Most of the time, when I talk to moms with fewer than five kids, they follow up their stories of feeling overwhelmed with a statement like, “and I only have two children.”
I’ve never felt, though, like five kids gives me a corner on the overwhelmedness market. (For those of you who think I made that word up, I did. It’s pronounced overwhelm-ed-ness.)
My hand to God, I was overwhelmed when we had one child. I was overwhelmed when we had three. And I’m overwhelmed now.
Here’s a universal truth: any number of children is overwhelming. (Well, unless your names are Dave and Judy and you had my husband, Greg, as your first child. Then you weren’t overwhelmed because he was easy-peasy. But you were a touch overconfident about how good you were at raising him. So God gave you Jeff. And then you weren’t quite so self-congratulatory. Let that be a lesson to any of you who’re currently thinking that parenting is cake. God will get you.)
As I was saying, any number of children is overwhelming.
If you couple children with Things You Have To Do, then you’re sunk. Overwhelming is knocking on your door, and, frankly, he’s not waiting for you to answer; he’s kicking it down. The good news is, you can laugh in Overwhelming’s face.
In the span of 4 hours on Saturday morning, Greg and I took 3 kids to Nutcracker rehearsal, 2 kids to Christmas program rehearsal, 3 kids to a Christmas open house, 2 kids to a birthday party, and brought 3 extra kids home for a playdate. That’s, like, 13 kids, and I only have 5 so I’m not totally sure how we accomplished that. I’m almost positive some of the kids overlapped in there, but don’t make me tell you who or when, OK?
That’s my overwhelmedness story from this weekend.
I thought it would be fun if we played a game on this blog. I haven’t done this before, and it could be a total flop, but bear with me. (I almost typed “bare with me.” That would’ve been embarrassing.)
My friend Sally mentioned recently that she likes my blog. Well, I like Sally! But she also said I don’t post often. That’s true. I’d like to fix that, and I’d also thoroughly enjoy interacting more with you, my seven readers.
A contest of sorts is the perfect solution, yes? Yes!
Today, we’re going to play “I’m more overwhelmed than you are.” All participants are welcome. Please do not think you need to have 5 or more children to play. You simply have to feel as though overwhelmedness is part and parcel with your life and to have the desire to laugh in its face.
As you may or may not know, I cleaned out my purse recently. I emerged a wealthier woman, having found several gift cards with balances still on them. Prizes!
You’re playing for coffee. I feel like that’s appropriate since caffeine is one of only five known antidotes for overwhelmedness. (I made that up, too. There probably aren’t four other antidotes.)
Anyway, you’re playing for coffee. That’s right, coffee! And not just for the Starbucks gift card I found that has $1.55 left on it. Oh no. You’re playing for the $20.00 Starbucks gift card I found AND for the $1.55 gift card. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, that’s $21.55 in Starbucks coffee just in time to use them as Christmas gifts.
This contest will be judged by my fabulous sister-in-law, Kim, and by my friend, Sally… the one who likes my blog… if they’ll have me. As two of my seven readers, I feel it’s important to include them. I didn’t actually ask them to be judges, and I don’t have any idea what criteria they’ll use. That just makes this all the more fun for me!
The winner will be selected from comments to this post and announced on this blog no later than Monday. Comments submission deadline is this Saturday.
Good luck!
51 responses to “Contest Time!”
[…] Five Kids Is A Lot Of Kids « Contest Time! […]
I’m feeling a little overwhelmed lately.
This week for instance, I’m trying to accomplish the following:
Prep myself and my office for commencement this Saturday. This involves about three straight days of list making, massaging data, a meeting with the President & Provost, lots of communication with staff, and then several hours of herding cats on Saturday.
Do the rest of my job that doesn’t go away during commencement week.
Prep myself to perform the Messiah with the Portland Symphonic choir and the Oregon Symphony this Saturday and Sunday. This involves rehearsals in Portland on Monday night, Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday morning, (commencement Saturday afternoon), and concerts on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Prep myself to do both my job and my bosses job starting January 1.
Prep my resume for immediate submission to HR because I’m applying for my bosses job now that he’s leaving.
Be a good mom to my 20 month-old who is currently in a Mommy phase, which includes lots of cuddling and some middle-of-the-night ministrations, but also quite a bit of hitting, scratching, pinching, and several attempts to physically remove my moles and my nipples.
Support my husband in being a good dad while I’m gone almost all of the time.
Be a good wife to my husband when I’m gone almost all the time.
Help prep the house for hosting my family for Christmas.
Help purchase, wrap, and ship the Christmas gifts being sent to Michigan.
Stuff and mail my 150 Christmas cards. No letter. No hand-written note. No offense.
Knit my daughter a Christmas stocking.
Did I mention I’m pregnant? So I’m trying to stay pregnant, deal with ferocious hunger and constant nausea, and keep my daughter from removing my nipples. OUCH!!
So now I have to prep my office for my extended maternity leave when I’ll either be the new boss, or I’ll be in my current position training the new boss. So one of the two people in charge will be new, and the other one will be gone for 5 months.
See my therapist.
Clean the kitchen every night after my fabulous husband has made us dinner and my adorable daughter has strewn the majority of that dinner on the floor.
Monitor same adorable daughter while she “helps” Mommy in the kitchen. This involves hurriedly moving the knives and glass objects away from her because I keep forgetting she can move Mommy’s chair to the sink and climb up onto the chair all by herself.
