Daily Grind: Thursday

5:30 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
5:40 Alarm goes off. Hit snooze.
5:41 Reach over and pick iPod up to check email with one eye open.
5:45 Work up the resolve to get out of bed. Pull on scrub pant pj bottoms, look for hoodie in the dark with no luck. Shiver my way to the closet to pull out another. Walk to kitchen, start coffee. Mix KayTar's Miralax dose in 3 oz of water and while it dissolves, go to the other room to get a fresh feed bag and Pediasure can. Fill the bag and prime it.
6:00 Go upstairs to KayTar's room, set up the pump and plug her in. Nudge her and say, "Your pump is plugged in, so don't wiggle too much." She mumbles her consent. Go back downstairs for my coffee. Thank goodness I can fix her feeds in my sleep, because I'm not actually conscious until after coffee.
6:05 Realize all my jeans are in the washer. Toss a pair in the dryer for 30 minutes. Pick out a shirt. Get dressed from the waist up. Go to the bathroom to do make-up while listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.
6:15 Drink coffee, check Facebook, read half a blog post. KayTar is beeping, so I go check her. My iPod has been on shuffle and it happens to switch to one of KayTar's favorite songs (Your Hands by JJ Heller). She smiles in her sleep and starts to sing. I unhook her from the pump and lie down next to her. She hugs me and sings the song. I think this will be the high point of my day. Once it is over, I tell her to go wake her brother up. She's excited because he is ALWAYS up first, she never gets to wake him. I disassemble her pumping accessories and take the parts down to be reassembled in her backpack for her school feed while Josh dresses KayTar and BubTar dresses himself. Laurie Berkner is playing on my iPod. KayTar switches it to Just Dance and we twirl around the living room.
6:30 Pack KayTar's lunch. Water, pepperoni, baby food veggie. Remember she needs breakfast, too, and microwave her bacon.
6:35 Dryer beeps, check pants. Still moist. Throw them back in.
6:40 Have kids line up for hairstyling.
6:45 Recheck pants. They're passable.
6:50 Realize we are ready and I have almost 30 minutes to spare. I decide to make myself oatmeal instead of eating in the car. We only have the peaches and cream kind, boo, but it is still better than a protein bar in the car.
7:20 Take the kids to school, go through the drop off line, then park.
7:30-9:00 Volunteer in the kids' library. Do some clerical tasks, but it is very relaxing. I love the library.
9:00-9:05 Get gas for the van.
9:05-9:48 Drive to school. Park. Walk down several flights of stairs to exit the garage, stop in the nearest building to use the bathroom (I love this bathroom, because the stall walls are a bumpy texture that make me dizzy to look at, but that I can't help but touch...I know, BATHROOM GERMS, but I can't resist. Then I scrub thoroughly.), walk down more stairs to get to the ground level, walk up a hill to school. IT'S HOT.
10:02-11:15 Arrive at class, only marginally late. Most seats are full, but I spot on in the back corner. Learn things, like that the Iroquois were way ahead of their time what with respecting nature and allowing women to run things, darn dirty Europeans had to come and ruin all that and set us back a couple thousand years. ;) I also got a kick out of their "wars", they would stand in their armor, far away from one another and shout insults. The professor referred to it as a "Yo' Mama" war.
11:15 Wait in line, use the bathroom. Wash hands, eat a protein bar while calling Josh for a quick chat.
11:30-12:45 Music class. Note that both of my teachers today had sweaters wrapped around their shoulders, preppy-style. Wonder if they know we are in TEXAS in AUGUST. Sing Amazing Grace, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Frere Jacques, among others and clap out meter and rhythm. Think that the kids will get a kick out of what we did in MY music class, because it seems pretty similar to what they do in THEIR classes.
12:50 Whoops! Teacher held us over. Take several flights of stairs down, grab a Chick-Fil-A sandwich in the cafeteria and stuff it into my purse. Trek back to the car, thinking about this post in my head to distract me from the HEAT and the impending march back up all those stairs.
1:00-1:33 Drive home while listening to the horrible pop music that I can't help but love...Lady Gaga, Usher, Katy Perry and oh God, even Ke$ha. Scarf down my chicken sandwich. Am pleasantly surprised that I can "recalculate" my path based on construction before Dr. Corday (my British speaking GPS) does. I'm learning my way around town!
