wednesday weigh in

I have done so much, but so very little this week.

There hasn't been much exercise. But there has been lots of Halloween candy and cupcake eating. Why it is that I buy several bags of candy several weeks before Halloween is both a mystery and a crime. In a fit of desperation, I signed up for two more races. We'll be running in a 5K Turkey Trot for a local homeless shelter on Thanksgiving and another 5K associated with the Holiday Bowl in late December.

Every night, early in to the morning, when I'm not searching the depths of my soul for the meaning of the Universe, I've been preparing for birthday parties.

Three classroom birthday parties in less than seven days time.

After bringing donuts to Elizabeth's party on Wednesday ...

And Carolyn's party on Thursday ...


And then eating the leftover donuts at home on Friday... I vowed to never spend money on Krispy Kreme donuts again.

Those things are scary good.

Especially when they are hot.

All it takes is warming up one donut and before you know it, you've inhaled four donuts and catch a glimpse of yourself licking the box while making guttural sounds.

By the time William's party rolled around on Tuesday, I was back to making cupcakes.

This took a lot more time for me, but knowing that the children were only consuming 4 grams of fat as opposed to 12, gave me a hint of satisfaction.

Much like the satisfaction that has come from the recent overhaul of our diets that has included eliminating almost all red meat. We now obtain the majority of protein from peanuts coated in chocolate. And tofu.


Of important note, the children started full-time school this week so we could "try it on" for size. Ultimately, we had to make the decision as to whether we should place them in school for the full day, or pull them out of school altogether because the part-time schedule was making us loopy. I really struggled with the "right" thing to do.

But then on Saturday, something happened.

I decided to "home school" the kids. We were going to make a craft. A small American flag made out of red, white and blue construction paper. The kids could cut red and white strips, punch white stars and glue them on a blue square. Everything was going fine, until we STARTED.

Someone's trying to cut their clothes. Someone's trying to eat glue. Someone's got a hold of the glitter and dumped it all over the baby's head. Someone's climbing on the counter and pulling down the tape dispenser. Someone's cutting the strips of red and white that I had put out as a demonstration.

Fiddle. Faddle. Mess with this. Mess with that. Tease each other. Relentlessly.

I'm calmly and lovingly saying, "Please don't touch. OK, OK, listen to me. This is how you glue the stars. No, no, glue doesn't go in our hair - it only goes on paper. OK, OK, let's not cut our hair, let's use the scissors to cut paper. Elizabeth, those are William's scissors. William, those are Gracie's stripes. Gracie, that is William's glue. Come back here. Come back, come back! Where did the baby find my checkbook? Why does he have my credit cards? NO, YOU MAY NOT CUT THEM. What is that noise? Is that the toilet?!"

No more than three minutes had lapsed and I am desperately shooing every one outside while rejoicing that I don't have to do that everyday.

I know that at this age ... it is really important for our children to go to school.

I know that at this age ... if I was left home with them all day, I would LOSE MY MIND.

Sure, I'd go to the library and the zoo and parks. But there would be large chunks of time I would need to be home and during those times, I'd be teetering on the brink of collapse. I'm sure my experiences would make for some great blog entries, but what a bummer if I was trying to write those blog entries from the confines of a straight jacket.

Another deciding factor to send the children full-time, was the rushing I was doing to pick them up from school at noon (which was disrupting Henry's nap and eating schedule) just so I could rush them home and put them down for a nap which they absolutely need at this age but which they wouldn't take. Because they usually caught a cat nap in the car on the short drive home and were partially recharged.


"Partially" because they weren't fully rested and were no fun to be around. They were cranky and over tired and looked a lot like piranhas.

Yet, by leaving them at school for the full day, they are having the opportunity to play for an hour and then, take a nap (which they absolutely need at this age, did I say that already?) so when I pick them up at 2:45, they are fed, rested and their brains are full with knowledge.

Best of all, I haven't once yelled at them.

Or, threatened to feed them to a pack of hungry wolves.

Now, I have to run and do some work for an important meeting that I have tomorrow. For another important meeting that I will have in two weeks. In which there will a judge, a jury and an assorted team of high-powered lawyers who will do their best to shake me to my core and make me question my status as an "expert".

I've never been to court before and oddly, I'm not the least bit nervous. I find it hard to believe that sitting in air conditioned courtroom with attorneys will be any scarier than sitting outdoors at a picnic table with four-year-old triplets wielding scissors and glue when it's 109 degrees.

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Please leave a comment telling me how you have done with the goals that you have established for yourself, how far you have come, any new goals you have, and why you should win an awesome new iPod shuffle. And then, tell me your favorite work out song.

I'll post the winner tomorrow night.