What was that LIKE?!

You know what I was thinking about today? While I had two hours to do 800 things? I was thinking about how I used to have those longish summers off ALL BY MYSELF. I honestly can't even remember what I used to do with all of that time! I remember spreading my errands out so that I had one thing each day to do to make sure that I left the house each day. Seriously! I did that! I wrote it on my calendar. July 17th would say something like "return library books" or "pick up prescription at CVS".

Today, was yet another early release day in this county, which means that as a preschool parent who pays for her children to be in school for four hours, I only get 2.5 hours, 30 minutes of which is drive time. So...there I was with my two hours of time. Do you know what I was able to get done? I threw in a load of laundry, unwrapped 6 bone in chicken breasts (99 cents a pound!) and threw them in the oven (there was a lot of throwing). I ran upstairs and made beds, collected laundry, and tidied. I folded a load of clothes and put them away. I chopped up a bunch of fake crab meat and made a crab salad and slaw for dinner. I took a shower, put on make up, dried, and straightened my hair. I took the chicken out of the oven and chopped it. I sorted it into 10 baggies, each containing exactly one cup of chopped chicken, and froze it all. I froze the 1.5 cups of chicken broth it made. I collected the dry cleaning and bagged it, moved the wash to the dryer, and drove to the dry cleaners where I exchanged niceties with my dry cleaner. I went to Kroger with the expectation of procuring 6 free bags of shredded cheese, 2 free pouches of tuna, and a jumbo pack of Pampers for $6.99. They were out of all of the above, so I had to endure TEN MINUTES of the guy with slow and unfortunate handwriting detailing my rain checks. Then I skidded in with two minutes to spare to pick up my kids. Pigpen was crying because I was the last mommy to pick up and he thought I was gone forevermore and Piglet didn't want to leave.

Now. How on earth did I waste all that precious time for eight years - EIGHT YEARS! - of summers of freedom? Well, I just took a look back at the summer of 2005. We have the dreaded trauma of running into a student at the pool, a visit to the acne doctor, and my own list - as though I was writing to my future self - of how to spend a summer. There was also a great deal of stuff involving the dog. In addition, I apparently went to Jamaica and was nearly killed by a falling coconut. Ah, memories...

Okay, though I was depressed by my lack of freedom that these illustrate, I was highly amused by the memory of my student, Pete, who had a rash between his buttocks. Then I found a post in which Gus got his legpit entangled in my bra. Finally, I laughed out loud at a loving conversation between Mr. Pigs and me involving the stench he created in his armpit. That really made me happy and giggly, so on that note, I depart.

*Titter!*