This task shouldn't take longer than 5-10 minutes

It’s 6:30am. I have one task to accomplish. I need to meal plan for the week. It shouldn’t take longer than 5-10 minutes. 

     I sit down to meal plan when suddenly my one-year-old, Andrew, falls down and hits his head. I pick him up and comfort him, then put him in his high chair and ask my daughter, Lauren, to feed him. 

    I sit down again to meal plan, when my special needs son Samuel, comes up to me, having pooped in his diaper and needs to be cleaned up. After taking care of him and setting him on his way, I look over and Lauren has spilled the food I asked her to feed Andrew. I clean up the food, finish feeding Andrew, and get him down from his high chair. 

     I sit down again to meal plan, when my middle child, Jonathan, decides to make his own oatmeal. Andrew sees the opportunity he’s been waiting for, and sprints to the oatmeal container with a toddler speed reserved only for moments where he knows he is about to do something he shouldn’t, and is dumping a fistfuls of oatmeal on the floor. I go retrieve Andrew and clean up all the oatmeal. 

    I sit down again to meal plan, when the dogs begin doing their patented bathroom dance, a ritual that informs me I have moments to act before my entire house turns into “marked territory.” I let them out, then hear Jonathan ask me to cook the oatmeal he wanted to make “himself.” I cook the oatmeal, get him set to begin eating, and let the dogs back inside. 

     I sit down again to meal plan, when I hear a dish crash. I look over and discover that our puppy, like a circling shark, discovered some uneaten and unattended food on Samuel’s plate, and while I think he’s trying to eat it, it looks more like a modern artist trying to paint the floor with it. I take the puppy and put him in his kennel, then clean up the plate and the food. 

     I sit down again to meal plan, when suddenly Andrew falls down and hits his head…again… 

It’s now 7:45am. I have one task to accomplish. I need to meal plan for the week. It shouldn’t take longer than 5-10 minutes…

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