Oh that went by way too fast...

... my first *whole* school day without kids.

For exactly 3799 days and about 23 hours (*grin*) I have been on duty 24 hours a day doing the mom thing. There have been few occasions when I have been away from both kids for more than 3-4 hours. Overnight maybe a handful of times. 4.5 days ONCE. So this is new territory for me. But now they are off and running. And we will have a middle-schooler next year. Argh!

I know some moms can't wait for the kids to be in school. Others are very melancholy about it. I happen to be in the former group, kicking up my heels! I love my children as much as anyone. I would give my life for them. But school is a right of passage for them and for me.

So this is my time.

Oldest goes at 7:45, youngest not til 9. Oldest gets home at 2:30, youngest gets out at 3. So all in all I have 5.5 hours all to myself every day (except when oldest has early release days, about twice a month. Then it's just 4 hours). I thought I would feel that was a long time, but I managed to fill it all up today. Went to the paint store to get sample quarts for the rooms we are painting, went to several other stores to get little travel-size thingys (have to keep the packing light) for our trip to Indiana (you can read more about why we are going there here and here) at the end of the month.

Ran into a friend at Walmart, so had to stop and visit for awhile. She has the most adorable 3 and 4 year old girls, so we got to look at *girl* jewelry and I got a couple big *girl* hugs. I tell them there aren't any *girl* hugs at my house because I'm the only girl, and so they make a big deal out of it. We talked about Barbie and Bratz and Care Bears and pink and purple. It was so much fun!

Came home. Had lunch, let the dogs out...

One hour to go, and you'll never guess what I'm doing.

Blogging of course!

PS To my husband who probably thinks I wasted my whole day - this is just the first of many, and I intended to enjoy it. However, when days and weeks and months go by where I have 5 hours a day to get stuff done, things will get done.