The Morning After Daylight Savings Time

And how is everyone feeling on this Monday after Daylight Savings Time?  Tired?  

Yesterday didn't feel so bad to me.  I woke up at the same time and just had an hour's less time to piddle around before church.  And truthfully, it kind of felt like I gained an hour because when we got home from church last night, we put the kids to bed at 8:30 on the new time, but my body felt like it was only 7:30, and since I didn't have anywhere to be this morning, I thought I'd just enjoy my "extra hour" last night.  

I suppose that was a mistake since James came in our room somewhere around 1:40 on the old time, 2:40 on the new, I think?  (I made the microwave clock spring forward but kept the old time on the oven clock, and now I'm just getting confused.  I better just suck it up and spring forward with the rest of the country.)  Either way, James woke up me up to ask me to come and cover him up in his bed, and after that I couldn't go back to sleep for hours.  The result is that this dark and rainy morning feels very much like I lost several hours of sleep, which I did.  Days like this make me so thankful and glad I don't have to rush off somewhere early in the morning. 

Here are a few little tidbits from our weekend:

- Friday I got very tired of parenting/mothering.  If one more child complained about the food I was serving, I thought I would burst into tears, which I later did in the privacy of my closet.  KJ always comes home a little later on Fridays, so I started looking for something beautiful to spark creative juices until his long-awaited arrival.

The colors of the jellybeans helped, as did KJ coming home from work, allowing me to get in the car and drive away from my house for a little while.  I told KJ that once I got in the car and turned on the music, I kind of just wanted to keep on driving, but I contented myself with The Dollar Tree, gas station, and Wal-Mart.  He made me promise to always come back home.

- Saturday I pretty much took the day off from parenting.  KJ took James to get a haircut and then took the kids to McDonalds while I ran, showered, and ate lunch in the quiet.  I never realized how healing solitude is for me until I had two little people with me almost every waking moment.  Having a little quiet makes me a better mommy in the long run.

- When KJ returned home with the kids they had made a visit to the Redbox, so he got them settled watching Wreck it Ralph, and I kicked back in the recliner and read The Vicomte de Bragelonne, soaking in my French history/fiction.  Then I took a nap.

- And as if my morning of solitude wasn't enough, when James and I woke up from our naps, KJ took the kids up to the new activity center across the street from our house, where they hung out with one of our neighbors and climbed the rock wall.  I listened to my French audio CD and cleaned the house.  Saturday was so nice.

- I made a lemon cake for Mission Community Saturday night, and then we hung out with this fun couple, introducing them to Downton Abbey. 

- Our time with the Mission Community was refreshing as it always is, and spring is coming our way!  Spring feels nice.