Re-entering the chaos

As I began typing my heading, the letter 'c' on my keyboard came loose, so I will have to avoid using it until I can find someone to put it back on for me. Except that I just fixed it myself. I am so self-reliant! They say necessity is the mother of invention, but I will add to that and say that it is also the mother-or close relative- of productivity.

I am going to tell you about my day. And any of you who know me will know that I spent nine truly fabulous (and hard and interesting and loving) months living with the Manzanos. And, if the choice were mine, I would have no qualms about coming back to live and work with them. I kind of look like them anyway, and I have no problems considering myself one of the family. So everything I am about to say is said out of the abundance of the love that I bear for them.

So, the Manzano patriarchs have flown the coop for the next ten days with one of their children, leaving the other eighteen or so to the tender mercies of Jen, Tani and myself. And Tani leaves on Sunday, as well. There is a sister graduating in Nevada, a brother graduating in Texas, and general birthdays to attend in California. So I have returned to my former life for the time being, cooking and cleaning and homeworking and making sure the kids don't kill each other. I also try to fit in a game or two of Scrabble.

Today was my first day back, and I am- who am well acquainted with Manzanos and the inner workings of this house- found, to my shock, that I have misplaced that easygoing grace that characterized my former time here! Let me explain.

I have signed up to make dinner tonight for a woman in the community who is expecting her eighth child (tomorrow), and that has been hanging over my head a bit today. I skipped working out this morning because sleep is just too sweet to pass up sometimes, and when I think of what today held for me, I consider it a wise move. At eleven I came over to the M's, and played some Scrabble whilst the kidlets who didn't have school today (the Mexican school system is a study in fickleness) made tortillas and lunch (which was mole, which was DELICIOUS). Then Karen came over, much to my delight, and entertained us with the story of how she went to pick up her son from the Catholic school today, and the boy had randomly decided to attend Mass at the church eight blocks away without notifying anyone(they're not Catholic, and when I consider the length of the Mass compared to the attention span of the boy-he's eight- I think he might have learned his lesson, or at least received a punishment worthy of the crime). Then Tani left to get the kiddies who WERE at school, and I watched the others trickle in from their respective schools (they attend several different ones, depending on their level of education, language, and ability). Chaos reigned. Then it was time for Homework. Do you realize, Reader, that I haven't done sixth grade math since, well, sixth grade? And do you also realize that the teachers hadn't actually explained how to solve the problems to the child? Karen, still waiting for her spiritually-minded son to make an appearance, undertook to help Luis with his math, God bless her, while I observed and made an occasional helpful comment.

Then Tani took the older kids to play soccer and I took the younger ones to the kitchen, to clean. That was two and a half hours ago. I think Luis and Elvira just finished washing the dishes. They were in a 'resturaunt' and they were putting on a show for Maribel, whose attitude had caused her to be relagated to her bed. Also, Yadira had to go to a friends house for a school project, and Lydia hadn't actually put the bag of flour in the cupboard. Or on it. Or even near it. And I didn't have enough spaghetti sauce for the spaghetti for the family that is expecting the baby, so I opened lots of random unmarked cans (go donations!) that happened to be enchilada sauce, and some tomato paste, and mixed it together with sugar and various spices until it tasted something slightly resembling spaghetti sauce, all the while voicing 'encouragement' over my shoulder to the two unfortunates (see above) who had been put to doing the dishes.

Thus ends Act II of Day I. Once the kids return from soccer, we will begin Act III, which invoves dinner and church and cleanup and bedtime.

And you have to believe me when I say that I love this chaos. I just need to remember how much fun it is. And I think most people will agree with me who have experienced it. I also need to start wearing an apron, because I think I irrevocably stained my shirt with tomato sauce and that black stuff that the fire makes on the bottom of the pans.*

While it's quiet, I am taking the chance to tell you all about my adventures, and the crazy, lovely disorder that reigns supreme and makes being here just that much greater.

* A funny side note to this: I had taken off my top shirt in order to salvage it from other unbecoming stains (I had a fairly decent undershirt on, of the spaghetti-strap variety), because I couldn't find an available apron when who should walk in the door but my friend Kim and two STRANGE MEN (of the Mexican pastor variety), to observe me in all my glory! There was nothing to do for it but pretend that I wasn't in an awkward state of near-undress, shake their hands and ignore them till Kim took them away.