Tuesday again

If you're a stay-at-home mom, like I am, you've probably heard something like this before -- "I wish I could stay at home and watch TV all day like you do!  Seriously, what do you do all day?"
So today I was thinking, "What DO I do all day?"  By the time I fall in to bed each night, I really can't seem to think of a thing I actually have to show for my day!  SO, today I thought I'd try to keep track and see what I came up with...

5:30 am Wake up because the baby is NOT crying.  Check to see if she's still alive.  She is, but I can't get back to sleep.  Why do Daddies never have this problem?
6:30 am A cup of coffee and a long quiet time with my Savior leaves me feeling refreshed and strengthened, ready for anything.  A shower with no children in the bathroom is wonderful too.  It's going to be a great day!
7:15 am Send Steve off to work with a nice lunch and a good breakfast.  Feeling great!
7:20 am Hear noises from the girl's room and go to get them up.  They both have had diarrhea and need baths and all their bedding washed.  While I'm working on that, JL trys to pour himself juice and spills it all over the kitchen, then lets the cat in, who walks through the puddle and tracks it around.  My "mother's helper" is going to be here in just a little more than an hour and I still am not dressed and no one has had breakfast.  I want to go back to bed already!
8:55 am My "mother's helper" arrives. I have everyone in the kitchen eating oatmeal, the messes all cleaned up, laundry started, animals fed, house tidy and I'm dressed.  The baby's still just wearing a diaper, but all in all, not bad. 
9:15 am Send the kids outside to play with my sweet "helper", nurse the baby again, and tuck her in for a nap. Make myself another cup of coffee.  Sure would be nice to have a french press that could make more than one cup at a time.  But then I'd probably drink too much coffee.
9:43 am Pull out my sewing things and try to decide what to do with my morning.  There is a pile of mending, which is necessary but a tedious use of my precious 3 hours!  Or I could start that new project I've been so excited about...  I decide to do the mending quickly and then have more room for a new project.  (My "craft room" consists of a dresser in JL's room, a large tray-style basket, and my kitchen table.)
11:12 am The mending took longer than I wanted it to, but I feel very virtuous.  Decide there is plenty of time to be starting something new before lunch.  (Yes, everything has to be cleared off the table before the kids can eat.)  Pull out my new project.
11:17 am Wonder about that awful smell coming from the bags of potatoes Steve dug a few weeks ago.  Investigate and find that in one bag one has gone bad and is rotting all over the ones around it, inciting more rotting in its neighbors.   Sort them all out, putting the good ones in a new bag, the sketchy ones in the sink, and the rotting ones in the compost.
11:40 am Get a call from my mother with some terrible news about a good family friend.  Spend some time crying and praying. My mother's helper's mother comes to pick her up and prays with me.   Baby wakes up.  Mop up, put away the sewing, and get the kids lunch.
12:30 pm Change more diapers.  Put A down for a nap and let J play on the kitchen floor naked to dry out her awful diaper rash.
12:55 pm Work on catechism and a reading lesson with JL.  He read "This cat is sick.  This cat is sad." all by himself today!  We're interrupted when the baby has diarrhea again, all over the kitchen floor.  Clean up again.
1:46 pm Everyone is quiet. A is still sleeping, J and JL are "building a train" in JL's room.  (J is wearing a diaper again!)  Decide to pull my project back out and try again.
2:50 pm Am really getting interested in my project when the baby crawls into the mudroom and starts to eat dog food. Get her and realize that it's almost 3! Where has the time gone? And why did J never go down for her afternoon nap! Too late now.
Get all the sketchy potatoes cleaned and peeled and some ready for dinner. The rest I put in my biggest pot to make a huge batch of potato soup for the freezer.
3:20 pm Realize that A is still sleeping. Briefly consider waking her so she'll go to bed well tonight. Laugh at myself for such a ridiculous idea as disturbing a perfectly peaceful moment. Instead, leave JL to entertain the baby and go out to pick beans for dinner.
3:55 pm Come back in to find that A is awake and screeching because JL locked her in. J has rolled under the couch and is crying. JL is nowhere to be found. After the girls are calmed down, JL is found outside riding his “motorcycle”. He was coming to get me and got distracted. Another round of clean diapers.
4:15 pm Start dinner and snap the beans, along with my two “helpers”. JL is actually getting to be fairly useful. A... not so much. I give her her own bowl so that I can go over all her beans and pull out the stems later.
4:45 pm Have everything on for dinner. Go outside to bring in the girl's clean bedding from the line. JL comes after me carrying the baby. Rescue the baby. Go back inside and work on getting the house tidy before Steve gets home. J is complaining loudly about her lack of an afternoon nap. Blanch and freeze the rest of the beans one handed. Finish dinner one handed.
5:30 pm Dinner. More or less. In between feeding the baby, picking up dropped forks, cutting meat, mopping up spilled water, and telling JL to eat.
6:25 pm Start cleaning up while Steve gets the girls ready for bed. JL is still staring at his dinner, but not really eating it.
6:45 pm Cuddle with A and then nurse the baby while Steve reads stories and says prayers. 
7:00 pm Back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up, finish the potato soup and freeze it, water my plants and the garden (and halfheartedly pull a few weeds while I'm setting up the sprinkler), and carry the scraps to the chickens.
8:10pm Snuggle with JL for a “few minutes” after his Daddy tucks him in.
8:20 pm The house is so quiet! Work on some stuff for the church nursery and our Bible study group. Order more diaper liners from Amazon, but get distracted picking out the french press I want for Christmas. Talk to Steve about plans for the fall.
9:45 pm Look back over my notes of what I did today. Think about going to bed early, but instead waste an hour here.

So what did I do today?  I'd have to say I'm still really not sure!