Creepy Laundry and One of "Those" Mornings

On Sunday Katrina wore a fancy little dress to church.  We arrived late and sheepishly took our spot on a pew at the front of the chapel.  Which always takes just a little too long to do with kids... they move slowly, they stop to look at the things around them and meanwhile I'm standing up in front of the congregation, wishing they would hurry so I could take my seat, or at least that I could shrink closer to the height of the pew backs and blend in.  

Anyway, we took our seats and I looked up at Katrina to double check her hair (which I brushed and arranged in the parking lot of the church because we had hurried that morning and Ken had the girls in the car before I had done their hair)... anyway, I looked at Katrina and quickly spotted two stains on her dress.  (The kind of thing you vaguely remember from the last time she wore that dress and probably told her she should put her dress in the hamper and then later asked her why she hadn't hung her dress up yet because you forgot about the stain... I'm saying "you" because I'm really hoping there are other moms reading this who can relate ;)

So, this week the dress made it to the hamper and last night I put the dress in the washing machine and this morning I pulled it out to see if the stain came out.  It was a yellowish stain and while looking for it, I spotted a dark stain and wondered how that had gotten there.. the mysteries of laundry!  And then the stain moved.

...because the stain wasn't a stain but a spider that had somehow found its way in between the fabric of the front of the dress and the lining of the dress!

I don't know what it was exactly this morning, but I just wasn't in a very happy mood and I could feel that my patience was low.  So it was frustrating to find that the girls were eating dry cereal in the living room again when I came upstairs from the spider incident.  I reminded them not to do that and pointed out the mess of crushed Special K all over the floor to remind them why.  Then I grabbed the vacuum and found that a feature on it is broken.  *sigh*

Next I headed to the kitchen and decided to set a timer for myself.  If I set a timer, I am much more productive. Knowing that I only have a limited amount of time to work on a task helps me keep going.  The first thing that needs to be done is to sweep the floor (because now there's Special K all over that floor too).  So I grab the broom and with the first swipe I realize that the broom is wet.  We left the kitchen window open last night to let cool air in and it rained. The broom was in the perfect place to get wet from the rain that came through the window. So, I set the broom on the porch in the sun to dry and I pull out a chair to sit on in the sun and try to feel a little more 'Zen'.


My question to you is this:  How do you handle mornings like these?  Any suggestions for getting things back on track?  Sure, there are days when I just have more patience and can take things like this in stride, but for the days when each little thing that goes wrong seems to bring me a lot further from "Zen"... well, what would you do?


Here's what I did this morning:

I announced that we needed to read our library books before tonight when some of them are due.  I sent the girls downstairs to gather their favourites and we re-convened on my bed to snuggle up and read.  Then the girls asked to pull out the lego.

We have a whole bunch of pink, purple, and white lego that combines to make a big fancy Barbie house, pool, ice cream stand, etc.  It's a MESS.  So, my rule is that bedrooms and living room have to be clean before we can bring the lego out.  Today the desire for lego was big enough motivation for them to get their jobs done, so we're hunting for pieces and the girls are totally focussed on their project.

 I actually kind of like putting the lego together and organizing the pieces, so it's a good way for me to play with them without getting bored ;)   Having a project for them to work on is also great... they stay focussed in one area of the house without leaving messes behind everywhere which makes everything else seem a little more "under control". The bonus on top of that is that they stay occupied for a long time without asking for something new to do.

I think things are back on track... on to the rest of the day!  Oh... is it lunch time already?

Please Note: This post is not sponsored by Lego ;) 

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