A car full of Gingerbread and a head full of sleep deprivation

After the crazy-arse amount of work I did in the school holidays I was really looking forward to getting back to the school routine where I can work within school hours, after the kids bed time hours and through to normal peoples sleeping hours… that way neither I nor the kids miss out on a single thing……

Thinking how clever I was, that I had survived 3 weeks of a ridiculous amount of work, I excitedly planned my Monday about me. Sorting out taking the kids to school at 9am, then the dropping off of 3 custom made Ginger Bread Houses and then the treating of myself to a much deserved coffee or two with a friend or several friends and generally looking forward to a relaxing day all about me yet home in time to get all those kids from school.

An email late Sunday afternoon telling me the houses now had to be at the studio by 8:30 am threw a little spanner in the works. The Frustrated Painter inviting friends around on Sunday for lunch-turned dinner and a beer to watch “The Race” threw an even bigger spanner in the works. 6 hours of 7 children, 4 adults, a year 7 homework assignment, 2 random drop-ins and school uniforms and lunches to organise was like having a wrench thrown at my head and subsequently those bloody houses took another 12 hours to complete. BUT in bed by 12, which is highly unusual for me, I managed 6 hours of luxurious sleep and by 7 am I was focused, showered, dressed, hair done, face on and ready to go.
So the plan was: to drop them off (the kids that is) to a girlfriends house all dressed, hair done and loaded with fresh bread and pancakes (gluten free and normal). Kiss three of them goodbye, wish them luck on their first day back at school and then head to Newtown to drop the big one to school and then off to the Studio in Bourke St Alexandria to drop off my other three edible babies.

Everything went to plan until the part where I headed to the Studio. With a car full of gingerbread a head full of sleep deprivation, I lost my way. Instead of heading to Alexandria I took a wrong turn and found myself lost in a maze of one way streets and road works, desperately trying to navigate my way out. A cancelled coffee date and another wrong turn led me to Randwick and tears. Running an hour late and sitting at the lights at the Children’s Hospital I realised this was not the day I had planned.

Bitterly disappointed, lost and late, the sight of The University of New South Wales brought me back to reality and the right direction and I continued on the most massive of round-about-ways anyone has ever driven and finally turned into Bourke St. Just as I turned the corner, my phone whistled me with the msg “are you still coming?” as the largest of the three houses teetered on its foundations and crashed into the smaller one next door. Have you ever tried pulling over on a busy inner city Street, with precariously balanced precious cargo, tears streaming down your face and racing heart because there was no back up house!!!! Yeah well, me either.
By the time I finally arrived at the Studio, I was exhausted, miserable and a little deflated. Thankfully, the houses were met with Oohs and Aahs and the minimal damage to the back of the roof was easily fixed with the tools in my emergency kit. I salvaged what I could from my morning and managed a coffee and a chat with an old friend before I dropped into IKEA for a wander and lost my keys!!