour before we left to take John to his piano lesson. Then we came home, picked up Hannah (who got home from school while we were gone) and then took Hannah to her first viola lesson. (A sister in our ward just offered to give her lessons in exchange for some babysitting, etc.) I took Joshua and Peter to the library for the 20 minutes we had before we needed to pick up John, then go pick up Hannah and get home in time to start making dinner. I was grateful that Steven offered to take Hannah to her YW activity last night because once again, I was very tired. I stayed home and helped the boys get their homework done while I folded laundry.
So, today is Thursday. My house is messy and I need to clean it up. But, I don't have to go anywhere this morning. I can set my timer and get the clutter picked up. I might have time to practice my guitar today, or play the piano. I might draw something in Photoshop. I might find a crossword or sudoku puzzle to do. Who knows? I might even read a book!
Some of you may know that I got a guitar for Christmas. It didn't come with any kind of case though, so I made one. I did most of it about a month ago, but my needle broke when I was adding some finishing touches. But I finished it this morning, and I wanted to show it off. 
It is made from two layers of thick duck fabric, with cardboard and cotton batting in the middle. It has straps so it can be worn as a backpack, and a zipper opening at the bottom. I saw a similar guitar case here and figured out how to duplicate it. It probably won't protect my guitar from any serious injury, but hopefully it will provide some protection from the normal dings and scratches it would get from just being in my house.
