UNRELENTING MONDAY

The morning greeted us early. If we could have had another three hours to sleep in, we would have felt much better. However, Monday arrived and we could not ignore it. I joined Cinnamon and Sage for a simple breakfast of Special K cereal. Polenta or oatmeal would have been a better option but at least it wasn't Fruit Loops or some other sugary cereal - ones I make a point of avoiding.

'Will you also have cream', asked Sage as I poured a splash of cream into his bowl of cereal with milk. 'No', I replied. I enjoyed the time we had to sit together for breakfast and would have preferred to take my time and sit at the table longer with them but their lunches needed to be made.

Four to five items are enough to get through lunch and snack time. The main item is a sandwich of some kind - naan bread or a flour tortilla with Parrano cheese for Cinnamon and either challah or seed bread with almond butter and honey for Sage. The second item is a piece of fruit - apples, oranges, bananas, berries. For the vegetable, I have only gotten my children to eat carrots so far. Then a snack - pecan crackers, pretzel sticks, rosemary crackers, or some other crackers. And finally a granola bar - usually peanut butter or pumpkin spice. One or two days of the week they get a special treat for dessert.

With the children in school, I readied myself for the gym but left later than usual. In retrospect, I should have stayed home and caught up on sleep which is something I intend to do tomorrow. The effects of the cedar pollen have been debilitating thus far this year but today seemed much worse than the previous week. I considered taking more allergy medicine until I came upon an article linking certain allergy medications to the development of dementia. I can hardly wait until a month from now when the pollen has subsided. March is time of year when I start feeling better.

After the gym , I made a quick stop at the local grocery store for three items. As soon as I walked into the store, I could not remember what they were. Pistachios were one of those items and something I keep telling myself I need to stop buying as I find myself eating far too many of them in one sitting. I eventually remembered the three items but ended up with a couple more in my cart.

Once home, I had a quick chat with my boyfriend who ended up having to go to work on his day off. We spoke later in the evening, but by then I was unable to focus on anything and simply wanted to get to bed and have this unrelenting Monday be finished.

The children returned home from school and wanted to read their new books. Cinnamon went downstairs to read on the daybed whilst I stayed upstairs with Sage as he read his elephant book. Both children finished reading their books but Cinnamon wanted another chapter book to read. I suggested she take her sister's fairy book - The Saffron Fairy, a book I got for her in Ireland on one of my trips. Sage returned to his Lego construction and I prepared a simple dinner of penne pasta with feta. Perhaps Tuesday will be better and more productive.