Case of the Mondays

 So, like, after last week and our ludicrous Wednesday, I was all OMG the secret to my success is PREPARATION, and I am going to make sure I head into every weekday morning with all of the things prepped and ready. 

Then the weekend happened and never let up for one single together-y second and YIKES I fell asleep on the couch Sunday night at like 8:30, waking up to be made fun of for snoring and eat some peanut M&Ms (I often take a couch nap, wake up like Yogi the Bear and then stumble to bed immediately post-binge) and shuffle off to bed by 10:30. It wasn't until my Monday coffee kicked in that I realized I was supposed to make a freaking chicken tortilla soup for the slow cooker on Sunday night. Plus pack myself a lunch and several snacks. Plus get my work bag ready. And then Cooper popped into my exercise dungeon to remind me that he was changing our routine to Starbucks Monday instead of Tuesday because he and Ben do takeout Tuesday after diving and before hockey, and he wants to spread the treats around. Erm. That was too darling to quash, so, I just... did everything.

5:15-5:40: Do laundry, drink coffee, do Connections and Wordle**

5:40-5:45: Wipe down the boys' bathroom and empty the humidifier in the storage room

5:45-6:30: Exercise

6:30-6:45: Plug in my hot rollers, put Dorothy and Coop's lunches in their bags, fill their water bottles, drink my pre-filled Stanley and refill it for work, wipe down both of the upstairs bathrooms and take out the bathroom trashes, make my bed and switch the laundry

6:45-7:08: Walk with Dorothy

7:10-7:25: Tidy the rest of my room, wash my face and moisturize, brush my teeth, put my hair in hot rollers, figure out my outfit and find my earrings, throw Airpods, Kindle, phone, wallet, and my favorite lipstick in my work bag that was mostly still packed from last week.

7:25-7:35: Get Dorothy physically out the door, kind of a pain in the ass since her class has a bike unit in gym, so she has to ride her bike and that affects her hair choices. Also, she had terrible breath from her retainer, so I had to remember to toss her retainer in some Polident and nag her to brush her stinky teeth (WHY DON'T MY KIDS LIKE TO BRUSH THEIR TEETH??) I also had to get her dance stuff out and prep her dance bag since I won't be home before she goes and she's particular.

7:35-8:00: Tidy Minnie and Dorothy's rooms, pack myself lunch and snacks, and make a freaking soup. Minnie helped. Honestly? So did the bag of frozen diced onions I bought randomly-- this is a genius timesaver on par with those little frozen cubes of minced garlic from TJ's. I also forgot to buy a jalapeno, so I used a whole bag of mini sweet peppers and some jarred tamed jalapenos I had on hand. Minnie LOVES to  add chopped veggies to a recipe, and this is the kind of helping that is actually helpful. She threw anything I chopped (well, just pepper and the leftover farmers' market corn I cut off the cob) into the slow cooker. and stirred a lot.

8:00-8:15: Unroll my hair and clip some of it up in a messy bun, do my makeup, order Starbucks on the app, and put on the outfit I thought about, with the addition of a chunky necklace because it is a dress that I also wear for cocktails and is kind of low cut (LOL)

8:15-8:20: Look for my left Tiek. I COULD HAVE LIVED WITHOUT THIS HICCUP

And bam! Out the door with dinner prepped and lunch packed, in plenty of time to sugar my kid up and drop him off

Yes, we should have left the house by 8:15, but he was on time, and so was I, so WINNING all around, I think.

(Ben is in charge of Minnie on  Monday AM, and the boys take themselves to school although Harry woke up briefly and we saw him and noted his attendance, but then he fell back to sleep, and I think they were tardy but **shrug**, and I will do more to remind myself to look for him in the early 7's.)

**On Sunday, Minnie was in Ben's bed with him while he did the Wordle, and then she came over to my bed, and I started doing Wordle. She goes OH IT STARTS WITH A B. And then she said THE E GOES THERE. AND ANOTHER E. AND IT ENDS WITH THE T. She forgot the r, though. (No, seriously, Ben and I looked at each other with mouths agape. Like, that's really smart. Also kind of annoying because we definitely cannot do Wordle in front of her anymore LOL).