This day is done

I know there are 1000's of moms/ dads out there who are much busier than me. I know that most of what I'm going to complain about is self induced and self serving . But I'm going to sit in my corner and suck my thumb and complain.

This was my schedule today:

5 am- red puppy barking and whining. (Translation: I forgot to allow her to go out last night before I went to bed and now her eyeballs are floating.)
5:30 am- wet, red puppy and I are now inside fix'n (I KNOW "fix'n" is not a real word!) coffee.
5:40 am- transferring wet school uniforms from washer to dryer.
5:45 am- severely reprimanding red puppy for JUMPING onto the kitchen counter and stealing and ripping and otherwise mutilating daughter's homework which she spent hours on the night before
6 am- starting lunches for 4 wild kids.
6:05 am- fielding phone call from mountain boy husband who is on his way home from Alaska where he works (Translation: smoochy, smooch, kissy, kiss.... I can't wait for him to come home!)
6:15 am- Out for quick morning chores (Translation: gathering eggs, feeding and watering rabbits, chickens, thanking Jesus we weren't able to get a milk cow this year after all...too much to do, not enough time.)
6:30 am- Make breakfast for all (Translation: fried potatoes and onions stored from our summer garden, biscuits and honey, apple slices, milk)
6:45 am- Kids up and completing am chores like making beds, combing hair and dressing in school uniforms, gathering last minute books/ school work in preparation for the day (Translation: boys yelling at each other through a locked door to get out of the bathroom before there's an accident on the floor; daughter in deep distress over her stolen, ripped and otherwise mutilated homework; red puppy whining because she hears all her kids up and she's banished to her kennel cave; boys rifling through clean clothes in dryer searching for socks/ underwear. Socks and underwear found in drawer ("how did they get in there?")
7:15- Oldest son stumbles out of room stating some thing about alarm not going off..... again. All eating breakfast.
7:35- Take a quick shower
7:50- All kids and moms out the door in orderly fashion for leisurely drive to school (Translation: all kids pushing/ shoving out the garage door at 8:00 to try and beat each other to the front seat, some running back in for lunches, books, belts, coats.......Blow out the drive way like a bat)
8:19- 8:30- Drop 3 kids out at grade school. One kid out at high school.
9:00- mom to work.
9- 2:45pm- Work, work, work.
2:45 pm- 4pm- Pick up oldest son at high school for orthopedic surgeon follow up appointment for right knee injury/ surgery sustained in January
4- 4:30pm- pick up all other kids from after school study hall; drop off sweet daughter at volleyball practice; drive wild boys home; offer wild boys dinner; evening chores (see above am chores- repeat); remind wild boys they need to be ready for scouts by the time I come home from picking up sweet daughter from volleyball (translation: threaten the boys that if they are not ready to go to scouts by the time I get home, they might NOT be able to go to their favorite scout activity----swim school).
4:45- 6:25 Pick up daughter; bring home; offer her dinner; gather up boys, pick up other boy scouts on the way to scout swim school.
7:15 pm Drive HOME!
8:30- 9:00 pm- Pick up all my boys and 2 more boys and drop all off at houses on the way home (we have to pass by their homes on the way to our home so it's really no problem).
9:00 - 10:30- Help middle son pack for scout camp out, help youngest son with last 2 math problems, love on sweet daughter because she cleaned up the kitchen without me asking or reminding her. All kids in bed at 9:20 or so. Fielding phone call from beloved mountain boy husband who is on the second to the last leg of his journey home from Alaska where he works (Translation: smoochy, smooch....you get the idea). Take red puppy out one more time (so we don't repeat the crack of dawn eyeball floating whining at 5 am tomorrow).

Done.
Whewww.
What a day. I am a bonafide grouch.
I am tired and I want to go home. OK. I forgot, I am home.

So now I'm going pull on my down coat, pop open a refreshing malted beverage and go sit out on the front porch. I'm going to sit in the dark and listen to the quiet. I'm going to hear the quiet and slurp my beer. I'm going to hear the owls talking to each other and the chilly breezes blowing through the tall, dead, field grass. I'm going to breathe the cool, fresh air and close my eyes and thank God that I have a great place to live, and wonderful, healthy kids and an amazing husband who doesn't mind leaving us every month to work so we can have all we have. I'm just going to sit and regenerate.......and get cold.

Then I'm going to take my tired grouchiness to bed.
Amen. Good night.