T minus 5 hours and counting

That would be counting down to the J.'s estimated arrival time home. He has been gone since last Saturday morning because his doctoral program requires a week of classes on-site. For the most part, the week has gone pretty well. The house is still standing, every one has had meals on time without resorting to breakfast cereal (though there were those banana splits...), and we spent some time today doing some organizing. But I'm pooped. I think it's mainly because I haven't been sleeping well and if you know me I really need my sleep to function. Each night it has been something... upset child, older child coming in, just plain restlessness... that has interrupted my sleep. So I have become increasingly foggy as the week has progressed and perhaps not as chipper and patient as usual. I know many of you deal with being the sole parent on an ongoing and longer basis, so I do feel a bit of a wimp for whining about it.

I'm sure it doesn't help that some members of the household don't react to changes in schedules well, especially when it involves a parent and those members have been a little trickier than usual. Today has been a particular challenge because excitement often registers as the same emotion as anxiety and just adds to the general craziness.

Dinner time should be a lot of fun. Not. I may have some very tired little girls as well. In the midst of the crazy, G. and L. were taught how to lock their bedroom door, which they can reach from their beds. Normally this wouldn't be a problem if it was a regular internal door knob. But we live in the Big Ugly House, remember, and it used to be a rooming house so all of the bedrooms were outfitted with exterior knobs and locks. Most of the doors have gaping holes in them from where we removed the dead bolts. G. and L.'s door was one of the few intact because it just had a key lock and we left it unlocked. Until today. When the door is locked we can still get in by going through the bathroom, but I was concerned that if there was a fire in the middle of the night and they had locked the door that it would be that much harder and more time consuming to get them out. So I asked B. to remove the doorknob entirely. (I'm not so concerned about the door not latching; very few of our doors actually latch.) This was just unusual enough to cause the little girls to NOT FALL ASLEEP at nap time. Instead, they (well, G.) opened and closed and opened and closed and opened and closed the door. She also helpfully woke L. up the one time L. did fall asleep. It's been quiet upstairs for a while, so I'm hoping sleep has finally happened. Just in time to get them up, of course.

These's my sob story for today. I'm going to jump in the shower, make some tea, and roast some garlic. In that order. Some of my older children are at the beach so that should help burn off any extra energy. Five more hours to go. Actually it might even be 4 hours and 45 minutes by now. Not that I'm counting.