the eugene bean

I was challenged by Wendy, the world's greatest design team member and friend, to record the happenings of my entire day from start to finish. I did it. So, if you're bored with a great deal of time on your hands to read trivial BS along with some interesting tidbits, this post is for you!

I woke up this morning at 5:56 to Ellis’s face as close to mine as possible without actually touching. He needed to potty, and of course, needed to let me know about it. Since I was up I decided to make a cup of coffee and check the weather. One look outside and I knew we wouldn’t be in school, a light coat of snow covered everything! The news confirmed my suspicions, Lane County schools were cancelled.

Ty and Jake got up within a few minutes of each other, and both were excited by the snow and the idea of no school. As I was drying my hair, I was hit in the face by 2 snowballs, thanks boys!

By 7:15 we were bundled up and outside. We played for about 30 minutes, throwing snowballs and making a snowman, complete with a carrot nose and an LSU baseball cap. Ty and Jacob left to pick up McDonalds for breakfast, and we ate while sipping hot chocolate and coffee.

At 8:30 the boys and I dropped Ty off at school for a Supreme Court hearing. By the time we were back home, Jacob was complaining of a sore throat and headache. The boys settled on the sofa and watched The Emperor’s New Groove while I scrapped. I was able to finish Connie and Dan’s baby present and create a layout for a scraplift challenge at Scrapgal.

At about 10 the boys had some fruit snacks and I tried to convince them to go outside and play with some friends. Ellis didn’t want to get wet and Jacob was obviously feeling pretty miserable so my suggestion didn’t go over very well. They played in their room for 30 minutes or so while I uploaded our pictures from this morning. After some fighting, I fussed at Jacob because he was being very bossy and trying to control his brother. Then I fussed at Ellis for deliberately irritating Jacob. Fun stuff.

At 10:45 Jacob went in my room to lie down and rest. I went into the other room to put on a Popeye DVD for Ellis to watch. After a lot of whining I lost my patience with Ellis and rudely told him to get off the sofa and look for the remote. I started the movie and left the room to check on Jacob whom I could hear crying from the bedroom.

Jacob explained through his tears that he was mad at me because I just did to Ellis the very same thing that Jacob had gotten in trouble for. He pretty much said that even though he knows it’s wrong to talk to Ellis rudely, he learned it from me. Huh, well, um, crap. Even though it doesn’t excuse Jacob’s behavior, he’s very right and his insight stopped me in my tracks. Clearly we need to make some changes around here.

I got in bed with Jacob at 11:01 and held him and rubbed his back for 20 minutes before leaving him to rest and coming to the computer to type. It’s now 11:42 and I’m off to prepare lunch.

I fixed peanut butter and jelly for the kiddos. Ellis had an orange with his, and Jacob had a banana. Just before they ate, I took Jacob’s temp. It was 99.9, but fever has always hit Jacob hard, and I knew he was feeling worse then the thermometer read. Jacob didn’t eat much, but I did force him to eat half the banana and a whole cup of OJ. Ellis gobbled down his food, and then ate the rest of Jacob’s banana.

Right after lunch, the boys settled on the sofa again to watch a couple more Popeye episodes before nap time. Ellis danced around the living room singing, “Jacob’s sick, ha, ha.” He was sent to time out for being a jerk and the conversation that followed was my second Aha moment of the day. I called El back after the 3 minute timer beeped and asked him to tell me why he was in time out. We talked about how it feels to be laughed at and how yucky it feels to be sick. I asked him if he knew what he could do for Jake to make him feel better. He honestly had no idea what to say! I suggested that he apologize for laughing at his brother and then ask Jacob if he was feeling better. I also suggested that El ask Jacob if there was anything that he could do for his brother to make him feel better. Ellis agreed that these were good ideas and walked away to talk to his brother. Halfway there, he turned and looked at me and said, “What should I say again?” This really made me realize that he honestly hadn’t yet learned how to express empathy. He wanted to do right, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. I walked over to Jacob with him, and helped him with his apology and conversation.

Ellis: Sorry for laughing at you Jacob. I know you don’t like to be sick. Can I do anything for you?

Jacob: Thanks El, do you think you could sit by me on the sofa? I feel sad and I’d like you to snuggle with me.

