Thankful

After collapsing into bed last night at 7:30, I thought long and hard about how thankful I am to have chosen to step away from work.  I'm thankful to have a hubby to support the decision.  I tell him often.  
Yesterday, I woke up and baked french toast that I prepped the night before, dressed, packed two lunches and took the boys to school.  My hubby was off for the day to take care of Baby A, so I told him to take the  morning off and just sleep in.  On a normal day, I would have done the morning routine in my pj's and waved goodbye to them as the hubby dropped them off at school on his way to work.

For the next 4 1/2 hours, I volunteered in the tavern speaking and serving snacks.  Just being amongst 24 little people and all of their jerky, body movements and hot breath wore me out.  Some were very disrespectful and just bratty, but most were polite.  A few times I had to suppress the Madea in me.  In my head I was thinking, "Say, Lil' Boy….".  Instead I said, "Excuse me…please…..thank you."  Boy, I was quickly reminded that I keep it real with my kids.  I've even been compared to the mom (Rochelle) on the sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris".  There are definitely some words and faces that I use with my boys that wouldn't fly in the classroom.

My feet and legs ached.  I definitely wore the wrong shoes!  My brain hurt from all of the socializing.  I was physically and mentally exhausted!  I came home and helped MC with homework.  For dinner I defrosted carnitas that I bought at Costco and informed my family to make nachos or tacos.  I couldn't even stay up to watch my favorite t.v. shows!  I barely managed to hit the record button on the DVR.

The biggest disappointments were waking up this morning and realizing that I forgot to tell my hubby to store the leftover meat, meaning it had to be thrown away, and realizing (after the kids left) that I forgot to review MC's spelling words for this morning's test with him.  I immediately thought, "Oh my goodness, there would be no way to remember all of this stuff if I were out of the house all day."  Realistically I can't remember it all at the house either, so I guess it's just a false sense of being in control.

If 7:30 were my bedtime every night, I'd never get anything done.  I do most of my work after 10.  Cooking a hot breakfast.  Nope.  Packing fun lunches.  Nope.  Cooking homemade hamburger buns for dinner.  Nope.  So, all in all, no matter how tough my days are at home (even during the homework hour from hell) it's not as tough as it would be if I were in the classroom.  The benefits aren't too bad either.