8:20.

This morning I woke up,
on this morning halfway through our
Spring Break,
to find snow everywhere outside.
Not surprising, since it's been so cold
for days now.
Last weekend I actually had to promise
our African friends that it would eventually get
hot and they would eventually get to go outside in
flip flops.

Then, though my morning started
quiet and full of coffee as usual,
things got a little rocky.

Well, see, Hudson's Pull Up was on funny,
so it leaked overnight, and I needed to wash his bedding.
And then someone woke up early with quite a bit
of business to take care of in the bathroom,
leading to the use of way too much toilet paper.
Then, of course, the next riser used the same bathroom,
and seeing that the toilet would not flush, proceeded to do
the only logical thing- flush it over and over and over,
causing a disgusting overflow, which was then brought to my attention
at once.

The cat followed me around as I cleaned and disinfected,
concerned because I did not clean out her litter box
immediately at breakfast, which she, well,
demands that I do, or else I'll hear about it
to no end.

The dogs, too, constantly whined at me as I worked,
dying to get out of their kennel for a much-needed
trip to the backyard and then breakfast.

I threw out the last of the paper towels, about to
wash my hands when I noticed our kitchen
trash can was overflowing with sticky banana peels
and all kinds of other things.
So I postponed the hand-cleaning and took that out too.

All this by 8:20 AM.

The rest of the day has been generally pleasant and productive.
It's been full of little obligations, and other work to do,
and lots of tea and coffee and a really good orange
and conversations with people in Africa, and
the girls called their Grandma and they sounded adorable,
and there was lots of reading to my kids and a few funny things
that made them laugh at me out loud (in a good way).

But that first bit of the day, I admit, had me worried.

And because I hate to post without a picture, if I can help it....

I pulled this shot out of my bag of tricks for my HS class today. I thought it was nice.  I think I've blogged it before.  I don't care.  Peace out.