This morning’s coffee mug is one of two Valentine-themed cups I found last week in high cabinet and pulled out for use over the next couple of weeks. I have a tablecloth with hearts that I bought to use for Valentine’s, and a welcome sign for the front door with hearts on it, but the new tablecoth is still in the cabinet and the Christmas wreath is still hanging on the front door.

Because I’m tired.

I need 8 hours sleep to be a fully-functioning human, but I rarely get much more than 7, and sleeping in a little on the weekends (the bath lady comes at 9:30, on Saturdays) never quite catches me up. Mom’s alarm goes off at 6:30 every morning, and I’ve been setting mine for 6:00 so I can get finished with the dog circus and get her meds and coffee ready, just trying to be half a step ahead.

I used to get up when I heard her alarm, but now I have to already be in the front of the house to make sure she visits the bathroom and puts on new briefs before coming to the breakfast table. I can’t ask her for confirmation because she tells me she’s done it, whether she has or not. I never know if this is because all the bathroom visits from before have merged to create what seems like an always-recent memory, or if she’s just lying because she doesn’t want to delay getting her coffee and cookies. Could be either one. I can sometimes tell, but it’s just easier if I’m there to witness.

Mom goes to bed around 9 pm, and since I have to witness at least the beginning of her nighttime bathroom preparations to make sure she’s actually done them, I have to be nearby for that, too. If I forget, and she calls out that she’s ready for bed, I can never be sure that her “ready for bed” includes all the things that I think are required, but she feels are optional. What this also means is that I can never go to bed before she does, no matter how much I’d like to.

This week, I have done three loads of her laundry across the mornings, and her shirts and robes from the last load are still hanging in the laundry room. My personal laundry is two weeks behind.

And this is a jumbled mess of a blog post, but it’s all I’ve got for today. At least it’s almost the weekend, for what that’s worth.