Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Curious Nostalgia

I miss the viruses of my youth. Really.

I finally have my voice back. I got a cold and lost my voice for six days. SIX! Laryngitis and I are old friends. I have occasionally gotten it- maybe once every two years or so- for my entire life. I remember getting it in grade school. My voice would be hoarse and I'd lose my voice for maybe half of the day- the rest of the day it would be patchy. The next day I'd sound like Kim Carnes (Remember "Bette Davis Eyes?") and then I'd be fine. None of this six day BS.

The stomach viruses of my youth were nothing compared to what we have now either. Ted got some infernal virus called "rotavirus" when he was a year old and threw up for 8 days. EIGHT! And that's normal for that virus.

When I was a kid, other kids would get sick and they'd be out of school for a day. Two days in a row meant that either they were REALLY sick (like they had leukemia) or it meant that their mom was a worry wart. Nobody threw up for more than a day.

Some people miss the television shows or the department stores of their youths. Not me. I miss the viruses.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I could make all kinds of lame excuses for why I've been bad at making it here lately. I haven't posted since March, even though my blog address is in my e-mail signature. You'd think that would make me a more regular poster. Ha! Peer pressure be damned!

I do have folks who nudge me occasionally- you haven't written anything in a while.... Yeah, I know that.

The truth is that I'm busier than I ever thought I'd be as a stay-at-home mom. This evening by the time I got the kids put to bed and the dishwasher started, it was 10 minutes until 9. I had a busier day than most- I went to the zoo with a friend and her 2 kids, came back and made lunch for everyone, put the kids down for naps, ran to Gabriel Brother's to find some cheap t-shirts for Ted for the Summer, came home and played with the kids, made dinner, played with the kids, put them to bed and cleaned the kitchen (sort of.) It only took me about 12 minutes to make dinner however and there were many things that I did not do today- no laundry, no menu planning, no bill paying, no grocery shopping, no school, no library, no crafts, no cleaning other than the kitchen, no errands. It's now 20 past 9 and I'll be going to bed in another half-hour or so. My day is spent.

I still have a hard time putting my finger on it when people ask me how I fill my time though. To the question "What do you do all day?" I tend to answer "Everything" or "Good Lord, what don't I do?" because "Raise children" seems even more vague than those responses.

I don't really know why I don't have more time to write- I suppose it's because I go through phases with everything and right now I'm simply not in a writing phase. I'm in a quilting/knitting/crocheting phase, so I'm more likely to spend my discretionary time doing that instead. But my projects are starting to pile up as well.

My time is slipping by. I don't know where it's going, but I will tell you that I spent a full hour today as both of my kids together climbed on me and I tickled them while they screamed and laughed and begged for more. I was lying on the floor and Henry would tuck himself under my chin and roll over so that his belly was right there, prime for raspberries and Ted would roll over my back laughing and shouting "more!" I consider that to be an hour very well spent.

When I sit down and make a budget, I have carefully taken notes that explain my spending habits. I know how much money a week I spend on coffee or lunch or groceries. I suppose I could make a time budget for myself and try to account for the minutes of my day. It might help explain where my time is going. It might also help me answer the question "What do you do all day?" I suppose I'll get right on that. Ha!

Maybe when people ask me what I do all day I should respond "I play with my children."