Back to Work

Today was my first day back to the regular, commuting to preschool routine. It happened to be on a Wednesday which is also soccer practice which made for a really long first day back.

Here is my day.

1. Jeff loaded laundry, soccer gear, medical files, laptop, Jaden's lunch & nap stuff, and stuff to return to the following stores: IKEA, Target, Pottery Barn Kids, Apple and Kohl's.

2. I drove in the worst traffic to date since moving to San Carlos and it took one hour to get to Campbell.

3. Drop off Jaden just in time for circle time.

4. Go directly to Kohl's. Return shoes, score big in the bath & kitchen sales. Got 8 cloth napkins, 4 placemats, two bath mats, two bath towels, one hand towel, two jar candles and a shelf for $50.

5. Head to Valley Fair. Pick up my altered jeans two weeks late at Nordstrom, eat a Subway sandwich, return at PBK and Apple (with a scolding for being past the 14 alotted days), stop at Sports Authority hoping and praying for a pool noodle even though it's way past summer season in retail and actually luck out (for Jaden's Halloween costume) and finally hit Old Navy and score a short-sleeved button down shirt for Jeff for $7 (he told me recently he'd wear those in addition to t-shirts 364 days a year).

6. Drive to airplane Target and return fancy sheets. Find an adorable little dress for $19 to wear out with Jamie & her mom this Friday evening in SF for a wine tasting. Goodie! Also found "sweats" in a good color for me, not the obnoxious pastels they usually come in. Sweet. Also grabbed a Real Simple, yay for early holiday ideas.

7. Drive to Whole Foods for toothpaste and an iced tea.

8. Pick up Jaden with two minutes to spare and get a whinefest because he wants to play all afternoon. Receive lasagna, salad, breadsticks and soup as a surprise from Ellen, CDC Director. Catch up with all teachers, two moms and Lara.

9. Go straight to Toys R Us to exchange Jaden's weak Spiderman toy ("this is not a good quality toy Mama, I want to get my money back") and proceed to spend 30 minutes analyzing games. This is progress over yesterday's 75-minute investment in lame Spiderman toys. Climb two shelves and nearly twist my ankle while causing belly aching to reach Dr. Seuss board games only to have them heartily rejected.

10. Drive to Nana's to shovel a snack in the kid before soccer practice. Freak out about missing soccer socks. Kiss my husband's feet for packing the game socks just in case. Beg Nana to take the boy to practice so I can collapse for awhile.

11. Before collapsing, throw the boy's laundry in as he has zero clean clothes in his dresser. Transfer enormous quantities of soup in smaller containers that will fit in my fridge and freezer. Thaw and bake lasagna.

12. After 25 minutes of rest, hustle to get dinner on the table for them when they arrive home from practice. Curse at the dryer after 45 minutes and the clothes are still drenched. Get crankier and crankier as 6:30 comes and goes and they are not home yet. (Practice ends at 6 and is 1.5 miles away).

13. Finally eat when they get home. Try to rush the boy means we got out of there in 30 minutes instead of an hour. Hit the road at 7:12 p.m.

14. Jaden passes out on the freeway and wakes right up in the driveway. Then has a sobbing fit because he can't play his new game and have a regular bedtime with bath. Hello! It is 8 p.m. now! Next time don't play for 35 minutes after soccer! ("It was only 15" according to Nana, sans any form of tellling time, i.e. a CELL PHONE).

15. While Jeff is getting Jaden to bed amidst lots of drama, proceed to unload the laptop, lasagna, salad and soup, clean laundry, Kohl's, Nordstrom and Target bags, two lunch boxes and dirty nap stuff from last week, soccer bag and new game.

16. Drive straight to the laundromat to wash my sheets since there wasn't time to todo those at Betty's and I'll be damned if I'm not crashing on clean sheets tonight!

Luckily my sweet husband went to Trader Joe's and scored the last bottle of a yummy chardonnay we discovered Monday night.

Buonna notte!