Sixish

The schedule. It's lovely to have all three children out the door by 7:30. The school day mornings are lovely since the mister and I are early birds, but the aftermath afternoon revealed that this year is going to be a wild one if these first few days are any indicator. There's not really time for the kids to knock out chores before school since they are just bleary-eyed zombies wandering around seeking breakfast, clothing, shoes, and backpacks in the wee hours. That means they come in the door hungry, with all their chores still waiting, homework/supply needs/extracurricular stuff/"Let-me-tell-you-about-________!" to be crunched into the time between the end of 2:30-4:00 carpools, dinner, and wherever someone(s) need to be by 6ish. Riiight.
I did not exactly do this to myself. Or to the family, for that matter. There are commitments that have been made that are likely to lead to my eventual Commitment, but there really should not be an overlap. Except there is initially. Monday night saw the middle school athletic meeting plopped into the dinner hour of 6:00. The volunteer orientation for the children's shelter included a TB test that could only be read by the volunteer performing the screening on Monday night at... 6:00 in a location at least thirty minutes from the athletic meeting. During rush hour traffic. The Boy did not have a supply list at all until the first day, so his supplies needed to be purchased on Monday after school. The Boy has a standing Monday evening appointment that requires whomever takes him to leave the house by (uh-huh.) 6:00. And people needed things like dinner.
Gentle Reader should be spared the scariness that made up today's similarly wild afternoon and evening hours. There was an early swimming session with Walker, and I whined away about my frustration with the schedules that were not supposed to coincide, but were all holding extra meetings that were not necesarily forseeable and not flexible. She suggested just not going. Heh? (Yes. This.could.work.) And that is how some of it is working out. I flaked on the athletic meeting, and Middle Child will just have to get the paper work home so I can sign off on her riding buses to meets, taking Tylenol, and being randomly drug tested from the comfort of my own home. I went to have the TB test read, and picked up the items not available from the school supply list at the stores nearer our house on the way home. The mister took the Boy to his appointment while the girls stayed home to knock out chores and get showered. Hopefully, tasks and meetings divided, together we shall stand. Or I'm going to start saying a whole lot of, "No."