Schedules Rule; Surprises Suck

My kids go back to school tomorrow after having six-and-a-half days off for spring break, plus two weekends. They had early release on the 21st and that started their vacation. On Friday they went to their dad's house, his new residence where he's now living with his new girlfriend, and they were scheduled to stay from Friday evening until Tuesday afternoon. Most of the weekend went well but, surprise surprise, Monday turned into a cluster-fuck when my ex and his girlfriend started fighting. It was a bad situation made even worse by his drinking and, needless to say, it wasn't a good night for anyone in my small familiar circle.

The kids came home on Tuesday afternoon as planned and the week, for the most part, has been okay. We've had our ups and downs as we always do but the weather was nice so the kids got to play outside a good portion of the time. There was the usual running in and out by all of them which kind of ticks me off at times because I can't understand why they can't decide what they're doing, make sure they've gone to the bathroom, and eaten before they go outside initially. My door literally opens every 30-seconds to three minutes after they've stepped outside, someone needing to get a drink or pee or grab a different toy.

This past Tuesday I got a couple of friends together and we went and picked up the furniture Paul gave me when he moved out of his place. We'd scheduled it then rescheduled it and almost had to reschedule it a third time but all the pieces finally fell into place at the last second. I got a sectional sofa, a small wall unit - some of you might call it an entertainment center - and a TV. I hadn't fully cleaned the house before the furniture because I had to rearrange a lot of my own things to make room for the new-used stuff and I knew that we'd be tracking in dirt and grass when we moved the furniture in. I wasn't about to clean twice in as many days so I just left it and figured I'd get it done over the course of the week. That did not happen.

Once the kids came home they were in and out and tracking in all kinds of crap, leaving toys here and there, dropping shoes and socks anywhere they could. They were also in and out so much that if I'd tried to finish the rearranging and cleaning I'd have had to stop every few minutes to make room for them to pass through or to answer a question or to help with some other situation. Ugh! I understand it's going to happen but when I get in a cleaning mode I don't like to be interrupted or it'll never get finished so I just never started.

When they go back to school tomorrow I plan on taking a short block of time for myself just to enjoy the silence and peace and then I'm getting to work on my home, moving this here and that there, cleaning, dusting, sweeping, and now vacuuming since Paul gave me his vacuum, too. His girlfriend has two so they didn't really need another one; and I didn't have one so it's a bonus for me. I can't wait to get it done because I can't stand living in clutter and not having everything in its place. It drives me bat-shit crazy.

Tuesday will be just as busy because during the week Ursula kept emailing me products I need to research and I couldn't do much of it because, as I've stated before, most of my time is spent on the phone and with my kids around it's a job that can't be accomplished very well. That will have to get done on Tuesday, come Hell or high water. No, none of it is a rush but I feel bad that I couldn't yet start on any of it.

I love having the extra time with the kids but it throws off my schedule and I don't take to change very well. I like everything planned so that I know what's coming; surprises are not something I handle with grace. Yes, I knew they were going to be out of school but the scheduling of the furniture move, the  lack of house cleaning, and the Ursula work all just happened as they did and I couldn't control much of it. Hell, I couldn't remember what day it was most of the week. I was always off by two days - I was thinking it was Sunday when it was only Friday, and so on - because of the Thursday early release from school.

I just want to get back on my schedule so that I know what's coming at me and when. Just imagine, though, if I'm this bad over the course of spring break, how I'm going to be when school is out for the summer. They're all going to summer school for the month of June however the boys go from 7:30 -12:30 and Dolly will go from 8:30 - 3:30. Not only will that fuck up my day but when summer school is done and they're home all day every day I'll be totally lost. I guess I'll just have to set some boundaries and create blocks of time for me to be able to work and have the kids honor all of it. That'll come soon enough; for now I'm just going to get back on my usual schedule and hope that April and May go slowly so I don't end up in panic mode. Wish me luck.

Until next time...peace to all.