Boiling Water

It's just been one of those weeks. I can't put my finger on it, but perhaps it's a combination of things. Payday doesn't come until Tuesday so we're short going into the weekend- we're short anyway coming off of Christmas. We've been passing all kinds of bugs around our house since Thanksgiving so everyone has been sick. I just haven't been feeling well all week. Jason feels like crap - and I just feel stressed out. It's a weird stressed though - it's that "The holidays are over and school is back in and things are finally slowing down enough that I have time to think about all the crap that's been piling up for the last month to think about" stress. Yeah, that's been my week. It hasn't been terrible, but not great either.

Today I was so tense that I was just grumpy. I hate being grumpy. My kids were playing and being good (thank God) so I was cautious with my grumps. I think my kids kept me from crossing from grumpy to just plain nasty - I'm so thankful for them. In my effort to tame the grumpies today I learned something very important: I can paint ten little fingers and ten little toes pink and read a short book while they dry in the length of time it takes water to boil.

This sounds stupid, but in actuality it saved my day. I was so stressed that I was trying to hurry up and get lunch cooked before anyone told me they were hungry again. My daughter has been begging me for days to paint her nails and I just kept coming up with a reason to do it later. Normally I try to clean up the kitchen while I cook, but today she came into the kitchen with her bottle of polish - eyes teary because I had just told her "I'll paint them later, I'm busy making lunch right now" - and she asked "Please make my nails pretty, Moggy." I had just set the pan of water on the stove and turned to deny her once again, and then paused for some reason. I don't know why my mind stopped racing at that moment, but it did. I thought, what better thing do I have to do right now? Me cleaning my kitchen isn't going to make that water boil any faster, and my hands are tied until it does boil, so why not stop and make this little girl happy. She blew on every nail as soon as the pretty pink polish was applied, and it made her day. When I had finished making her nails pretty she went in to show her brother and I peeked at the water. The tiny bubbles were just starting to form on the side of the pot. I still had time to spare. At that point Coen and Ravenna both came back into the kitchen with a book and asked me to read it to them. Well, I still have a few minutes before the water boils, sure.

The three of us sat on the kitchen floor and read together. As we finished, the bubbles were really going in the pan. I told them lunch would be ready in about 10 minutes and they were pleased with that. What other things could I do with my kids in the time it takes to boil water...?

The whole situation made me think. How long has it been since I stopped to smell the roses (paint toenails, color a picture, mold some play doh...)? I'm so consumed by all the things that I have to do that I sometimes try to keep my children occupied so I can get them done - especially with the holidays - that I fogret to just stop and enjoy them sometimes. Getting her nails painted was the highlight of my little daughter's day, perhaps her week -she was pretty excited! You know, it was mine too!