What a Life!

Last Friday, Steve’s boss called a department meeting. One of the things on the agenda was the proposal of keeping “summer hours” in their department. Summer hours meaning that everyone would come to work at 7:30 (instead of 8:00), leave at 5:00, and then leave early on Friday.

Yesterday the new hours became official.

This morning Steve got up a half hour earlier than usual. Which is fine, except that it cut into my personal quiet time that I get up early (as in, 5:00 a.m.) in order to have before everyone else gets up. Which was not to my liking.

I told him that he needed to shower first and then eat breakfast, thinking that I could still have some semblance of quiet time while he was downstairs. It was definitely what I would call “some semblance.”

And it set off my whole routine too. Usually he gets up at 6:45 and eats breakfast. I hop into the shower when he gets up, then get dressed and do my face and hair while he is downstairs showering. Then right before he comes upstairs to leave, I make his lunch.

Which should tell you what wasn’t done when he was ready to leave this morning.

The plan was that he would shower first and I would continue enjoying those few precious quiet moments to myself. Then I would jump in the shower when he came upstairs to eat breakfast. If the boys were up, he could watch them and I wouldn’t have to worry about them. Not only were both boys up, Joey was whining and Ben was dragging him around by the foot and hitting him on the head with his toys. Such a joyful morning at the Pageler’s.

So I got out of the shower and tried to enforce a peace treaty between the boys…and dry my hair…and get some clothes on…and put on some makeup. Then Steve was coming over to kiss me good-bye and I realized I hadn’t yet made him lunch. When on earth was I supposed to get that done? Ach!

Steve thinks this new routine is going to be great, leaving for work earlier and leaving work early Friday afternoon and everything.

I’m not so sure.

Am I going to have to start getting up at 4:30 a.m. in order to get my requisite peace-and-quiet time in? They say if mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy. And if I don’t get my time to myself, I ain’t happy. I’m not sure I want to start getting up at 4:30 a.m., though.

But maybe Steve coming home early on Friday afternoon could mean I could get some errands run without the boys. That’s always nice. I might be willing to sacrifice some of my alone time for that. I could go to Starbucks, go inside and order a coffee, then get a table and sit down and enjoy my coffee instead of having to order it at the drive through and enjoy it on the go.

We’ll have to see how this is going to work out. Until then, if you wonder how I’m feeling today, my answer shall be, “Inside out and backwards.”

Cheers!