The Whim 'o the Irish

Yesterday I only had a few things to get done: teach Zach's preschool class, clean out the fridge, and go grocery shopping. Just a few simple goals! But springtime so distracts me, and I found myself 

1. decorating the living room with green streamers, balloons, and shamrocks!

2. teaching Zach's class as planned, hoping that the other moms would linger a little longer and talk (they did),

3. playing dump trucks in the backyard with the boys (and isn't it just so beautiful that we should stay out and weed the flower beds?) Two hours later, I found myself

4. realizing that that I'd really like to sheetrock the ceiling closet downstairs, and moving everything out. So the older boys and I pull out everything in the (large) closet and organize it in piles. (The boys think that this is great fun, by the way.) Then, I think about how wonderfully organized the closet would be if we had labeled boxes for everything, and we spend the next hour and a half doing it. Hmm, we're feeling a little hungry, let's postpone the closet and spend time

5. doing homework! If we're stopping for lunch, why don't we practice some adjectives and spelling while we're at it? Organized, yes, that's an adjective, good job. Now let's take the trash out to the garage, but while we're here, why don't we start

6. cleaning the garage! Yes, of course! If we end up moving, we'll want to have the garage all cleaned out so that we can store boxes in here. First I'll need to pull the van out, but then we get distracted

7. washing the van! The boys should learn how to do it anyway, and it would be so embarrassing to have the van parked outside with those gray splotches on its sides. Next, let's get back to the garage, and continue

8. sweeping it out, organizing tools, and throwing away Mystery Screws and Other Metal Parts. That's done, just in time (is it 4:30 already?) to begin

9. making Irish stew and (dyed green!) baking powder biscuits for dinner. While it's simmering, we notice that our fish's water looks a little green, too. Let's spend a few minutes

10. scrubbing out the fish bowl, then

11. reading Blue Hat, Green Hat fifteen times in a row. Now that it's evening, there's no time for fridge-scrubbing or grocery shopping. Instead, let's carry out the bedtime routine,

12. bathing! reading! brushing! combing! story-telling! resting! But maybe I can stay up a few hours more and enjoy

13. washing the dishes, doing some laundry, and taking down the streamers. Do I have just a few more minutes for

14. practicing the oboe in my closet? Sure. 

And that's why we don't have any milk for breakfast this morning.