Quarantine Journals - Schedule

I think today was another pretty good day. Last night was terrible, though. Once again, Mosley was up barking for the majority of the night. I didn't actually get to sleep until around 3 AM, and he had me up at least three or four times between then and 5 AM. I finally fell asleep at 6 AM, but only after stuffing towels underneath all the doors to muffle the noise and turning on an extra white noise right next to my ears. He's been doing this for days.

Richard let me sleep late, and when I woke up he told me that the weather was beautiful and they had just gotten back from a bike ride. It took some persuading, but we got the kids out in the front yard. Richard turned on the sprinklers, and they were going to play, but by the time I had gotten my clothes on and started to walk outside, they were done. Penny had a scratch and she didn't want to be in the sprinklers anymore.

Richard was heading inside to give them a bath when I suggested that they go into the sandbox.  They played in the sandbox for a little bit, and then I'll let them get into the swimming pool naked, which they were both delighted with. While they were swimming and splashing, I went ahead and did some gardening that I had been wanting to do. Something keeps getting on top of the hydroponic totes and smashing the plants, and I assume it might be that cat that keeps hanging around and left us a dead lizard as a gift. Otherwise, maybe a squirrel? Anyway, I had three cucumber seedlings to move outside, so I filled up those buckets with dirt, and I moved our rosemary into a bigger planter with more organic matter and mix some sand into the soil, to see if I could make it a little happier. The weather was really nice. It was super overcast, and there was a really nice breeze pretty much consistently. So no sunshine to worry about, and no mosquitoes, and just the birds singing in the kids playing. It was just what I needed. I really enjoyed it.

Then we got the kids inside for a bath, ate lunch, and Richard took Oliver for a nap.  Penny has been looking forward to Richard's day off all week so she and I could have a "very serious meeting" to make a schedule for the week. I was kind of hoping she would forget about this when she mentioned it the first time, but she's brought it up every day last week. She's been begging me to sit down and plan out the week on a schedule so that she knows what's happening and when. So, I realize that it was definitely going to happen, and I wanted to make sure that I brought my a game. Honestly, I think it slipped her mind because she was helping me finish up cleaning out the aquarium, and moving some of the plants around in the garden, and when we finished, she asked what's next?  I told her that I had a meeting scheduled, and then I pretended to look at my phone for the name, and I said "oh yes, it's right here. I have a planning meeting with Penelope Cardenas." And she got this huge smile on her face. She ran to go get paper and pens and cleared off the table so that we could sit down.

She told me "Don't treat this like a meeting with your daughter. Treat this like a very serious work meeting. This plan is important." And so we spent an hour making menus and planning activities for the week.  In the middle of a sentence, she abruptly looked up and said "Wait. Pause. I. AM. SO. HAPPY! We are never going to lose a plan again!! THIS IS GREAT!"

We both had a good laugh when, on Tuesdays agenda, she wrote "poop" instead of writing "pool." I laughed hard, and I think she was feeling self-conscious about it, until I explain to her that everybody makes spelling mistakes sometimes, and it's OK to laugh and enjoy them. "What if daddy wakes up on Tuesday, looks at the schedule, and misses his work because he's too busy trying to poop?" And Penny laughed and laughed and laughed.

When Richard and Oliver came in the room, Penny said "So what are we doing now?" Richard replied "Um, I don't know." And Penny quickly shot back "Get used to never hearing that question again because I'll always know what's going on now."

The kids played for a little bit, and then the three of us did just dance for a little bit while Richard was finishing up dinner. Oliver had pulled out all of our Incredible's pajamas, and the kids were really excited about watching the movie while we were all wearing our PJs. So, when dinner was ready, we all sat down to watch Incredibles 2 again

. Overall, I think it was a good day.