Keepin' it real

So, I'm feeling pretty good today.

After wicked loud thunder storms passed through around 6am, I remained conscious for awhile.  With Cap gone, I was the keeper of the castle and it was my job to batten down the hatches and comfort the princes.  Though the weather report had said the thunder would come through around 4am, I could see that that the sky was lightening...but went into denial as I forced myself to fall back asleep.

About an hour later the phone rang.  My body revolted as I screeched awake...how could it feel so unpleasant when surely I'd caught a few more hours of sleep?  You know how sometimes when you fall asleep for only a short while you wake up really disoriented?  Or, when you are in REM sleep and something jars you awake?  It was like that...

Despite the rude awakening, I managed to tame the kitchen a bit and get the laundry going.  The kids got themselves going with their work.  Things were going slowly, but they were going.  Then, Tiina called and we decided to go ahead and have the playdate we'd thought about having when our lake date with Bridget fell through.

I hung up the phone and thought simultaneously, "what the frak did you just agree to?" and "it's okay, it's cool, what do I have to do?"

I washed the rice pot and put on some fresh rice to cook.  I dug through the fridge and pulled out cauliflower to roast and frozen haricot verts to steam.  I popped some briny kalamata olives into my mouth (I officially have a new favorite food: olives!)  I cleared off the big table with the help of the kids and wiped it down.

By the time they arrived, bearing goodies from Whole Foods (strawberries, raspberries, grapes, sushi, hotdogs, buns and these chocolate walnut meringue-y lumpy things that were GFCF without Tiina even knowing it), I had made peace with having the folded piles of laundry remaining on the couch and the kids' room being pretty cluttery.  These were not friends who were going to care about such things.

We had a lovely visit and late lunch and then they were gone, off to pick up the youngest member of their family from school.

Buoyed by momentum, I cleared the table, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, put away leftovers, monitored the kids while they did a thorough pick up of their room (running the vacuum in there later, I am), spoke to the mechanics who apologetically called to say the car will not, in fact, be ready till tomorrow morning, and finalized arrangements with Danielle about her kids coming over to watch Pirates of the Caribbean.

Then, as I got into a corner of the living room to "fluff" the beanbag chair back into shape, I caught sight of this:

Yeah, that's me, keepin' it real...