Steven Harper Piziks

Last night, I got  supper for the boys, then got Mackie into the car for a cub scout pack meeting. A woman from the local nature center was going to be there, and she brought a painted turtle and an owl to show.  Maksim alternated between bored and fascinated.  I sat in the back and graded my way through a tall pile of papers.

Back home, I continued my work on the papers, then recorded them.  Ah, the wild Friday night of a teacher.

Today . . . today was difficult.  Aran woke up with a fever, bad cough, and sore throat.  There was also a major blow-out with Sasha, which was no fun.  After bringing some semblance of order to the household, I took Aran to an urgent care clinic, fearing strep.  The doctor didn't find any, but Aran was wheezing badly--the infection was triggering asthma attacks--so they gave him a breathing treatment and medications.

Stopped at the store for stuff for Aran.   Called Aran's piano teacher to reschedule his lesson.

Got home and found Sasha had encountered serious trouble with the washing machine and dryer, which required considerable time to sort out.  Made Aran lunch, then ran down to the pharmacy to fill prescriptions.

By now I was happy to sit and wait twenty minutes for the medications because it meant I was alone and no one was making demands of me or asking me to solve problems.  When did sitting in pharmacy become a break?

Back home, threw together a batch of cookies and bread just in time to make supper.  Aran was still sick, so it was just me, Sasha, and Maksim at the table.

After supper, Sasha cleaned up and I hauled out the 2010 tax receipts for sorting and totally.  This needed to be done today because I wouldn't have time for it tomorrow or any subsequent weekends in January.  There were many, many receipts because in the past year I did a lot more travel and replaced a lot more equipment.  The trip to Ukraine also counts for research, so all those receipts had to be tallied.  (Good thing I converted the grivna to dollars on the spot for each one and wrote down what they all were in English.)  This took well over three hours.

Maksim needed a bedtime story.  Aran needed more meds.  Discovered someone had set the thermostat to 74 degrees, which explained why the house had been so warm the past couple of days.  Very upset.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day, so I made out the menu for the following week and wrote out the shopping list.

Can I hire a maid now?