Brain cells not included

Some days are noteworthy because they are awful; some days are noteworthy because they are exceptional, and other days are not noteworthy at all, which lack of noteworthiness inspired a very dull list on Tuesday night (Jan  7th). My Tuesday was about as mundane as can be. It wasn't a bad day, but it was not a very intellectually stimulating day either. Just an average filler day wherein brain cell expenditure was minimal while I:

• ran 5 miles of field/driveway loops while Amber made mud and berry potions in the epicenter.
• made a double batch of bread.
• washed a load of laundry.
• folded two loads of laundry.
• called the Shark vacuum customer service, asked about our vacuum's warranty, and ordered a new vacuum head (a 34 minute phone call, nearly 70% of which was spent on hold, all of which was complicated by Amber pestering me in one ear and the customer service guy speaking in an almost unintelligibly thick accent in my other ear). But I got the $120 part we needed to fix our $180 vacuum for only $64 after some discussion.
• typed thirty or so more names and addresses into my relief society secretary spreadsheet and practiced mail merging (and finally succeeded at it!)
• made the January relief society newsletter.
• while working on the RS newsletter, found a mistake (overlap) in the relief society lesson schedule and informed our presidency group text message.
• formatted, saved, and uploaded Dan White's father's memoir book (Jeff's dad Dan created the 285 page book and gave the file to me to convert into book form).
• created, formatted, saved, and uploaded the cover to that book five times, tweaking it to get everything centered according to the finicky precise print company's measurements.
• wrote "love from your relief society sisters" in 18 birthday cards, then stuffed them in envelopes and stuck address labels and stamps on them.
• read Amber two stories.
• fended off/explained/denied Amber's demands "I want to start kindergarten NOW!" at least 3 dozen times.
• made dinner.

All of this was accomplished in the midst of significant menstrual discomfort.  

When the kids got home from school, Jeff tried getting Jay to practice taekwondo, which degenerated into an all-out four-way brawl while I cooked dinner. 

Observations:

1. I'm not discontented or anything; Tuesday was just one of those days that falls through the cracks in memory because nothing noteworthy happened. But so many days are just as mundane and normal as Tuesday was for me. Even when I look back at my own written memories, blog and journal alike, I often feel wistful of how much more interesting life seemed "back then," when really life is just as interesting in the present. The interesting parts are just spaced out by lots of less-interesting everyday activities that I didn't write about. Even this week's Tuesday-list has gaps between all of the mundane activities!

2. This list of normal bland-but-important activities illustrated the rhythm of my life: care for myself, care for home, care for family, care for church calling, care for/assist extended family, care for my kids, repeat. That's a whole lot of caring for other people! No wonder I was so drained at the end of the day. This list reminded me that I need to give myself a little more care so I can have enough to give all of my other dependents. On Wednesday, I spent all of Amber's preschool time having Shaina-time (reading and talking to a friend on the phone). Even that short 2 hours of letting myself do something for me was wonderfully refreshing, and helped me feel much more able to take on the demands of my family for the rest of the day. It's funny how I have to re-learn this same lesson over and over and over. 

3. Thank goodness for $5.50 Tuesday nights at the movie theater. On Tuesday night, my mother in law Leslie and I went on a movie date together to see Little Women. The movie was another sweet journey with the March sisters--same story, different actresses. Has any other book been so successfully and beautifully converted to movie form as many times as Little Women? After my bland Tuesday it felt ridiculously indulgent and relaxing to go to the movies!

 Nothing like a before-school Twister game!

 Rose has decided that she likes her hair best at shoulder length, just how it is now. On Tuesday we did her first double braid hairdo since she got her hair cut short 8 months ago.

 Jay discovered Studio C a few weeks ago and enjoys practicing various jokes he sees in the comedy videos. He was working on photo bombing on Tuesday morning.

 Amber, busy with her shovel. We wrapped that cute mini shovel up and gave it to her for Christmas. She currently plays with it almost every day.

Amber's potions. On one of my laps as I jogged past, I saw Amber standing on a stool and reaching up into a small tree to pick the small red berries for her potions. 

Later, Amber found one of her Christmas gift Wonder Woman bandaids and put it over a small scratch on her forehead, in unibrow position. Amber the wonder-brow! 

I still don't know how I did anything non-Amber related on Tuesday. She was feeling the absence of her siblings after spending Christmas break pestering and playing with them nonstop for two weeks.

I had Jay pose in his taekwondo uniform, and Rose returned the favor of the photo bomb. We decided to get Jay started in taekwondo to give him some regular, organized physical activity. He is such a calm sedentary guy, automatically curling up with a book or sitting in one place arranging blocks  and legos during his non-screen time. Taekwondo to the rescue! It is a surprisingly low cost flexible option and he will go twice a week to a place just a few miles from our house. So far so good!

Jeff watched the first taekwondo class carefully and when he demonstrated his skills at home, the girls assumed this meant war.