Another Monday.

It's a Monday. The daycare kids always have a tough time on Mondays. They spend the weekends being coddled by their parents and following different rules, then Mondays it is back to my rules. By Tuesday they are all usually back in the groove.

I got our taxes done and I'm keeping up with homework. My greatest flaw is that I see any loss of points on homework as complete failure. I am getting all As right now although I'm barely pulling them. One slip up and I'll have a B. Perhaps I'll feel relief at that first B. Maybe I will be able to breathe again and realise that it isn't failure, just average. It's ok to be average. Right?

Well, today during nap time I finished up a few phone calls I've been putting on hold, and now I am going to study for a little while. I have three tests in a week and a half. I also have a paper due Friday. I'm not feeling the slight bit stressed though. I have adequate time to study and to finish the paper. Besides, my 'to do' list only consists of homework right now.

Shane is home sick today with a nasty cold. I'm fighting one too.

We had a great weekend. The whole house is clean and picked up. We had a playdate on Saturday and took the kids to see the new Percy Jackson movie on Sunday. Colton and Calvin have tutoring tonight.

Ta da! There is my boring, uneventful life in a nutshell.

Procrastination.

Here I am, 8:45 p.m., sitting down in a quiet house to write a seven page paper (take-home test). I am determined that I WILL finish it tonight. Why? Because I have a test on Tuesday, another seven page take home test next Wednesday, and a research paper due a week from the Friday after that. In my world, I try to have homework that I know is coming up done at least a week in advance, so my personal deadline for that paper is also next Friday. Boy am I glad I chose to take only 9 credits this semester instead of 12!

I just got out of the shower. A half hour one because the kids and Shane are all in bed. Now I'm whitening my teeth and I may pause for a break to paint my nails. I also have some craft stuff to get ready for tomorrow's daycare valentine's party. Of course I left that to the last minute, although I've been collecting a stack of ideas. I plan to wear pink and red and glitter, of course!

Saturday is dedicated to finishing our taxes and Sunday I plan to drag the kids out to Shane's moms for a little valentine's day fun. Unfortunately Shane works all weekend. Just when I think I'm caught up with one thing, something else is on my plate. I don't really mind being busy or busy-stress. I hate worry-stress. Tonight I'm not worried, just procrastinating. I'm not quite sure what to write in this take home test. I got B's on my last two tests and honestly it crushed my ego. I feel incompetent.

Monday Morals (vs. Sunday Morals)

Thinking about morals.

I am not a "church goer" and never will be again. I've met my fair share of people in churches with a lack of morals (esp. consistent morals).

Which leads me to consider the consistency of MY morals. I separated my morals from religion a few years ago and found that they became stronger. When my morals were based on a set of rules outside of myself they were easier to bend. Now that they are internal and based on what I REALLY believe is right they are concrete and consistent.

So what do we do when our morals conflict with other people's morals?
Like white-lies. A lot of people have no problem with white-lies. Do I? The hard thing about bending morals, like with white-lies, is the definition of a white-lie. When does a white-lie cease to be white. Is the omission of details or being polite a white-lie. When I tell my kids to say "no thanks" instead of "I hate fish! Yuck!" am I teaching them it is ok to lie?

I hate lies, even white-ones. If I could rewrite common courtesies there would be no lying involved.

So is it my job to push my morals onto others? If my daycare mom wants to tell her work that her kids are sick so she can stay home, am I supposed to care and judge HER morals? I don't think so. But then we are looking at another undefined line. If someone were abusing their child I would intervene, but not lying to their employer. Perhaps it depends on the moral.

Millie update.

After doing lots of research and talking with Shane's sister, we decided we are not going to do surgery for Millie. We are wrapping the joint and will see how it heals over the next six weeks. The good news is that she does walk on it some, so that means that it isn't going to atrophy. If we can get it stronger it will help. Mary (Shane's sister) actually thinks Millie will be back to running around by this summer. We went out to Foley last night to have her show us how to wrap it.

Sick.

I had sick daycare kids all last week. Many of their parents kept them home (bless them!). But despite best efforts, I caught something. I'm sure it wasn't because sick kids sneeze and cough in my face. So, on Wednesday night Shane told me to cancel daycare Thursday. I didn't. On Thursday night Shane told me to cancel for Friday. I am stubborn. I suffered through telling him "If I worked retail I'd call in sick, but 12 parents depend on me so that THEY can go to work." That is a lot of people!! Well, all weekend I felt like my ear drum was going to pop out, so when Shane walked in the door yesterday and said "You look sick. You're canceling tomorrow right." (stated as a command, not a question) I conceded. Last night we went to bed by 9 p.m. and Carrera woke me up at 10:30 p.m. because her ear hurts. Damn-it. So we put some peppermint essential oil behind it (My new trick thanks to my best friend Virginia) and after almost an hour awake she slept all night. Right now I'm getting the boys ready for school and then I hope Carrera and I will go back to bed.