Since January things have been really busy around here.  Busier than normal, even when normal means two parents that work and have two small kids.  Marty's been working a lot - almost every day, most evenings, and a lot of nights.  I think we've done pretty well.  The kids are growing and seem happy, we have clean underwear to wear each day, there's a good supply of food in the house, we've been able to have some fun and we're still married. 

Last week Marty was home several nights in the evening and worked only part of the weekend.  It was such a treat.  It almost felt like an at-home-vacation.  As we were preparing to start out a new week, Marty and I were both working on the laundry while the kids watched a movie.  He set up shop in our bedroom folding a load of clothes, I switched loads and folded another in the family room.  I came into the bedroom to put a few things away and noticed that something was wrong.  The TV was on, but I didn't see Scooby Doo or Tom & Jerry or Dora or Elmo.  It was regular TV.  TV for grown ups.  All at once I was jealous and pissed and kicking myself that I didn't think of claiming the bedroom first.

Now, I realize that I had an irrational moment.  I wasn't really angry that Marty had five minutes of time where he could enjoy adult things, I want that too.  But I also want to spend my non-work-laundry-errands-cooking time with the kids.  What I really need is to be able to stop time so I don't miss anything but still have time to get some stuff done.  Ideally whenever the kids are sleeping.  Moments after their eyes shut, I would freeze frame and make my way down a massive list:
- Finish removing the kitchen wallpaper, wash the walls and paint them.  I started this project months ago and haven't been able to finish it since.
- Paint the deck before it snows.
- Take the weeds out of the flower bed that I never got around to planting.
- Create a large painting for our living room from an idea I sketched out a year ago while I was walking Sophie in the middle of the night.  In the middle are Marty and I with the kids, my family on the left, Marty's on the right.  Like a family dinner portrait that could never happen.
- Finish projects that I started years ago including a large afghan (I don't even remember how to crochet anymore), printed ceramic tiles, and an embroidered sampler.
- Read the fat stack of magazines that have piled up on my desk.
- Unpack some boxes that are marked "Jennie's Important Stuff" from when we moved into this house two years ago.
- Take a long nap, shower, give myself a facial, paint my toes and whiten my teeth.

Then I would start time back up again.  What would you do?