I love that movie, "Marley and Me" (except for the ending). Great story of family in that it keeps it pretty real. I expecially like the part when the main character, who is a columnist, writes down everything he did that day.  This summer, with time to blog, I wanted to do something fun. At the same time, I want you to be encouraged. Soooooo...today I thought I would write about the normal things I do and hopefully how God shows up to keep me between the lines.  I fully believe that we do this life together. Togethergirl is about that. I am not the girl who has it together. That's not even a goal or wish of mine. I quit trying. (Insert the Hallelujah Chorus)  Amazing how much comfort we feel when we discover we are not alone in our struggles and weaknesses. I'll be the brave one and go first. I will resist the urge to do anything impressive today. I may throw in a few of my attempts to control the chaos through my other blog (www.houseninja.blogspot.com ) so that we can both laugh at me. (I will say that the towel plan that I put into place a few years ago has been super helpful.) Okay, here we go.  *Woke up at 6:15. Not sure why.  *Turned off every light (5) that Distracted Son left on last night. *Told Sweet Son to go back to bed at 6:20. *Put yesterday's laundry into the dryer, hoping it will come out smelling ok. *Loaded last night's remaining dishes and started the dishwasher. *Put my favorite coffee K-cup in the Keurig. (Gevalia Royal Dark Roast-there's a $1 off coupon inside the box.) *Told same Sweet Son to go back to bed at 6:45. *Stared out the window while I drank coffee. *Prayed for wisdom to deal with Sweet Son. *Woke up Tall Girl (just decided I would call her that) for driver's ed at 7:00. *Told Sweet Son he could get up. Told him it was summer and long pants would be too hot.  *Put on clothes and mascara, along with a bandanna that Tall Girl  laughed at.  *Told Sweet Son that his short shorts were only for sleeping in and he should probably put some on that at least came past mid-thigh. *Made mental note to sort Sweet Son's clothes to make life easier for us both. *Drove Tall Girl to driver's ed and met a Sheriff officer who needs people skills. *Silently hoped that officer would tell Tall Girl the same things I've been telling her about driving so I could say, "told you." Mature, huh? *Came back home and Hot Pastor was still here so I thought ugly thoughts.  *Thought more ugly thoughts when I walked inside and discovered he had invited his friend into our disastrous home. Faked a happy, "Good morning!" while acting like I was not embarrassed by our mess. I know, who cares? Right? Apparently I do. Dang. *Told Sweet Son, "no, you can't go to the neighbor's house at 7:45 in the morning." Bless him. *Second cup of Royal Dark Roast. *Procrastinated my to do list (cleaning and sorting through Sweet Son's clothes). *Drove Overachiever Girl to cheer camp at 8:45. *Decided to eat breakfast. Fought the urge for 3rd cup. *Turned on some worship music to help me get through cleaning. *Cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, and mopped the kitchen and dining room. *Picked up Overachiever Girl from cheer camp.  *Cleaned up broken jar of salsa that Snuggly Boy accidentally dropped on the kitchen floor.  *Went through Sweet Son's clothes. Errrrrrrkkkkk. Stop. Freak out session. Found eight pairs of socks after he had told us (with angry eyes), "I don't have any socks." (then Hot Pastor bought the soccer socks) I cannot go into any more detail about items found. It took half the day to recover.  *Took Distracted Son's phone for smarting off to me. *Decided that if I didn't take them to the swimming pool, I might not make it through the afternoon at home. *Felt like I brought three kindergarten kids to the pool- put Mini-Me in time out! Seriously? Overachiever and Snuggly Boy were my saving grace.  *Sweet Son lost his tablet for the day for asking me, "do you think I'm dumb or something?" when I asked him a simple question leaving the pool. *Picked up Tall Girl from Driver's Ed.  *As we came home from the pool, I overheard Hot Pastor on his phone saying, "yeah, they're coming in from having fun at the pool". I laughed. *Told Tall Girl that her room actually stinks and that she has to clean it tonight. Her reply was, "Can't you see I just got home? Summer is about taking a break." I won't tell you about my reply.  *Realized I have PMS.  *Saw that Distracted Son had taken his phone back. What?  *Stuck leftover spaghetti in the oven as a casserole version. Chopped salad. *Showered and dressed for a Spa Night at a sweet friend's house. I knew we would be doing facials, but I put makeup on anyway to hide the multitude of ugly red bumps that hormones sent my way this week. Almost decided not to go, but thought it best I leave the house. *Spa Night. Isn't God's timing great?!  *Stopped at Starbuck's and splurged for a grande coffee instead of a tall because it has been a doozey of a day. Ate peanut butter crackers for dinner on my way. *Had to pull over on the way because I was laughing so hard at a text a friend sent me. Yes, I read it while driving.  *Had a fun, relaxing night with friends.  *Tall Girl texted me on my way home, "where's the bread?" (First time I had heard from here since the whole stinky room thing.) *Stopped at Kroger for bread. *Realized after I pulled out that I needed allergy medicine. Went home without it.  *Tall Girl greeted me with a request to help her with her homework for Driver's Ed. Guess what ran through my mind? "Can't you see I just got home? Summer is about taking a break!"  I began writing this twelve hours ago. It's time for bed and I have to say I could not have made this up. It's highly possible that my PMS infected the children or that it's a full moon, or that God just has a terrible sense of humor. When I pulled out my laptop this morning, I totally expected an ordinary day. I guess it's a good thing that four out of six children do not usually receive consequences in one day. Hoping this is not the beginning of a terrible trend.  When I was training to be a life coach, one thing I learned is to always start coaching sessions with the question, "what can you celebrate today?" I will end in celebration today...               Six healthy children are breathing, laughing, and sleeping under this roof.       Tall Girl's room is stink-free.        Tomorrow is a new day and God's mercies are new every day- even when          we have nothing to post, pin, or tweet.