agony

 I had quite a productive day at work today, so I thought I'd share it.

As some of you know, I work at a daycare centre.  I get to work at 7:30; this morning, from 7:30 to 8 I stayed in the main room with kids of all ages, as they started to arrive for the day. At 8 I took my 6 school age kids outside to play in the playground until school starts.  We're pretty far north here - at 8 am the sun is just rising.   It's still winter, too, but not too cold - there was frost on the playgorund equipment, so pretty slippery.

At 8:30 I sent those kids off to school and came back in to prepare morning snack for the daycare.  I cut up fresh fruit (kiwi, apples, pears, bananas and honeydew melon) and sent it, with milk, out into the rooms, emptied the dishwasher of yesterday afternoon's snack dishes, and started a pot of chicken broth with the carcasses of yesterday's roast chicken lunch.  While the kids were eating, I sent the kindergarteners off to school, and took one girl down to the other end of the school where we are located, for her prekindergarten class. 

By the time I got back, it was about ten after 9 - from then until 11 o'clock I:

cleaned up from morning snack
baked a double batch of blueberry muffins
baked a triple batch of bannock (this is native bread - kind of like a plain scone. I bake them in circles about 6 - 8 inches across and then cut them in wedges to serve)
cooked the four pounds of sausage for today's lunch
made a giant pot of chicken broth, then strained and cooled it
cooked a pot of spagetti noodles for the toddlers' afternoon craft
set up the trays with dishes for lunch
cut up oranges to go with lunch - for the toddlers and babies this means peeling them, removing all pith and some of the membrane, and dicing. For the older kids, they just needed to be sliced.
kept up with all the cooking and baking dishes
cut up the sausages for lunch - for the toddlers and babies, they must be sliced in quarters lengthwise, then chopped; for the others, sliced in half and then chopped.

From 11 until 11:30.when lunch is served, I scrambled four dozen eggs, and toasted two and a half loaves of bread, and kept it all warm until the kids were ready to eat.  The eggs need to be done in batches, as I only have the one biggish frying pan.  And only one 4 slice toaster - my kitchen is badly wired, and if I use more than one toaster I blow a breaker.

As the kids finished eating, I put the muffins away for tomorrow's morning snack, and cut up bannock for this afternoon.

Got the dishes into the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, took out the garbage, finished washing the dishes that wouldn't fit in the washer, set up trays for afternoon snack, swept and washed the kitchen floor, and out the door by 12:45.  I've only got a normal household electric range with oven for cooking on, and a small household dishwasher, so I've got to be well organized.

This is a pretty standard day for me, with maybe a few more items than usual.  I was happy with myself though - sometimes with eggs for lunch I am scrambling in more ways than one by about 11:20.  Today everything went very smoothly; I had time to play with the babies during the morning.

Tomorrow that broth becomes chicken noodle soup with vegetables, and I'll bake about eight dozen chocolate chip cookies.  Also have to make some kind of bread to serve with lunch, as my freezer is empty - probably hot buttermilk biscuits.