Well, I seem to be posting every few months now...

Today I had a snow day with the boys. This was what we did:

Up at 6ish, as usual, for breakfast and early morning chaos.

The DH then went to work at 8:00, after taking 20 minutes to shovel out the car and clean the snow off the windows.

Around 9:30, after tidying up breakfast and getting everyone dressed, we played in the snow. I made a few business calls as I pulled them on a sled. (multi-tasking, as always) I felt obliged to explain to the vendors I was pulling three year old twins on a sled, otherwise they would not have understood my heavy breathing. Silk and cashmere blends at competitive prices are certainly exciting, but not that exciting!

Then we went back inside, had steamed milk and honey (warm milk and honey on stove top, steam cold skimmed milk in cappucino maker. YUM!!) and I made a few more calls.

After that, playtime (Lego, Magic Markers, running and screaming and chasing), then lunch, then more calls for the MOT.

Then, as the screams bordered on tears, in the car to the market for wheat-free-egg-free-taste- free waffles for Baby B (who still has allergies - boo hoo!!) I kept them perky on the way to TJ's by exclaiming in my excited voice, "Look! A snowplow! Look! A huge tree! Hey! It's a barn!" This usually will keep them awake so we can do the shopping before they nap. (The DH is even worse than I am. He'll yell out, "Hey, look! A TRAIN!" When they guys wake up and ask, "Where?" He'll say, "Just kidding." The rat.)

We did our shopping, (without taking any bags, thank you) and drove home.

(I don't take plastic shopping bags from the market, or even paper bags, anymore. When I remember, I bring my "Bags for Life" that I got from Waitrose in England. They are these really strong Gore-tex bags that are supposed to last a long time. Somehow, they are bio-degradable at a certain temperature, and don't out-gas noxiousness. I really am not at all sure how that works! So what I do, when I forget my Waitrose B4L, is simply fill the cart as usual, skip the bagging step and put the things back in the cart. Then I unload the said things into the trunk, and, once home, unload from the car (which goes into the garage) directly into the house. Yes, it's about three more steps, but my, oh my, do I feel good about saving the planet one plastic bag at a time...)

The boys fell asleep on the way home, thanks to a combination of the heater, Roxy Music and being tired, and they slept from 3:00 until 5:30. In that time I finished my last three calls, placing orders for clothes and making appointments for a New York buying trip, repaired my favorite espresso coloured Lilla P Origami wrap, tidied up my sewing box, made chicken soup (DEEE-lish!) got the fish ready for dinner and greeted the DH as fondly as a harried MOT/small business owner can. ( In other words, we got in three kisses and a tight hug before Baby A woke up hollering.)

Once the boys rolled out of bed, we had dinner, then I got on the computer to sort out the bills and print out the bank statements for the accountant. Thank Heaven for CPAs. I'd be in tears for a week if I had to do the taxes on my own!

Even with the DH working along side me, it took a little while to write ten checks, balance a checkbook on line, print three months of statements, break up a mini-twin fight, find a missing penguin (yes, the Pingvin is still an object of love and adoration - see posts from 01-07-06, 01-10-06 and 01-19-06) photo copy the expense reports, get the boys in their PJ's, brush and floss their teeth, make bread and butter sandwiches because they were inexplicably hungry, brush their teeth again, floss their teeth again, read Where's Wallace and settle them to sleep.

That is why it's almost 11:00PM as I post this "All in a Day's Work" entry.

When I think about it, I've put in a 17 hour day so far, and I'm not even ready for bed myself.
Sometimes I think I'd like to switch places with the single girl I once was (but where is my trusty time machine?) and get more sleep! But then I'd miss my joys and my five boys, (DH, twins, two cats) so I'll just keep on keeping on.

But I'm not making any promises...