Does Anyone Else Find Patience More of a Challenge When Tired?

Yesterday was a crazy day but then ended well.  Just as soon as I finished blogging my laptop pooped out on me.  Everything went bad and even the mouse driver stopped working.  Instead of doing my chores I spent the entire day doing system scans and trying to figure out what happened.  Finally I just had to wait on it to get ready for company coming to my house.  Luckily my house is super easy to clean and it only took an hour to get everything back into shape and even the bathrooms sanitized.  (Boys can quickly unsanitize a bathroom.  Especially when five live in the house).

My friend and I wanted to make something super yummy so I made a Better Homes and Gardens meatloaf and she tried out a new recipe for making delicious mash potatoes.  Then I cooked some chopped onions in butter and added some green beens.  We made a ton of food.  About 6lbs of beef !  Wowee!  Don't be fooled by the picture.  It's taste so much better than I can take a picture of.  Alsooo, I ate way more than that.  Tee hee....  My husband woke up the next day and didn't want breakfast.  He wanted leftovers.  

I think my biggest struggle with patience is at night time when I'm super tired.  I LIKE to read books to my kids but often by the time I clean up the kitchen from dinner, get everyone's teeth brushed and ready for bed, I just want to collapse in my own.  Sometimes I just fight that feeling and read to them and other times I just say I can't.  Mommy needs some quiet time and I need it bad.  Just a half hour alone, even better an hour, makes me feel back together again and rested.  I feel so guilty though.  

I have to say that I give them my full attention all day long, even outside of homeschooling.  However, I feel guilty for just wanting that last hour of the day before I fall asleep to have it in quiet.  Maybe I just need to start laying them down earlier.  I think if I had them in school all day I would force myself to always have that time with them.  I checked on them 15 minutes later after I laid them down and was happy to see they were all quietly reading books.  After I knew they were settled I did scans on the computer that lasted all night long so it can be working again. Thank goodness!