Monday morning, 8:45: Back to school, back to the normal routine. All alone at the kitchen table: husband took the boys to school, sick daughter still sleeping. It’s windy and cold out there, but the sun is shining on patches of green grass among dead grass in the backyard. I feel the hope that comes with knowing that the days are getting longer now, that we’ve entered the upswing of the year. Even if the weekend was grim, dreary, rainy, sick kids, sick adults, quarreling adults.

Dinner: spaghetti.

Tuesday morning: snow, about an inch. Pretty, but too cold for the kids to want to stay outside long. Having no desire to bake, I did a lot of decluttering. I printed out the January decluttering calendar I mentioned before and have been loosely following it. January’s focus is the kitchen, so I’m slowly tackling all the drawers, cabinets, and surfaces. It feels good. I also have been paring down my Christmas stuff as I slowly pack it away. To date I have made $12 from selling excess stuff on my town’s online yardsale page on Facebook, and I have a big box of stuff waiting to be posted (or, just taken to Goodwill). Baby bibs, duplicate kitchen utensils, Santa figures, a small fake Christmas tree.

Note to my mom: Do not buy my husband any more aprons for Father’s Day. There are three in the sell/donate box. Dude apparently will not wear an apron.

Dinner: chicken piccata, mashed potatoes, corn.

Wednesday: On Tuesday I was dragging, but Wednesday I felt great, like I was finally over this cold I’ve had. I put nearly all the Christmas stuff away, tackled the whole kitchen sink/windowsill/shelves area, played enthusiastically with my kids, read with them, put away the food I had delivered, and more. Then I was like, “Mommy needs to lay down for a second,” and passed out for an hour while they watched Tom and Jerry on Boomerang. Recharged, we picked my oldest up from school, went to Target to get a few necessities, and then went to a beauty supply store, where I invested in a sweet set of clippers and shears. Mommy’s going to beauty school! I watched some YouTube videos on cutting boys’ hair that morning, and I feel confident that with the right equipment I can do a good job. (After butchering them again on Tuesday with my regular scissors and old clippers.) Feeling bad for dragging them all over in the freezing cold, I treated us to an early dinner at King of Pizza, our favorite pizza place. It felt good to be there on a cold dark evening, eating cheese fries and pizza, watching the newscasters hype the deep freeze on the big TVs.

Today: more decluttering and more haircutting education. Wish me luck as I’ll be attempting to fix their hair this afternoon.