While I was sleeping

If there’s one thing I can count on waking up to in the morning, it is evidence that my oldest was up and about last night after I had gone to bed. Jen is a night owl, but not only this, she gets a case of what I call the “midnight munchies.” She’s always hungry late at night. I’m fine with her eating at night – she is underweight so extra food in her stomach is okay by me! – but as much as I remind her to clean up after herself once she’s done going on another culinary experiment, she tends to forget. I have woken up to find a plate of cookies in one area of the kitchen and EVERYTHING used to make those cookies in the sink. (Well, at least they were in the sink, though she usually forgets to rinse out things.) Or sometimes I’ll find used dishes scattered around the house or areas of popcorn, sugar, cinnamon or stray pieces of cereal on the kitchen counter.

This kinda thing definitely happens when Jen has a friend spend the night at our house. I always wake up to discover that, yes, two teenagers were up and about after both Jesse and myself had gone to sleep!

I have a morning routine when I get up in the mornings. I start the coffee and turn on the TV to the news if it’s the weekday or cartoons if it’s a weekend. (Now that it’s summer vacation, though, I’ll be turning on the TV to the cartoons more often!) I wash my face, turn on the computer, tidy up around the house a bit, check my phone for messages (and delete the spam) and drink bottled water before having coffee. Well, part of the tidying up I did this morning included washing up some kind of brown powdery stuff on the counter in the kitchen. When I smelled it, I realized it was cinnamon. And since it was near the toaster, chances are good that Jennifer and the friend she had sleeping over last night had made themselves some cinnamon toast while the other two people in the house were asleep. (Anytime Jen has a friend sleeping over, they’re usually up until 2 or 3 in the morning.)

Granted, Jen should start cleaning up after herself when she’s making herself something to eat at night, but the truth is, I really don’t mind the clean-up. I am just glad she ate something! The messes she leaves behind are usually very small so that’s usually why I don’t say anything about it. She knows if she and/or her friends leave a disaster in their wake, they’ll hear about it from me! But it’s small stuff and I’m fine with taking care of it. Maybe one day she’ll remember to wash out a glass or wipe stuff up. I am just glad she and her friend could enjoy the task of making something together and having something to eat.

Meanwhile, I continue to wake up to little surprises in the house. At least they are not bad surprises. Sometimes, there’ll even be something for me to eat, too.