If I make it through this week...

I'll deserve a tiara at the least but more appropriately a pair of wings. The week started off with Monday. I don't know how everyone else feels about that but I do know how Garfield feels... and I tend to agree. I screwed up going to Bible study by accidentally scheduling a couch pickup after dropping the girls at school. Nick and I drove down to Stapleton and picked up the jester sofa. I now have three couches in stock and it's the only one I like. Why I have the other two is a mystery. That night I don't know what I made fish and rice for dinner and we went to choir practice at 6:30. This sounds like a loosely filled day as long as you don't add in the park, potty trips, the three trecks to school in a day, feeding people, negotiating the most ridiculous things like, who touched Mommy first when we got out of the car and trying to keep the laundry under control. The next day wasn't terrible but it was tight. We did all of the usual grind but then picked up Wendy's on our way to the Children's Museum for "Target Tuesday" which is the free night. We got home at 8:30 completely wiped but it was SO fun! They are all three at the most perfect ages for me to go to the Museums etc... with all three by myself. Wednesday was a bit of a mosh. Fill in all of the drudgery plus Kait had a playdate and I hadn't had any bread for Edens lunch so Nick and I swung by school and picked her up for lunch. She loved it! Nick and I spent forever at Target after that, getting the deals of the century. I walked out with basically the whole store for a song. The cashier smiled at me and said. "You did good, really good. I'm going to tell my daughter about you." Poor daughter. BUT, that takes about two hours of planning. So, if you're one of those people who says "oh, I don't know how you have time for that." You're right, it does take time. Lots of time. But it pays better than a $10 an hour job at Penney's. If you're intrigued, create an account on couponmom.com and you'll see how addictive it can be to save more than you spend at the store. We went home, put away millions of groceries and Christmas gifts and chocolate that was basically free, and went and got the girls. Every night of the week, please insert homework. Sometimes in the car making Eden think she's going to puke, sometimes at home with grape juice spilled on it... I made sausage potato soup with some delicious leftover fingerling potatoes in the fridge and loaded back up and headed to choir practice at 6:30. We were there until 8:15. Yesterday was when things started to unravel.I sluggishly pulled myself from bed after staying up way too late watching House and folding laundry. I showered... was that the first time this week? God I hope not. We all had to go to school because Thursdays I volunteer in Kait's class. I also had to wear makeup because Eden has always requested makeup and earrings from me when I volunteer so Kait has started making that request too even though she really doesn't care. It presents a problem because makeup gives me a terrible headache. Nick and I were there til 9:45 with my eyes burning and head pounding and then we ran home and tried to get some preschool time in together. Meanwhile the house has not been vacuumed since Sunday and for some reason Journey appears to be shedding her entire winter coat???? Everywhere we go, Nick looks like a miniature "abominable snowman" because he rolls in the fur... I mean floor. I've furminated her twice and put entire grocery bags of hair in the trash. We picked up Kait and filled the very empty car with gas. We came home, grabbed Eden's lunch which I'd forgotten to take with me not once but twice in one day and ran it over to the school. When we got back, Linda called and said she was taking Amani to Golden Ponds and would we like to go too. I bundled everyone up and we went to Golden Ponds. The wind was blowing the kids bikes backwards when they tried to ride them so Linda and I called it good and loaded them back up and went home. Kait and Amani and Nick played in the basement all afternoon while I prepared my King Soopers list. We picked Eden up and headed to Kings... Yes, me, three kids and everyone in Longmont who has gotten off work for the day with a giant cart with a car on the front. I had to count items too. It became Eden's job to keep track. For every ten items we saved $5, and she did a good job. They all insisted on a free cupcake, and a free cookie.... and yes a free balloon. Now it was me, three sugar high kids and three red balloons with a giant cart and more people streaming into the store. I had coupons, i had a list of my digital coupons. I had to keep Eden counting the bonus buys and neither Nick nor Kait would stay in the cart. Then the dreaded baking aisle. Yes, can you see it? Christmas baking time! Every man or woman was either in the baking aisle or swarming at the end of it trying to get into it. Somehow... we busted out of there with our chocolate chips. It got to the point that strangers were warning my children that they were "going to get into trouble with their mother" if they got out of the little car." Finally we waded our way to the register and escaped. Again, I took home the whole store for peanuts. I think my garage looks like a food bank these days. We dashed home, put away groceries made taco meat and black beans with cheese as fast as possible. Stuck the taco shells in the oven while hollering at Eden over and over that she has to do her homework as fast as possible. Suddenly wondered if I had switched the oven from broil to 300 degrees. Skidded over to the oven, pulled the door open and flames lept a foot high out the oven door. Eden started screaming and the smoke alarm went off. I threw a cup of water in the oven and our house turned to a dense cloud of smoke. The kids stood with oven mitts waving them in the air around the smoke alarm while I ran the charred "remains" out to the dumpster. Jody walked up. I announced that we were having taco salads and that it had to be eaten in two minutes. Two minutes later I announced that the girls had to get their shoes on so we could make it to choir practice. We were there until 8:00. Tonight will be the first performance. We will be there from 5:45 to? and tomorrow we have two performances call time of 1:30 until???? 7?