Monday Night Monologue

There is a barre class at 8 p.m. on Monday nights and it is the only weekday barre class I can attend. I was excited about it all day, until the early evening when my day/inner monologue turned to something like this:

4:45 p.m.: Picking up girls from school. Super excited I can go to barre tonight.

4:55 p.m.: Picking up Landon from school, with the girls. Wish everyone was at the same school. Barre is in 3 hours, yay!

5:05 p.m.: Home! Cora is hungry, wants to know why she is starving to death inside the hated car seat. Why is everyone mean?

5:25 p.m.: Cora is fed. Big kids are playing a complicated game involving all the rooms of the house, all of Claire's babies, and a bow and arrow. There is some exclaiming, but no yelling or crying, so I plop Cora in her monkey bouncer in the kitchen and switch dinner plans to something more involved (this soup; very tasty!) because everyone is happy and I'm saving the premade dinners for a night when everyone is not. Thinking a glass of red wine would go great with tortellini soup preparation, but no, have barre class in 2.5 hours.

5:50 p.m.: Soup is simmering. Big kids still happy/not in kitchen. Cora is strangling her toy lion with an absurdly large smile on her face. Disturbing and adorable. Soup smells really good. Wish I could eat a giant bowl of it and drink a glass of red wine. But no, freaking barre class.

6:15 p.m.: Serve soup with ciabatta bread. My bowl is smaller than Claire's because tortellinis bouncing around in the tummy does not mix well with intense isometric leg exercises. Kids find my tiny bowl hilarious. Hydrate with non-alcoholic water. Chant over and over again in my head how much I love the Monday night class.

6:45 p.m.: JP is home! Kids inexplicably only 50% done with their single ladle of soup. JP eats giant bowl in same time as their last 3 bites while we talk about everyone's days. I'm so tired, wouldn't it be lovely to curl up on the couch with my new book and that glass of wine I still haven't poured? F-ing barre class. Kids finish, clear plates, and run off to start shower.  I feed Cora again. 

7:00 p.m.: JP has finished dishes, gone to scrub down kids in car wash/shower. I tuck an exhausted but content Cora into bed, give her a pat, and closed the door. Pretty sure she's asleep before the light goes out. Change into workout clothes. Still no wine.

7:15 p.m.: Books being read, toys being cleaned. Tired. Pretty sure I'm going to fall down in barre class.

7:30 p.m.: Bedtime kisses, check that kitchen counters are wiped clean on final walk through. Sit on clean counters and talk to JP about how his lessons went tonight. Whine about how I don't want to go to barre class anymore. 

7:40 p.m.: Leave. Grudgingly.

8:00 p.m.: Class begins. I love this class. So glad I dragged myself here.

8:30 p.m.: [so much shaking of the legs]

9:00 p.m.: Hard part over. I love this class! Yoga and yoga therapy portion begins.

9:30 p.m.: So centered and peaceful and tired and stretched and happy and calm. I LOVE THIS CLASS SO MUCH! I MUST GO EVERY MONDAY ALWAYS AND FOREVER ALWAYS!

9:45 p.m.: Home again. Wine in hand. Answering emails in bed and wondering if I could pull off this jacket? Still high on my love for Monday night barre class, at least until about 3 hours before next Monday's barre class.