So there was calm and happiness for 13 minutes while the 3 of us watched Popeye battle it out with Brutus.

At about 1:00 the boys went to their beds to read and I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room. I kissed the boys and turned out the lights at 1:19, and then I sat on my metal folding chair with my foot under me and sat right down on the metal zipper at the bottom of my athletic pants. I put my full weight down and the zipper was pressed into the top of my foot. It hurt! And bled! And hurt! After a great deal of cursing, I uploaded the photos from this morning to Multiply and uploaded some layouts to the gallery at Scrapgal. Now I’m off to do a bit more scrapping.

Jake got up at 2 and we played some cards. I taught Jacob a new game that my students had showed me how to play. I won the first time and Jacob won the second game. We had fun, he’s getting so smart!

Ellis napped for another hour and a half, and during that time I scrapped while Jacob played Playstation and read Harry Potter. I managed to complete a 2 page layout about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, and was even able to get it uploaded into the gallery. Ellis got up around 3:30 and the boys had peanut butter crackers for a snack. Ty called around 4 to say that he was having a couple drinks at a bar near campus and that he’d be home around 5.

Ellis wanted a second snack and got angry when I told him no. He came into the office and threw a glove at me as hard as he could. I sent him to time out and then we had a talk about what to do and say when you’re angry. He has such a hard time controlling his emotions, and I get so irritated with his behavior that I have trouble controlling mine.

At 4:30 we went outside and the boys played basketball while I photographed a still life for a photography challenge at Scrapgal. They stayed out playing while I uploaded the picture and surfed the net for a while. At about 5 they came up and we battled it out on the Playstation. We played Crash Nitrocart, and Jacob won every time!

Ty called about 5 to say he was running a bit late, that he’d finish his beer and start the walk home. I poured myself a ginourmous glass of pinot and started organizing my recipes from our recipe swap, and I had them spread out all over the floor when Ty walked in the door. We discussed dinner; oven pizza and salad, while I finished up my project. We settled the boys on the sofa with a Dukes of Hazard DVD and put the pizza in the oven.

Ty and I went into our room to lie in bed and talk, and wound up wishing the kids were in bed so we could make love. None of the bedroom doors lock in the apartment so it makes it difficult to have sex while the kids are up. Ty came up with the idea to put a chair under the door handle, and I stood in the hallway to test it out. It worked, and we wound up having a beautiful time together. Sometimes sex is just perfect, and this time it was truly an act of love and not just a means to an end. (Not that that’s a bad thing either!) At first I felt a bit guilty for leaving the kids on the sofa, but the truth is, parents who have sex are happier then parents who don’t!

We left the room about 25 minutes later to the wonderful smell of burned pizza. It was burned to a total black mess, so we threw it away and started over. 15 minutes later the four of us sat down to pizza and a salad, and we had a good dinner talking about the snow and the cards we played and the cases Ty heard at school. I told Ty that I was recording my whole day and he told me if I didn’t leave some out I’d be picked up by CPS. For example, Ellis was singing the song Mississippi Goddamn at the top of his lungs during dinner. This is an excellent song by Nina Simone about the suffering of black people during the Civil Rights Movement but not exactly appropriate for a child to sing at the dinner table!

After dinner, at about 7:45, we got the kids ready for bed. They read quietly for about 20 minutes before lights out. Ty and I went to lay in bed and watched Deal or No Deal until 9, and then Ty went to sleep and I finished my book The Witches by Roald Dahl. Lights out at 9:30. At midnight, Ty and I were both tossing and turning in our beds, Ty because of the beer he had previously had and me because I was hot and uncomfortable. We got up for a drink of water and watched Conan O’Brian until about 1:30 before I left and went back to bed.

I was woken up at 5:47 by Jacob, I got him some Motrin and told him to go back to sleep. I tumbled back into bed only to be woken up at 6:10 by both boys who wanted to get up and play. I convinced them to watch TV quietly so I could gradually get myself out of bed. At 6:20 I was drinking my first cup of coffee and finishing up this challenge.

Looking back, this was not exactly a typical Friday. Snow, McDonalds, fever, and sex in the middle of the evening made for some big differences from our regular routine. But, all in all, it was productive and fun with some big learning experiences thrown it. Pretty cool!