6:55 The alarm goes off, so I can stumble (literally stumble, I've been having a problem with dizziness, but the doctor thinks it is water in my ears) off to the downstairs couch to see Rose before she leaves for school.

7:10 Rose is very cheery and manages not to tell me any worries before she leaves.

7:30 I can't fall back asleep, so after checking my email and the news, I start reading the joyful deluge of facebook greetings. Some days I just love facebook.

8:00 I have oatmeal, mango, and blueberries for breakfast. I love the small yellow mangoes.

8:30 I tell David to get off the computer without a fight today. I also say that if he is not off in two minutes, he will not get t.v. this afternoon. He asks for a one minute warning, and at the two minute mark, he is off. This is unusual.

9:03 As I am trying to hustle David out the door, he decides it's the perfect time to show me the informative essay he wrote for school. I read it. And, am quite impressed. His spelling is pretty dismal, but his transitions are good, and I particularly like his conclusion.

9:07 We actually get out the door and head to my sister's late as usual. Normally, we walk from my sister's to school with her and my niece (a 7 year pattern that will change next year). She needs to drive, so they go off and I go home.

9:30 Zumba! I get a free class because it's my birthday. My knees and back are doing fine, but my ankles are bothering me. Zumba is not my favorite type of dancing, but I figure all dancing is good.

10:40 I rush around the house tidying for my students who are coming.

11:10 Two students very worried about their papers arrive. These are tutees. I'm not their teacher; I just help them meet their teacher's expectations, in this case organization. This meeting is supposed to be one hour.

1:30 It's early dismissal, and my students still have not left. I rush out of the house to get David from school. The students are going to follow me to school to get more help on the playground while I let David play. It's all a little nuts. Then another mom on the playground offers to take David and the other boy I'm covering for back to our house, so I can go back and tutor. I've helped her many times in the past, so this makes both of us feel good. But the whole still in one vibe while operating in another has me confused. It's hard to chat with my friends and accept birthday greetings when I have to rush back to tutoring.

3:30 They finally leave. It's nice to earn this much money, but oy. The truth is I have not been working much the last few months: 3-5 hours a week. This has left me time to write poetry, plan workshops for the summer, and follow up on lots and lots of details for the bat mitzvah.

3:40 David announces he's bored, and I say I'll play a game with him after I take a nap. He's not interested, so I do a yoga relaxation meditation and bask in my facebook greetings.

5:30 John has made my favorite dinner: Thai chicken and brownies. Mom joins us and I get lots of cool presents. Rose made me a little booklet with silly poems in it. I love that she can make fun herself.

7:30 Ploughshares is finally open for the summer, and I send in a batch. I've been doing a good job keeping on top of poetry submissions recently.

7:45 John and I decided the time had come. We introduced the kids to Star Trek. We started with the Trek classic. It's ponderous, mortifyingly sexist, and predictable. It's also funny, action packed, and addressing serious important issues of autonomy, power, and peace. We watched an episode with the kids tonight. Rose thinks Spock is the greatest. David gets very stressed out when they only have 10 minutes to live.

8:45 John does the dishes. Normally, I would do them because he cooked.

9:30 We've done David's last check. John and I watch the Ocean's Eleven commentary while he folds the laundry.