Crunchtime, again.

So today, I'm getting ready for a trip to visit my parents in Tennessee. I can't wait. I really really love visiting them. But ... before I leave, I really should:

• clean the house
• get caught up on laundry (though we all know this will never happen)
• go back to the grocery store tonight to exchange the gallon of milk I bought this morning, took home, and discovered was SOUR (in fairness, though, I should also say that I called the manager at PayLess, and he said to bring it back, and he'd exchange it AND give me my money back. Not bad.)
• bake some granola bars (Right, like this is crucial before we leave. But I still want to.)
• wash & dry all of Will's diapers so I don't come home to week-old dirty cloth diapers
• go to Macy's and buy new sheets (again, not crucial. But our fitted sheet has a huge rip in it -- thanks, Caroline!, and I can't find any spares). And they're on sale!
  
• maybe make a spare spare key? I had three extras made, and I'm down to one.
  

On the bright side, I have, so far today, put a load of laundry in the washer, washed the dishes, and vacuumed.

And I have someone coming to buy a table from me at noon. (Craigslist is a wonderful thing.)

And I have cleaned and hung my full-length mirror. Someone who shall remain nameless, but who is featured in this picture, took it upon herself to decorate my mirror with red & green crayon.(Hint: It wasn't me.)

I better get started.

Before I do, though, I realize that this post is a little heavy on sentences starting with "And", as well as lots of parentheses. It's just the way I work. (And I'm sorry.)

Apparently my notes to self don't work.

Do you remember the Sharpie that I may or may not have put through the wash with a HUGE load of clothes? And how I reminded myself to check pockets? (Because, yes, I may have ruined a sweet little sleeper of Will's.)

Well, I forgot.

Load #2: I was unloading the dryer, and this fell out:

Thank goodness it survived its ride through the washer. Caroline, who picked it out, all by herself, while her mother bit her tongue (as in, I bit my tongue, not Caroline's), would be really sad if it died.

Load #3: I pretreated a batch of cloth napkins, burp cloths, and some hand towels, put in the detergent, and some bleach, and then went down right before supper to iron the clean napkins. And discovered that I'd never turned the washer on.

And then I stopped doing laundry for the day, because obviously, I wasn't doing such a hot job. My laundry mountain is shorter now, but not by much.


This is pretty much the only activity around our house today. The girls have been reading books with Pokey, and Pokey's been holding Will, and the girls have been playing with Poppy, and Poppy's been holding Will. That's about it. Can you tell Pokey melts around her grandchildren?


And this is the beauty that is outside. I love it.

Check your pockets.

My parents are coming in tonight for an impromptu visit. That means that, by supper time, I really should:

attack the mountain of laundry upstairs


run to the grocery store
make a pie crust or two
bake bread
clean the house
cook supper

And during that time, I'll have to face all kinds of distractions. Like:
and:

(If you've ever seen a cuter baby boy than this one, I don't want to hear it, because you're lying.)

And the three kids together: No wonder I never get anything done.

And, while I'm dealing with all my distractions, I need to remember to check pockets before washing clothes. Because it would be pretty bad if I did a huge load of laundry and then found this as I was loading the dryer:

I would never do anything this stupid. Right?

Right?