Keeping busy

Today I had a mini break from year-end PTA insanity, but I somehow found plenty of ways to fill the day, starting with a couple of depressing errands. I really could have used Jasper's calm or Bella's shield this morning. Or Edward's . . . um . . . or Edward. ;) But let's not dwell on the melancholy.

The rest of this Thursday was a normal, jam-packed day: Yard work, which consisted of mowing and edging the lawn and hacking a couple of shrubs to pieces; grocery shopping; taking son #4 potty a dozen times, half of which were false alarms; cleaning up the trail of toys left by two toddlers; vacuuming up the trail of crumbs left by the same two toddlers; making and re-making beds messed up by, you guessed it, son #4 and his co-conspiring cousin; unplugging a clogged toilet; overseeing homework and studying spelling words; running son #3 back to school because he forgot his homework; torturing sons #1, #2, and #3 with their favorite chore, piano practice; running sons #1 and #2 around to various sports and Scout activities; making dinner; doing laundry and dishes; and last but not least, checking in regularly with my mafia. Oh, and I am still planning to watch SYTYCD, yay! Love that show. And when am I going to read the last 650 pages of my book club book? Errr. . . . I'll get back to you on that.

Just a note about edging the lawn. First time I have ever done it myself. Quite the struggle for my wimpy arms. I finally found a way I could hold that big, heavy trimmer that wasn't too awkward, that my finger could reach the trigger to give it more gas, and that the angle was right for cutting. There was just one problem. The edger kept spitting dirt and clumps of grass and other organic shrapnel at my left ankle. (Note to self: Wear long pants next time.) It kind of stung, but I was in a groove and wasn't about to stop to change my clothes or try to find another way to hold the trimmer, so I just kept going. It wasn't too bad until I somehow flipped a rock at my ankle. Oopsie! I bruise very easily, or maybe bruises just show up really well on my pasty skin, but I constantly have bruises all over, even from incidental contact or from Luke climbing on me or something like that. Imagine what I would look like if I were a klutz, yikes! So anyway, now my left ankle is a pretty picture, all white and black and blue. And my poor arm muscles. My backyard is big. And the lawnmower kept conking out, so I had to really push it and coax it to keep working so I could finish. My arms got such a workout, they were trembling after I was done. When I moved a pot of spaghetti to the sink to drain it, my arms rebelled and I almost dropped it. I am a serious weakling.

But the lawn looks great, and I got a jump-start on my farmer's tan, so it was all totally worth it, LOL! I'm so tired, surely I'll sleep more than 4 or 5 hours tonight, right? I hope, I hope. ;)