24 Hours

It rained a few days ago. It poured. We huddled in the house all day and wished for snow. Last night, we got our wish. The sky started dumping big fat beautiful snow!! Maine is much prettier in the winter with snow on the ground And it is guaranteed to entertain little boys for hours and hours. After dinner, Mark told the kids to bundle up and head outside with him. The mission was to shovel the deck...but to them it was 100% fun in the snow in the dark!
7:20 rolled around and I put the 'bad guy' face on and pulled them in the house. I always keep the kids on their regular bedtime schedule (8 p.m.) even during vacation. Sure, we make exceptions, but when they get up early regardless of bedtime, I stick to the early hour.
The kids were half way in the door, dripping wet & cold, and the kitties ran down the stairs (quickly...) to greet them.
At that moment...there was a Crash. A clunky crash. A soft yet noisy crash.
OH NO! Mark and I bounded up the stairs.
The Tree. Our big (we get Big trees...) Beautiful Christmas tree was in a pile. The water in the dish was oozing over the gifts on the floor. The ornaments....what was wrecked?
Of All the fragile ornaments we have on that tree, only one broke. Lucky?
Quite the opposite. It was the glass ornament my little boy made me for Christmas this year. I was devastated. He was heartbroken. Tears and sadness. I would smash almost all the other ones to salvage that for us.
We spent the next few hours trying to clean the mess. The tree was propped precariously against the wall while I ripped everything off it in a manner much faster than they deserved. Our family takes it's time hanging the tree and while taking it down isn't quite the same, we wouldn't have shoved it all aside like we were forced to last night. Sigh.....

That was done and the mess was cleaned. I headed to bed too late...10:30. I was back up at 4:35 and off to the pool. The 4wd car was out of gas...so I had to take my little gas efficient 2wd. But the roads were covered with snow so it took me about 15 min too long to get to the pool...no big deal. I got my swim in and got home without sliding off the road. All set.

I told the boys they had to eat breakfast Fast and get outside asap because the temps were forecasted to plummet today. They were happy to oblige and by 8:10 a.m. they were bundled and out the door. 24 degrees. By 10:00 it was 14 and windy and they were Still out. They built a fort, climbed their frozen snowmen, did some sledding and tried to avoid throwing snow in each other's faces because Mommy made them promise not to.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed 2 quiet hours. I drank coffee. I cleaned a little. And I got ready...for the test.
The Bike Test. Ouch!
Turns out I should have done it while the little ones played but since it is rare for them to stay outside for more than 15 minutes without some type of issue.... note: I have to go to the bathroom!! Can I have a snack? He won't give me a turn on my sled!! I have a bloody nose. (yes, a lot) He threw snow on my face! What time is it? The dogs are chasing me. Can you help me find my yellow shovel? I think it blew into the woods!
Seriously.

Back to the bike test. Jen gathers our HR data annually. Today was bike test day. I even cleaned my bike's chain and greased it to prep for this. I had music ready. I had my big towels handy to sweat on, water, HR monitor, and my attitude. I was ready to suffer.

The boys came in and I let them watch The Incredibles. I told them they had 30 minutes to chat with me if needed and then for the next 30 minutes I couldn't be interrupted unless someone was hurt. Is that bad?

Thirty minutes in....I cranked the tunes. I started pushing. Ten minutes after that and the HR monitor clicked on...twenty minutes to suffer. Oh and I did. My legs were pulsing. The sweat pouring off me might have rivaled my look on the Queen K back in October. I just covered the time clock with my towel and pushed....
max Hr 182! wow. I get it up there don't I!

Back to reality. I got cleaned up and we had lunch. I realized that I hadn't really left the house since before Christmas. Ok...I Rode to bethel for dinner on Sunday night and I drove to the pool this morning. But that's it. And I was beginning to feel like a slug. So I told the boys we had to go do some errands. We'd get the mail, gas up the Tahoe, and go to the grocery store for a few basics. Not a big shopping day. The wind was now whipping and it was sub 10 degrees. Painful cold. I tried to go through the drive through at Walgreens for a prescription. The window wouldn't go down though. So I drove on. That's fine.
I got to Hannaford. The grocery store. Final stop. Two boys piled out one side and the other hopped out the door behind me. He commented on something that I didn't understand. And then, I got it. The door. It was frozen inside. It would Not shut! how can this be? What do I do? I piled them back in the car and called Mark. He looked at his door (same make) and tried to explain to me how to wiggle the hard black plastic thing so it would swivel when you pulled the other side up and then....what? Nothing worked. Well, we're here. We went in, got our milk, yogurt, cereal and other necessary things and headed back into the arctic air. We did a slow shuffling run to the car with our hats over our eyes and our heads down. I feared opening other doors...what if they didn't shut? I piled the kids back in...I started to put the groceries in. And then, rip! &$#$%$%*#$. Yes, I swore. Sometimes Moms swear. Sometimes their kids might hear them. I try to apologize to them and all that....damn. I hate when I do that. But it happens. Right? Is that bad?
See, the grocery bag broke and tons of little yogurts rolled all around the parking lot and UNDER the Tahoe! It's a big car and I can't get Way under there!!! So the food is all over the place, the boys are being boys and crawling around the backseat tossing each other's hats at each other, it's 8 degrees but probably -2 with the wind, and the door won't close. deep breath Mommy deep breath.
I gathered the stuff, apologized like I do for my sometimes inappropriate language, and crawled in the backseat with them. I attempted to tie the seat belt around the door handle and then tie it to something else to keep it "shut" on the 5 mi ride home. It didn't work very well. But, nobody fell out. And nobody froze. We all lived and now the groceries are in the fridge.

I fed them an early dinner and then hurried off to Cameron's basketball game. We saw his old soccer coach who has been in Iraq for 7 months. He has a 2 week vacation and then he'll go back for 5 more months. He has an 8 y.o. daughter and a 10 y.o. son. Suddenly my car and grocery woes seemed insignificant.

And then we got home and I fed them again. Early dinners usually just mean two dinners. My boys eat a lot. I also learned that my uncle was in the hospital. Again, the problems from my day weren't really problems at all. Just something I had to handle today. But in the end, my day was just fine. I spent my hours hanging out with my favorite little people. I can't ask for more than that.