Rocky Start

Yesterday was my first official day of solo parenting and it did not go as smoothly as I had envisioned.  I did the prep work-- I laid out clothes the night before, I had breakfasts ready, I got up early and was showered and ready before the kids got up. The morning routine of getting the 3 kids to their 3 schools actually went pretty well.  Then the painters showed up to paint the inside of the house and the craziness began! 

I left the painters to destroy (and beautify) the house while I went to teach.  While at school, Darren messaged to say he had left his 2nd form of identification in Houston and he had to have it by Tuesday morning to finish the paperwork for the new job.  I messaged the babysitter to see if she could come early to watch the kids while I met Darren between Austin and Houston (in lieu of my regular Monday ASL class).  Seemed like a good plan.  I taught and then hurried home to get Alyssa from school.  It poured down rain the 20 minutes I was on the bike, really the only rain I saw all day.  Soaking wet, Alyssa and I went to pick up Matthew and then Jackson from their respective schools. 

We came home to a house in total disarray-- furniture pushed to the middle of rooms, curtains down, tarps every where.  The kitchen was not functional.  "Okay", I thought to myself, "no biggie.  I will order pizza for dinner and the sitter and the kids can hang in the master bedroom as it is the most sane place in the house right now."  

Then the power went out, and then flickered on and off a couple of times, and then went out again.  "Ugh, I can't leave the babysitter holed up in my room with pizza, 3 kids and no electricity." So, I cancelled the sitter and loaded the 3 kids in the car for the hour and a half car ride to go have dinner with daddy.  Matthew was not pleased, since we had just spent the evening before driving the 3 hours home from Austin.  The bright point of the day was that it was very nice to see Darren.  Then the kids and I drove the hour and a half back home, where thankfully the power was back on.

It wasn't a horrible day.  At every unexpected turn, I do recognize that it could have been much worse.  But it wasn't the smooth day for which I was hoping.  Today wasn't either for that matter.  The house is still in disarray (but looking much fresher!).  We had 2 therapy appointments at the house amidst the craziness.  Matthew's room was unavailable for nap time.  We really can't hang at the house during awake hours because of the wet paint. 

Thankfully though, the painters should be done this week, the house will be refreshed and we can get into a better routine next week.   Solo parenting hopefully will be a bit easier when we get the house back to working order.  I hope so anyway!

The living room during the painting process.