1:33-1:59 Restart the dryer and get laundry going (it has been piling up like CRAZY around here. There is a laundry basket in our room, about 3 feet underneath a picture frame. The other day Josh said, "So are we shooting for the frame?" I looked at him quizzically, and he said, "The laundry, are we hoping it makes it to the frame?" Heh...it was getting a little too close, honestly.)), write the first half of this post.
2:00-2:02 Lay on my bed, breaking the NO RECLINING rule. Feel my eyelids getting heavy and hop back up.
2:12 Get laundry from dryer and lay it out while dancing around to Lady Gaga. P-p-p-poker face. Start a new load.
2:30-2:31 Goof off online. See a comment from a friend on FB that mentions my blog. Swiftly delete it before anyone sees it. LOL. Josh calls to shoot the breeze and I hustle him off the line.
2:34 Leave to get the kids from school, two minutes behind schedule. Read my book, it is still AWESOME.
3:05 Kids pile in the car, happily chatting about their day. I hear BubTar mention that he needs advice from KayTar. Hmmmm.
3:15 Plug KayTar in for her afternoon feed. Get BubTar's snack, make myself and afternoon coffee. Hear BubTar asking KayTar for advice on how to make friends. Poor guy, asking his baby sister how to make friends. Someone picked on him AGAIN today. Told him that everyone hates him. My mama heart is all broken up over it. I try to talk him through it, but once he gets worked up, it doesn't get through. He's crying and hiding under couch pillows and I'm helpless. KayTar takes over the consoling (with admirable effort and pep) and I go call Josh to let him know. Boo. I draft an email to the teacher and leave it as a draft. Is that the right move? Should I talk to the counselor? We don't want another year like last year, so I can't let it slide.
3:50 BubTar is eating snack and talking to his best friend on the phone, asking him how to make friends and deal with being bullied. Best Friend gets him to laugh about all of it. The day has been saved by Best Friend! All hail Best Friend!
4:00 Get laundry out of dryer. Hop online to post my bullying dilemma on a message board I frequent. Email the librarian to track down the counselor's address.
4:30 Played Super Mario World with my little guy.
4:50 Josh gets home and goads me into helping him with dinner prep. Herb crusted pork chops, green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy.
5:10 Talk to my mom on the phone. Hop on Facebook for a few minutes while Josh finishes dinner, BubTar play an online computer game with his friend, and KayTar talks to my mom.
5:30 Dinner. Make the kids name three GOOD things about their day. One of them came up with them easily, the other did not. Can you guess who was who?
6:00 Chore time. Everyone takes care of their little tasks. Log into my online class and post on the discussion on lobotomies. Wonder if some of my classmates might have first hand experience with this procedure.
6:45 Proudly announce that KayTar has not had a potty accident all week at school. Then immediately clean KayTar's bum, noting that she has the start of a rash, and remove her soiled pull-up, such timing. Clean the tub for KayTar while the boys leave for BubTar's baseball meeting. Update this from the bathroom while she soaks.
7:00 Dry her off and get pjs on. She play acts with her EpiPen trainer briefly, "Oh no! My lips are swelling and I can't breathe! What to do?!" and then "Oh no! I'm peanut allergic and peanuts have gotten into my belly!" She starts her arm a-swinging and then BAM, lands it right on her thigh. Goober. We chat for a while and then...
7:30 Reading time. HOLY COW, this is a treat. KayTar decides to SING me the entire chapter of Junie B. Jones. Junie B. Jones, The Rock Opera. I laugh/cry so much all my make-up is washed away. 100% pure awesome. This is definitely the high point of my day.
8:00 Bedtime for kiddos. Spend 20 minutes trying to get a splinter out of my finger. Update this post.
8:25 Quick shower with Josh (we like to conserve water, you know), get dressed for bed, blow dry hair. Lay out BubTar and KayTar's clothes for the next day. Fill KayTar's feed bag for school and put it in the fridge.
9:12 Climb into bed, intending to watch some TV and treat myself to a string cheese. Instead of watching TV, I ignore it while drafting letters to BubTar's teacher and school counselor. Fun times.
9:50 Start Masterchef with Josh.
11:35 The show is over, turn out the lights and fall asleep while Josh watches The Colony.
THE END!