When You Give a Homeschool Mom a Morning (inspired by If You Give a Mouse a Cookie)

This morning, we waved good-bye as Mike and Ryan went off to church camp. Then I immediately dropped Kaylin and Jason off for a week of Vacation Bible School. I suddenly had three hours all to myself. 

Let me repeat that: THREE HOURS. TO MYSELF. 

Do you know how rare that is in my world? 

Do you know what three hours equals in homeschool mom hours??? Practically a week. 

I intended to run some child-free errands, but decided to head home and cross a few things off my to do list first. It was only 9am, so I had plenty of time to do both.

But before I sat down, I started a load of laundry and cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast. 

Then I sat down at my computer. My eyes wandered over to the cluttered desk around me. Papers, Legos, football trading cards, drawings, lists, receipts…I couldn't concentrate. I decided to spend 30 minutes re-setting my house. Clear surfaces, clean floors, tidy nooks and crannies. 

But I had to go to the bathroom first. Once in the bathroom, my sink counters made me cringe. With Mike gone for a few days, I decided to stick all of his toiletries under his sink. 

But the counter was still gross...toothpaste crusties and stray whiskers everywhere. So I quickly wiped it down. And cleaned the mirror. And while I was at it, I may as well clean the toilet and just call it, "done," right?

It took me all of 11 minutes, so I carted my cleaning supplies over to the kids' bathroom. 

As I walked past the schoolroom, I noticed Jason's bedding all over the floor. I had forgotten that he wouldn't stop talking to Ryan last night, so I separated them. I grabbed his pillow and covers and went into the boys' room to re-make his bed.

While I was in there, I tidied up a bit. Hangers hung up in the closet. Books on the shelf. Clothes in the hamper.

The hamper looked pretty full, so I grabbed the clothes to bring to the laundry room. While I was at it, I emptied Kaylin's hamper, too. And pulled the clothes out of my hamper.

After the clothes were sorted in the laundry room and the towels were moved to the dryer, I decided to clean the hall bathroom. And disinfect the kitchen sink. 

Then the dishwasher was ready to be unloaded. 

Then I noticed Ryan's birthday party decorations all over the house. Time to take those down!

Then I picked up all of the paper and peripherals from the kids playing "hotel" with their friends in the front room yesterday.

I casually looked at the clock. Only 10:15!??!!

Time for a snack. I poured myself some Rice Chex and almonds and gathered some stuff to bring upstairs with me. Like an idiot, I tipped the bowl and spilled Chex everywhere. I figured I should vacuum it up before accidentally stepping on them and made a bigger mess.

And while the vacuum was out…I think you see where this is going...

Then I finally got back to decluttering the surfaces. It is now 11:20am, I have completely picked up my house, cleaned the bathrooms, done a load of laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, vacuumed the kitchen, disinfected the sink, written this entire blog post, and I still have 30 minutes to spare before I need to go pick up the little kids.

What on EARTH am I going to do with myself for the next four mornings??!?!