A Heap of Work, A Bit of Panic, and a Monday Morning

Well, Friday, I ran around doing all my errands, some tidying up, halfhearted attempts at being the grown-up Mommy I'm supposed to be all the time...

Saturday, I imagined a day of final yard work, having been put off for some time, but able to be done safely thanks to our wonky weather, followed by a Saturday night of my doing laundry and picking up toys and books. Sunday would be a day of football, waiting on BB, doing more laundry, and trying to plan meals for the week, and making my grocery list.

Instead....BB surprised me by saying "Let's go somewhere for breakfast this morning." We spent waaayyyyy too much money last month, and were sort of taken aback by the speed with which we racked up that there credit card balance...ugh! That resulted in a personal effort by me to use all the items in my pantry and freezer to feed my family, rather than spending money to drive to an overpriced restaurant, where we would pay more money for food that I didn't make, and wouldn't have to clean up, and then drive home...my own personal crusade I suppose.

At any rate, we loaded up the kids, drove to a Perkin's restaurant and indulged in things like French Toast, bacon, biscuits and gravy...all of which could have been made at home for an army contingent for the price we paid...even with a coupon for "Kids Eat Free!"

To my even greater surprise, instead of our normal "out and about" routine of going to Target, BB said, "Let's go to Woodcraft!", so we drove up the road aways and wandered around a store full of shiny router bits, chisels, gouges, veneer, stain, grinders, lathes, turning blanks, and the like...BB found some items to make his finishing of my never-ending music cabinet go a bit faster. On our way to the store I saw a Carter's sign at the local outlet mall and said "OOOOH!!!!"

I figured BB would be ready to head home after prying Captain Chaos from the store (more on that in a moment), but he said, "Let's go to the outlets."

We went to Carter's, who was having a big sale, and we got Captain Chaos some new pants, jammies, and much needed socks. Tiny Princess is really set but for a special Christmas dress, so she got nothing, poor girl. We wandered through the Coleman store and found some nifty pillows that open to full-size but pack down tightly, that we can use for camping, or, more importantly, airplane travel and car rides. We went to the Levi's outlet and I bought a new pair of jeans (for way more than I think denim should cost). BB found the Carhartt store and we bought him some much needed new pairs of pants that don't look like he's wearing someone else's pants (he's lost 60 pounds in the past 8 months!!!) We went to the Border's outlet, and bought the kids some fun learning books with activities to take on said plane.

We ate lunch at Wendy's, and drove home. I threw the kids in bed, and we went into the garage to clean things up so we could move BB's motorcycle into his woodshop for the winter, and pull both vehicles into the garage. That led to a MAJOR overhaul of our space, cleaning, sweeping, putting gross items that I could not identify into the trash can...and then called it quits for the night.

We spent Sunday morning in the garage (I know, heathens we, cleaning rather than going to church) moving, hauling, sorting scratching our heads. My folks called to say they were going to lunch out. We opted out, but said to come on by to see the kids when they were done. 3 hours later, they arrived, and the kids got to play with Grammy and Poppa. We chatted, and after they left, and the kids were down for naps, we headed back out to finish the dirty job. When we were about 97% finished I realized I no longer had my diamond or wedding band on my hand...and I know I put them on that morning. I don't sleep with them because I tend to put my hands under my head, and I've had the diamond caught in my hair one too many times.

I got a little worried, and then said "Wait! I took them off when I washed my hands at lunchtime." and didn't worry anymore. Until I came in at 6:30 last night to make some dinner and get the kids settled for bedtime. I couldn't find them in my little jewelry "dish". They weren't in my bathroom. They weren't in the powder room. They weren't in the kids' bathroom. They weren't on the sofa table. They weren't in my pocket.

All I could picture was them having slipped off my cold hands into the trash can as I was dumping the dust pan. And then, all I could picture was myself not telling BB why I was covered in dust, and why there was dirt all over the garage floor...knowing that I'd end up having to dump the garbage can on my garage floor, and sift through all the loose trash from yesterday...UGH! For so many reasons, I figured it served me right...after all, I hadn't said anything to BB about them going missing...it would be my penance (even though I'm not Catholic) for being "deceitful"...

I casually asked him during dinner if I'd put them on that morning. He couldn't remember.

I woke this morning, praying (as I'd fallen asleep praying) "Please let me find them in the house, and not have to dig through the trash! Please just let me find them!" Insurance aside, I did not want to face BB to tell him I needed to file to have them replaced...

I decided in the shower this morning that I would spend my day PICKING UP AND PUTTING AWAY EVERYTHING that was loose. Somehow, I have got to train myself and BB better about the clutter...but I digress...

I moved the stack of old newspaper and magazines, I moved the envelopes from the mail that need to be recycled. I moved the recycling. I moved some items that need to go in my pantry. I moved a stack of catalogs from my business, and a friend's business, and there, between the "soups" and "desserts" section were my rings...

I am so grateful that I found them, and it just enforces my desire to better myself about putting things where they belong when I am finished with them.

Of course, as I write this post, I'm sitting at my dining room table, upon which are several items that need to be put away, or thrown away, or recycled.

I am determined that before I go to bed tonight, all things will be put where they belong. No more "I'll stick it here, and deal with it later". No more "it can wait til after (insert time/event here)"

I don't care if have to make 87 trips to the recycling bin, trash can, basement, kids' rooms, or whatever...

And maybe, if I'm darn lucky, as I'm cleaning up this week, I'll find my $150 Ray-Bans that have been missing for 2 weeks...