Routine

I have a wonderful sister that lives, literally, on the other side of the world. The last time I could afford a plane ticket to Kauai was in the year 2000 and that is the last time I saw her. We'll probably be seeing each other this spring, meeting somewhere in the middle of the USA. I remember when we were about 10 (me) and 13 (her) she used to keep a timetable on what she was to be doing at particular times. 7.00- Get up 7.05 - wash face 7.10 - brush teeth 7.13 - eat breakfast. She'd do it too! She had a timer and she would make herself do this whole routine. As the day went on it was a little more lax, an hour for television, two hours for reading, but then she had a night timetable as to what time she was to go wash her face, brush her teeth again and get in bed. She was and is a very creative person. Lots of knitting and beading and beautiful drawings and playing with colours...I was always envious of her being able to draw, which I cannot do. But she had the schedule. That kept her in line, put her in place.
I have that same need for discipline though I'm not as good at keeping it up as she was and is. I certainly like a schedule though. I write times out for myself and I love lists of things to do, but I still have a hard time being flexible when my little schedule gets thrown off.

Take this week for instance...After ten days of itching and not sleeping and trying to keep him from scratching himself, Evan is almost healed. He has a few more scabs that have to fall off his face so I want him to stay home from school until that happens. I don't want that angelic face scarred for life! Just as Evan was getting better, Piero fell sick. If his tempature goes above 100° it's like he's dying. It's been hovering around 100° for two days now. I am not complaining about having to play Florence Nightengale to everyone, I signed up for this for better or worse. But my little "routine" goes out the window. I have to write when I can, update clients charts when people are sleeping, constantly clean clean clean because four people in a small space make a mess mess mess. There is a certain point when anything I try and do gets interrupted (Mom! Do this for me!! Julia, come sit here with me...) and I go crazy. Today I put my workout stuff on and just left the house before I went nuts. Piero and Evan were napping on the couch so it seemed like a good moment. Here's what I did:

• Went and had a coffee at a bar
• Got some cash out of the ATM
• Bought some Dandelion tea to see if it would work with my water retention problem.
  
• Bought myself a new Timex Ironman Crono watch
• Bought myself some new Speedo pool flip flops (same store as watch)
  
• Went to the track and did a 15' + 10 x 500mt + 2 x 1km workout - felt good

After that I was able to go home and be pleasant to everyone. I cooked a yummy dinner (chicken and rice stir fry with ginger). I have to learn to adapt, but I secretly have to let you know that I can't wait to get back to the routine. Any routine.