On Thursdays, I wake up at 6.25 and get myself ready for the day until 6.40, at which time I get Miriam ready for the day. She goes off to school on the school bus and then I get Magdalena ready for the day. I take her to school and then go right to my classroom to teach two classes, one from 8-9 and one from 9-10. From 10-11, I get errands done on campus or work on my grad assistant stuff. From 11-12.45, I have office hours (look at me, all grown up!). Then I go pick up Magdalena at school and go home to be a mom for a while. This means that, among other things, I clean up the mess generated by the morning get-ready routine...and possibly some things left over from the day before. Wednesday night is toward the end of the week so I'm often so exhausted that I let things slide.
Miriam gets home around 2pm and I set the girls up with an activity so I can frantically finish whatever readings/papers/assignments have been left hanging all week before my class at 5pm. But first I get a dinner ready, one that can sit on the stove simmering until everybody's ready to eat (without me, since I walk out the door at 4.45 to go to class). Sometimes I have to hustle the girls along with me to drop them at Jeremy's office. Other times he is able to be home so I can just walk by myself.
I have class from 5pm - 8pm and it's glorious. At 8pm it's back to real life. Sometimes the girls are in bed when I get home. Sometimes they're not. Usually Jeremy has helped them clean up any whirlwinds of mess that were generated in my absence, but other days he's just as tired as I am (more, probably) so we clean it up together after the kids are in bed.
Sometimes I eat some dinner late at night. Sometimes I try to get a head start on homework while it's fresh in my mind. Sometimes I skip all of the above and go directly to bed to read a book or whatever.
Friday morning brings church with it. I love church and I enjoy going but it's definitely not a "kick back and relax" three hours. Oh no. I am the piano accompanist in the main worship meeting and then I'm in charge of the children's class (Primary) for the remaining two hours. I love every single one of those Primary kids to death but it certainly is exhausting to take care of them and teach them. Finally, after church is over (unless there's choir practice, which I am also the accompanist for), we head home and RELAX. It's my favorite part of the Sabbath day. Of the whole week, really.
This post has ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, just as my Thursday/Friday is a lot busier than I thought it would be at the beginning of the semester. It's tough that my weekend is so curtailed since I am on grad student duty until 8pm on Thursday night and back at teaching at 8am Sunday morning. I treasure my Friday afternoons and I am so glad there is really nothing that can creep into them and take them away from me.
Right?