Deadbeat Day

Today was an amazingly deadbeat day. Nothing happened of significance, nothing got done that should have gotten done, the house is a mess and so I am procrastinating by doing this blog entry so I can finally feel like I got something accomplished!

We had a snow "storm" yesterday (by Maryland's standards), and so the school opened late today. We all spent those extra two hours sleeping in. Then I taught strings class, which happens before school, only I was wrong about the start time and we ended up having a half hour more time before school started than I thought we would. This would normally be a good thing since our concert is not too far in the future and we could use the extra rehearsal, but I had made a doctor's appointment for Inga since she is in pain and acting like she has bronchitis, and I had scheduled it based on when I thought class would be over. Somehow Dan knew school started at 10:30 instead of 10:00, so he didn't show up with the rest of the kids until it was too late to make the doctor's appointment on time. So I had to reschedule the appointment, take everyone home for 10 minutes while I picked up some letters I needed to bring with me, and then off we went to the doctor to find that Inga does not in fact have bronchitis, it just sounds like it. But they gave us medicine for it just in case it turns over the weekend. Then we all got the flu shot. That was probably the most productive part of my day--holding screaming children while the nurses systematically performed acts of torment with needles on them. Boy was Pavel mad, because he wasn't expecting it (even though he went last and he was in the room the whole time...what goes through his head?). So we went home and had lunch and Inga insisted I take her back to school because she wants to get a perfect attendance record for the year. So I took her, came home, put Pavel down for a 45 minute nap (he usually naps for 2 hours), made an attempt to clean the house but really, nothing happened, woke him back up (again, mad child, mad, mad child) and got everyone in the van to go pick Inga up. When we got to the school I taught a student for half an hour, then we all went home, had snacks as fast as we could while Andrei and I changed into our Do Boks, and then we all went to Tae Kwon Do. Dan met us there, and the children watched Andrei and I take our separate classes. They are such a good cheerleading squad for me, even though they really should just sit quietly. The instructor worked me hard. I could barely move by the end of class, but neither could anyone else. At one point he said whoever gets to the other side of the room first didn't have to do ten push-ups and I was first. I hate push-ups, with a passion. Plus the flu shot in my arm was bothering me because I am a wimp.

Then home, with the five kids, while Dan went back to work (Dan usually works late on Thursdays because parents get a grade update on Fridays in his class and so he has to actually grade all those assignments he gives them. He has a reputation for giving the most work in the school). I fed the kids, and put them to bed immediately because no one had naps today and everyone was exhausted from doing nothing all day.

Usually I can say at the end of the day, "I got laundry done," or "the children are all bathed and clean," or "I wrote a little in my book today," or "we got a lot of good homeschooling done," or at least "I paid some bills." I need to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, no matter how small. All we did today was what we had to in order to survive, and I'm not used to that. It's time for some chocolate chip cookies (although I count that as negative productivity because, really, I'm going to be the one to eat most of them and how many calories is that?!)

Now I am going to force myself to go down to the kitchen and clean it, and before I get into bed tonight I will think over the day and at least I will be able to say I posted to my blog.

Geography madness

Today we spent the evening embarrassing ourselves by taking geography tests online. Anne Marie has a theory that those who live in states that are not self-sufficient tend to know a little more about the geography around them, i.e. anyone who does not live in California or Texas.

We also went to St. Andrews in Canada to pick up Mandy's boyfriend, Tim, and to visit a yarn store that was conveniently closed. Ben and Jaime left this morning, leaving Inga devastated because they took Moira and Evie with them (selfish pigs).


It's also Brad's birthday, and we celebrated with chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, chocolate icing, and pizza. My kids were in heaven. Brad is now officially as old as I am, which is quite young, actually. His birthday presents involved an HDTV and a night out on the town in L.A.

We have done very little outside the house this vacation, which is either a good sign (we enjoy each other's company) or a bad sign (we all have amoebic dysentary and cannot move). Since we have all been eating a lot (as can be proven by the grocery bill or Dad's gripe level) I think we can safely say we have simply been having a restful break. Saturday we will be going back to Connecticut and visiting with some friends before heading back home--and then we will have a lot of work to do to get our dossier ready for Russia in time for our travels. Good thing we've had some time to breathe first!

Everyday Life

This is a mundane post. It is submitted under pressure from my siblings, who are demanding entertaining reading on sibling posts during the holidays. So I shall deliver, with an update on everything I can think of:

We went to Connecticut for Christmas. It was fun.

We went to Maine for after-Christmas funnery. It was fun.

We are still looking into purchasing an incredibly un-glamorous large vehicle for carting around our children. This is not fun. However, Sam's suggestion for a Dodge Sprinter was very helpful and looked like we might actually get out of the non-cool mode...except that I felt like a FedEx delivery boy whilst driving it. Overwhelmingly. So I think that is out.

We will be going to Russia (hopefully) in late January, like January 20. Maybe. We will then get to meet our (hopefully) soon-to-be son.

Grandmom is doing well.

My hair is growing. Most likely at the same rate it always has.

Well, that's about it. Oh, oh--and my children are currently taking a nap.