a day in the life of a metalsmith with a new teenager and a whole bunch of dogs

Life has been a bit of a whirlwind since the teenager came to stay.  The other night at book club (aka wonderful group of women who help me keep my head on straight) one of my dear friends looked right into my eyes and said "how are you doing?".  Her eyes said more than her words.  I thought about it for a sec and I said, "ok.  I'm really ok."  When life is careening every which way it's hard to find time to wallow.

The average day goes something like this:

Get up, begrudgingly.  Try to keep one eye open enough to see the kettle so that coffee will save me soon.

Let dogs in and out and in and out and in and out ad nauseam.

Give out a plethora of dog meds to various aged dogs.  Seriously, Pasqual alone gets 16 pills in the morning!!

Make lunch for the teenager (anyone got any ideas for creative lunches that don't have to be heated up?  Poor kid has to be sick of pb&j, salad, and turkey sammies.)

Get dressed.  I use the term dressed loosely.

Deliver a cup of milk with a splash of coffee to the teenager.

Wrangle dogs into place for my 12 minute absence while I drive the teenager to school.

Come home, let dogs in and out and in and out and in and out because since my dogs can't tell time they are all pretty sure that I've been gone all the live long day instead of 12 exact minutes.

Plop down on the couch with a heating pad (for my wretched back) and the iPad and commence to answering work correspondence.

Head into the studio, crank up the pickle pot, turn on the gas, pop in the days dvd selection (100% guaranteed to be Magnum pi, Perry Mason, or Supernatural), wake up the computer, survey the clipboard of orders, and dive in head first!

Work for several hours in my typical skittery fashion, unable to stick to a task from start to finish.

Short heating pad break mid afternoon and another round of correspondence, blog, and the Mg social medias.

More work.  Happily.

Depending on the day there may be a trip to the vet or the veterinary acupuncturist right about here.

Wrangle dogs again.

Pick up the teenager.  Hear about her day, chat about boys and homework and tests and teachers and how freakin' complicated high school is now-a-days!

Home, feed dogs and another round of dog meds.

Scramble around for dinner ideas.

Make dinner.

And either collapse in front of the tv or maybe play a little Wii fit (teenager's idea and I secretly love it!)

Dogs in and out some more....I write this down in the chronology as if it only happens in these time slots when in fact it is happening constantly all day, every hour, every minute, every second.  (I might be exaggerating, but only slightly!)

And bed time.

It's not terribly exciting or terribly difficult...in fact it's probably down right normal...but lots of it is new to us.  And the thing is, it's nice.  And being busy really is good in stressful times, there just isn't too much time to think and get all worked up...especially when there is nothing you can do to change the situation.

So there you have it, a day in the life of a metalsmith with a new teenager and a whole bunch of dogs...and one cat.