Down time denied

Aww, 9 o'clock in the p.m., basically the last hour of the day for me. Everyone is lounging in their pj's and zoned out watching tv or checking out a book or the ipad. The house is quiet with just the murmur of some Alaska show Hubby is watching flowing through the living room. Only a few rooms have a light on, most rooms already dark, and I have my tea bag resting in my cup of boiling water, waiting for me to sink into the couch and enjoy one full hour of relaxation before everyone heads to bed.

As I find my favorite show to watch and take my first sip of hot tea, my 12 year old blurts out, "Hey Mom, do you think you could check over my math paper?" "No problem," I say and ask her to bring it to me. I'm thinking in my head 10 or 12 problems, no big deal. After 15 minutes of doddling, she finally brings me the math paper to check and its 43 stinkin' problems, all fractions and word problems with a few graphs and number lines thrown in.

My enthusiasm for relaxation dwindles as I realize this check is going to eat up all my relaxation hour. Boo! I considered throwing it back at her and saying, "It is what it is, I'm not checking your answers," but after glancing at the first few problems I realize why she asked me. Totally going down the wrong path, so.....I grabbed the pencil and started checking away.

After 30 minutes of checking the Least Common Multiples and order of fractions and decimal math problems, while attempting to make a very tired 12 year old understand what she did wrong, my tea was luke warm and my show was half over. Oh well, I still had 15 minutes till 10:00 so I'll finish my cooled tea and catch the last few minutes of my favorite show.

Oh no, why would I think that? That's just crazy talk. Instead, my 14 year old decides 9:45pm would be a good time to tell me she needs her very favorite jeans washed by tomorrow because all her friends are going to match.

Well, of course then, let me run to the well and gather a bucket of water, grab a wash board and a bar of soap and get to crackin'!

I certainly wouldn't want my dear daughter to not match her friends and shoot, I'm not doing anything but sitting around being lazy so by all means, let me start some washin!

So later, just as I think I've got the older two taken care of and 10:00 unfortunately rolls around, I find out the 7 year old never did clean up her room but has decided to spend that time she was supposed to be putting toys away, dragging out clothing options for school the next day. 10:00pm and her and her sister's room looks like it was turned inside out.

Of course I freak out and accuse her of never listening and wasting time and all that other mean stuff mom's say when it's late and overtired, which in turn caused her to start bawling and making up excuses left and right as to why she ran out of time. And at 10:00 at night, a sleepy 7-year-old blames everything in the world that's wrong on her sisters, whether the sisters were in the house or clear across town, it's somehow their fault her toys are still all over the room.

Well, 10:15pm I finally am able to sit down and relax. Zone out a little, slow down the breathing, fill Hubby in on all the things I needed to tell him but haven't had time and maybe even check the email account.

10:19 p.m. I'm yawning, my eyes are burning and my head feels like it weighs 100 pounds.

I guess for tonight, it's off to bed.

Maybe I'll get to enjoy that hot tea and TV show tomorrow night because tonight I was denied my down time.