Scheduled to the hilt

It was an unexpectedly busy day here in post ICTE-land. Here's the breakdown.

• Since I missed my usual sleep-in day on Saturday (had to be at school by 8 am for the first of my two morning events), Noel let me have an hour of extra sleep this morning.


• But that was all, because I had to be up an hour ahead of our departure for church so that Noel could shower and shave.


• We took the kids to Sunday school, then snuck off for to sip caffeinated beverages and eat pastries at Starbucks. I annoyed Noel by reminding him to stop at the red light when there was a police car behind us; it's a compulsion.


• Noel dropped me off back at church and headed home to finish up some work while I socialized, collected the kids, and went to the service.


• After Noel joined us for Eucharist, we allowed Archer to finish what might be his favorite part of the week: juggling the bulletin, prayer book, and two hymnals while following the liturgy like a road map and participating at top volume.


• Off to lunch at Wendy's, where the kids, prompted by their food bags, asked us when we're going to get a Wii. (Cady Gray: "But a Wii costs a lot of money, so we can't get one.")


• Back home, the kids go to their naps and Noel and I catch up on a Battlestar Galactica and Thursday's penultimate Conan. Fall off the couch laughing at the classic "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Covers the Line for Attack of the Clones Premiere" segment.


• Kids get up and Noel takes them to the playground. I take the opportunity to sew the X'd out dead eyes onto Cady Gray's fish hat.


• Noel tags me and I take the kids to a birthday party they got invited to at the last minute. There is much jumping, Capri Sun, air hockey, jumping, and cake.


• We return home for a dinner of leftovers. Noel's already been liveblogging the Oscars for the A.V. Club for half a hour. While getting the containers out of the refrigerator, he accidentally knocks a cup of tea on the floor, and I mop up the spill with paper towels. Watching from the door, Cady Gray remarks with a world-weary air, "Dad makes dinner, and Mom just cleans up his mess."
  


• After dinner he disappears into the back to stay on the blogging frontlines while I get the kids ready for bed and negotiate disputes related to their games of Arcade Bowling on Dad's iPod Touch.


• Teeth are brushed, vitamins are consumed, Cady Gray's book is read, Archer's therapy homework is done (new name for his school: "The Fun House"), and we're back on the couch watching the red carpet show. It's a busman's holiday for Noel who will be tapping away all night. I'll be knitting thumbs onto a pair of gauntlets and firing up the random number generator to select my next fingering-weight project.

I don't have too many horses in the Oscar races tonight -- for the first time in years I was too busy to fill out a ballot -- but I'll be sniping at the gowns as usual. (Amy Adam's collar? Fabulous! Miley Cyrus' rhinestone lava flow? Dreadful!) Hope you're enjoying your watch party, too!