Day Off

A little more than 10 years ago, I left work one day and promptly had my first baby. For almost 6 years, I stayed home full-time and had 3 more. I then returned to work, first part-time (& had 1 more kid), and this year I'm officially full-time. In all of these years, there has never been a day when the kids were at school that I didn't have a little one to take care of. Being a teacher, if I have a day off, the kids are off with me. That's part of the reason why I love my job. 

BUT, today is different. This year, all 5 kids are in school. And they go to a private school. So, even though they are in my school district, for the first time ever, I have a day off and they don't. My kids are at school on this St. Patrick's Day, while I'm out of work for Boston city workers' favorite holiday - Evacuation Day. 

I haven't had a day off without the children since I started having them. I love my kids, but this is fantastic. I got up and got them ready for school, but PJ drove them. That left me to get right back into bed with the dog and a cup of coffee. 

Now, I'm just relaxing for the next few hours until PJ and I go to the movies with the in-laws (they're off, too). There are a million things I could get done without the kids underfoot, but where's the fun in that? I think I'll take a bubble bath instead and revel in the sound of silence. 

I've got a whole year before this happens again. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!

HEY! If you enjoy the blog, why not become a follower? I'm the one who's chilling out ALL ALONE. You can also stalk find me on Facebook and Twitter. Like the page and follow me!

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-->Have you played the game, too? (I can't get the toast out!) Feel free to share your story in the comments below...

Tuesday's Tip (#25)

Here's a tip for you:

Consider yourself lucky.

I really wanted another day off in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Not because I had any damage to recover from. Just because it's fun to have an unplanned day off. 

So, I was a little disgruntled last night when I realized that Boston didn't cancel school even though most of the surrounding towns did. I wasn't the happiest person when I finally had to do a load of laundry so that everyone had clothes to wear this morning.

But... I've been watching the coverage of Sandy's devastation. I really should just shut up and consider myself lucky. We didn't lose power or have any damage from the storm. So, I'll grin and bear it.

And hope for a few snow days this winter...

I'm thinking good thoughts for those people impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

Have a tip to share? Or relieved that Sandy has passed? Feel free to leave a comment below...

...& be sure to check back every Tuesday for a new tip!

Hurricane Sandy

Well, today is a hurricane day. We're up in Boston, so we shouldn't get it quite as badly as some other areas, but we're hunkered down. I'm not going to lie - I was ecstatic when I got the call that school had been cancelled. What teacher doesn't want to be told that you'll get an unexpected Monday off (even when it means staying home with your kids)?

There's a solid chance that I'll be eating my words later, but as of right now (10:30 am), my kids are having a blast. They're coloring, playing tag, playing video games, playing house... in general, just getting along. Not only that, but they are completely entertaining each other and not bugging me. If this keeps up, I might be wishing for (non-damaging) hurricanes all the time. 

Some weird, new game that involves running through the house while attached at the head

The kids' inflatable hurricane bunker (at least until the power goes out)!

A view from inside the bunker (with costumes on)

There's nothing like playing video games in your underwear with your best buddy (while wearing yesterday's face paint)!

I'll be sure to update this in an hour or two when they're all acting like a bunch of jerks. You can laugh at me then! Just don't say "I told you so." Nobody likes that person.

Feel free to leave me a comment below and let me know how you're weathering the storm!

UPDATE:

Taking bets - how long before this game ends in tears or injury?

And a view from the inside...

HEY... If you enjoy the blog, why not become a follower? I'm the one who's enjoying the storm (for now)! You can also stalk find me on Facebook and Twitter. Like the page and follow me!

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**And be sure to visit my Zazzle store. Don't you need a new coffee mug or apron??

My "Day Off"

I am a teacher. One of the best parts of my job - aside from educating young children, of course - is that I only teach 4 days a week. This means that I have every Friday off. Inevitably, every Thursday, my coworkers comment on the fact that it is the last day of my work week. What they don't realize is, it's not really a day off in the true sense of the phrase. Due to the fact that it is the only week day that I can get things done - and the fact that my life is like a poster for Murphy's Law - Friday is usually** total chaos and not the least bit relaxing. I'm sure some of you remember the day I decided to go into work on my day off. That was a life lesson right there.


Last Friday was a typical day for me. PJ scheduled Sophie's kindergarten readiness test at Patrick & Lucy's school for that day, since I'd be off to take her. So, I already had one task planned. (The bright side was one less drop off and pick up to do since Sophie goes to a different school.) I got up well before the crack of dawn to lay out the clothes and pack the lunches. Then I started waking the kids up in order to shove some breakfast in their faces and rush them through the morning routine. Unfortunately, as Patrick was getting down from his top bunk, he had trouble putting any weight on his left foot. Generally not an alarmist, I assured him he could walk it off while he was eating and getting dressed. Mother of the Year, right? I figured once he was up and moving, he'd feel fine. No such luck.


In the rush to get out of the house by 7:15, Patrick informed me that he definitely couldn't go to school in that much pain. That was when Lucy started crying about the fact that she was not going to be the only one going to school. Which left me with Sophie out of school for her test, Patrick on the disabled list, and Lucy out for pity. Now, the question was how I was going to show up at Patrick and Lucy's school for Sophie's test with Patrick and Lucy in tow. I'm fairly certain playing hooky is frowned upon. That's when a stroke of genius hit me and I called on Annette. In exchange for a cup of coffee, she watched my four darlings while I took Sophie to her test. Annette already has two of her own kids. By the time Sophie and I returned, they had pulled out every toy in the house. I'm sure there were no less than 67,000 cars on the floor and 52 musical instruments. (My kids loved the instruments. Because they don't have any. I have way too many kids to encourage more noise.) 


After all this, I got through to our doctor to set up an appointment for Patrick. They could see us right away. So we ditched poor Annette and her mess and rushed over to the pediatrician's office, which, to no one's surprise, led to a trip to Children's Hospital for X-rays. After the X-rays, we waited in the waiting room for an hour before someone came out to tell me there was nothing broken in Patrick's foot. While I was relieved that he wasn't actually broken, it was kind of a drag to think we had wasted half of the day finding out there was nothing wrong. And I definitely had to control myself from beating him when Patrick found the ability to run down the parking garage ramp to the car. (Granted, he could only run on tiptoe, but he was running nonetheless.) 


At that point, we were all starving, so I took the kids out to lunch at UNO's. The waitress started the meal with, "Wow. You have a lot of kids with you. Are they all yours?" I tried not to roll my eyes. She redeemed herself later when she told me she couldn't believe how calm and polite they were. (Good thing she didn't follow me home and watch them turn into jerks monsters later.)


The lesson of the day is this: Don't be too jealous of my four day work week. I'm fairly certain I do less when I am in school teaching other people's children all day. Just don't tell my boss I said that!

What I am not doing on my day off.

**Footnote: I say usually, because there is an occasional exception. As I am writing this, I am home alone with a napping Charlotte while the other kids are with Nannie and Auntie Juju at the movie theater. The only thing I've done today is walk to the park with Charlotte. It's been heavenly (and completely out of the ordinary)!

If you enjoy the blog, why not become a follower? I'm the one rushing around with the all the kids. You can also stalk find me on Facebook and Twitter. Like the page and follow me!

P.S. Don't forget to vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs. Click that cute little brown button on my sidebar to vote for me...

And don't forget to visit my Zazzle store. You know you want some!