An ordinary-type day

On the edge of ordinary. That's what this blog is called. Conceived by the idea that we feel like our lives are pretty ordinary, but understanding that others looking at us don't necessarily think that is so. My writing here is about our "ordinary" lives in an attempt to unveil the ordinariness of our lives to whomever might be interested in reading about it.

Today's been pretty ordinary day-off here. I woke up around 7, pretty usual time lately when we've had no school to send everyone off to.

I read for over an hour in bed, maybe closer to two, finishing off a novel I've been reading. When I went down to have breakfast, I was only the second person up. David, as usual, was the first. He'd made waffles. Two boys soon arrived. The third I woke at noon!

I lounged around after breakfast, playing card and word games on my phone and then picked up a non-fiction book about punctuation that I've been gradually making my way through.

We actually managed to gather everyone for lunch and have a bit of conversation. One bit was about the funeral David planned to attend in the afternoon. It was for the Japanese husband of one of the CAJ staff and father of one of the incoming seniors. A person none of us can recall having met.

After lunch I washed up and did some baking; then I vacuumed the house and cleaned the toilets.

Our eldest left early afternoon to weed at school. He's working on the maintenance team at school now. Something I'm very grateful for. Currently he's working a couple of hours most days.

At 1.45 David left in a black suit and tie for the funeral at our church. He arrived home about two hours later looking sober, but also hot and sweaty. Though the church is air conditioned, there were many people at this 50-year-old professor's funeral and the sanctuary wasn't so cool.

From 4.45 till 5.45 I applied increasing pressure on one boy to go out and get some exercise. He's barely left the house in ten days. Finally he left, but it was a long, tedious process. I'm grateful that I managed to do this without shouting at him, but I was tag-teaming it with David. The other two voluntarily went out for runs.

Until a few minutes ago I've been advising the boy who was making Honey Mustard Chicken for dinner and simultaneously aiding another boy with holiday-homework for Japanese. It looks like dinner will be closer to 7pm than I usually prefer, but that's the price you pay for teaching kids to cook.

Tonight will be a pretty ordinary stay-at-home evening for us. My prediction: I'll read to the boys after dinner while they eat our Saturday-night dessert (ice cream) and David washes up the dishes. Then I'll have a shower and herd the youngest into his bedroom and read the Bible and pray with him. After which I'll come back to the lounge room to watch a couple of episodes of M*A*S*H with David. Then I'll try to herd the other two boys to their bedroom before 10pm and go to bed myself, with a book.