Dishes in the Bathtub

Tomorrow I am cleaning my house, and I don't think I have ever felt so excited to clean before! The counter tops are finally DONE, and now I can begin the process of putting my house back together. You wouldn't think that the remodeling of one room would turn an entire home upside down, but it does; especially this last week, because we have had no sink or stove. The last ten days have been a combination of microwaved food, Chinese, and Subway. I think I could quite happily live out the rest of my life never laying eyes on a meatball sub again. Thankfully, Clint hooked our stove back up last night. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to install the sink, and now he's gone for three days, so I'm going to have suffer through one more weekend of doing the dishes in the bathtub.

This week has been brutal. The large number of students in my classroom is really beginning to take its toll on me, both with classroom management and grading. Not to mention that I somehow reached a point in the school year where I have after-school obligations every single day of the week, whether it's tutoring or conferences or other stuff that I keep volunteering for.

Yesterday after work I went and marched as part of the "Day of Action" rallies that were taking place all across California. This is my second year participating in this particular demonstration. I might say more about it later, but currently I feel too sleepy. I have been in my normal insomniac mode this week and am seriously hurting for sleep.

Today I came home from work and collapsed on my couch into the deepest nap for about two hours straight. I never intended to take a nap...since Clint's gone for the weekend, I had planned on playing a board game with the kids or purchasing a movie from PPV. But the second I hit the couch, I was out and quite literally unconscious. Completely unrelated, but this reminds me of how much I hate those stories in which the public goes off on some poor mother whose four year old sneaks outside and gets hurt while she's asleep on the couch, calling her a terrible, unfit mother who couldn't even keep an eye on her own child. In reality, she's a mom who desperately loves her baby, but she's human, and her body has limits like everyone else's...one of those limits being that the body is naturally inclined to succumb to exhaustion. I don't care who you are or how many kids you have; everyone goes into zombie-mode once in awhile. It breaks my heart because you know such mothers are absolutely devastated, crushed, and beating themselves up with guilt over what happened to their child, yet to add insult to injury, they are battered with cruel remarks from a cold, unfeeling public who views them as either a villain, or an idiot, simply for making a very human mistake. Name to me ONE person who hasn't "drifted off to sleep" before at an inopportune time.

Okay, snapping back to attention. I mentioned that Clint is going to be gone for three days; he is actually in Rancho Sordo Mudo, Mexico. Him and about 14 other men from our church decided to go down there and install lighting at a poverty-stricken school for the deaf. Currently the kids' playground has no lighting, nor do the basketball courts, so the guys will be down there resolving this situation, along with taking care of other maintenance issues. I am SO proud of him. Clint has become such a charitable, giving person in the last few years. He doesn't give out of a sense of caring or generosity though--he does it out of a sense of obligation, which is just fine by me. If he is asked for some kind of charitable contribution (and it's a legitimate source doing the asking), you'll never see him get touchy-feely about it, but he doesn't hesitate to deliver.

I'm not bothered by the fact that Clint's gone, although I'm sure I'll miss him to some degree. In all honestly, I rarely get the house to myself, so I'm actually kind of looking forward to enjoying a weekend with just me and the kids. Plus my weekend won't be completely empty; Sarah is coming over tomorrow night to watch a chick-flick with me, and then Sunday evening I'm going to John's Pizza for my niece's and nephew's birthday dinner. I'm really excited to get together with my family (and of course Sarah) on Sunday night--we always have so much silly fun.

I know I'm a whiney little crap right now, but I am sooooooooo tired. I think I'm going to eat a few scoops of peanut butter, throw the spoon in the bathtub, then scootch off to bed.