Do laundry. This is especially important this week because, like most subsequent pregnancies, I’m finding my belly is pouching immediately. Couple that with weighing 15 pounds more than I did when I got pregnant the first time, and my wardrobe options are already getting limited. I busted the maternity clothes out of their boxes last night so they’re now in the laundry queue as well.
Shower. This is an unfortunately low priority. My hair, which has not been cut since August (hello strung-out over-scheduled frantic suburban mom) is dirty and lank today, and I may not shower tonight. And who am I kidding, I don’t take showers, I take baths with my daughter. Protect those moles and nipples!
Make sure my daughter’s outfit and hair are cute every day. I’m becoming one of those sad women on What Not to Wear who, through her pathetic tears, says, “Well, I’m a mom and I’ve just always put my kids first and never made myself a priority.” Who cares if I have clean hair or clean clothes that fit if my kid looks cute?
Exercise. Oh sweet Lord.
And now that I’m pregnant, 2 of the 6 overwhelm-ed-ness (exactly how I heard it in my head, Beth) coping mechanisms are no longer in my tool box. No coffee and no alcohol for me. (Ok, who am I kidding, less coffee and less alcohol for me.) And 2 more are made more complicated – sleep (thanks bladder and aching hips) and exercise (ok, this is just an easy excuse to not do something I already don’t do, much to the detriment of my mood.)
So now that I have this list in writing before me my heart is racing… How am I going to do it all? I don’t know, but I will. It’s time to go home and see my wonderful family. No rehearsal tonight!
Missalinda, you had me at nipples.
Okay – I *was* gonna give this a shot. But first I realized that I’m related to one of the judges and unknown to the other so I figured the deck was loaded against me. Then I read the “fine print”: “Employees, shareholders, and immediately family members of Five Kids is a Lot of Kids, and/or putdowntheurinalcake, (including their suppliers, vendors, and sub-contractors) are prohibited from contest entry.” If I *had* entered my entry was going to be, “Beth is my daughter, Kim is my daughter-in-law, and Sandy is my wife. The End.” Oh well – Dave is disqualified too. (I’ll buy him coffee as a consolation prize.)
Old Marine, how embarrassing! You posted on the wrong blog… this is clearly an entry for “Most Blessed Man Ever” contest. We won’t hold it against you, being the amazingly gracious women that we are. 🙂
What Kim said. You should be counting your blessings, Old Marine.
Ok here it goes. I am a mom of 3 kids 9,4,2 and a full time working mom about to starting school in Jan. and my hubby is sick with a tummy bug so i am cleaning up after him and I am assistant director for the children’s choir at my church and our program is this sunday along with the adult choir program this sunday night which I am on the worship team and a soloist for this program also. I am dealing with my mom and her health cause she just found out she is having seziures and having trouble speaking with the seziures. I have babysitter drama along with trying to figure if I want to become a stay at mom and go to school full time.. Our water heater went out and flooded 50% of our house so almost all our floors were damaged so we are living on subfloors til my hubby can find more time to put in the new floors so kid’s bedroom stuff is in our living room and our living room stuff is in our kitchen so cooking dinner has been a challenge. I love Christmas time and love to put up our tree early so we hadn’t been able to put it up this year cause of the water drama so we have a small one on a little table in the living room.
I have no idea where we will put the kids presents. I am just so overwhelmed that I am turning to my favorite thing in the world FOOD…
So I guess I will be gaining the 25 pounds I have lost the last couple of months. Oh Merry Christmas to me… But it could be worse and I am blessed to have a great family and get to celebrate our Savior’s birth this year… Merry Christmas to everyone.. Good luck everyone…
Food. Yes.
I know – I could reply about sick husbands, church drama (and I don’t just mean the intentional ones), sitters, epic decisions like working vs. staying home and working harder, floods, and more.
But food. Yes. My husand keeps saying silly things to offers of cookies like “no thanks, I’m not hungry.” Not sure what hungry has to do with it.
Sincerely… sorry to hear about your mom. And the rest. But especially your mom.
I’m almost too pooped to spell out all the ways I feel overwhelmed. I have two children, 3 and 1. It’s Christmas, and I had the brilliant idea to make handmade gifts for everyone on my list this year (insert a V-8 style head smack **here**). Husband got a memo from work last week mandating 10-hour work days during the week plus 4 hours on Saturdays, so adding in his commute time, he’s gone about 13 hours per day. My brother and father decided to come for Christmas this year, and talked with each other to arrange travel schedules. They decided having Christmas on December 16th would be more convenient this year, so that’s what they planned. They let me know this on Monday, Dec. 13. Lovely! My in-laws are crazy, my mother is a nut case, and they’ll all be at my house on the happy holiday. Is it January yet???
My life gets stressful when I try and be the stay-at-home Mom I want to be all the while balancing working and being away from home 🙁
Thanks!
I have no chance of winning this contest, but that’s no reason not to enter.
While I could argue that it started when Leigh was born, I’m going to start last spring. I’m already a member of the vestry at my church. We’re still attending our Portland church, which means a 52 mile round trip every Sunday. It was in April that the pastor asked me to run the fall pledge drive. I figured I could handle it. I got it underway, then my principal told me that I was switching grades, switching classrooms, and teaching science, a subject that is not my area of expertise and which I haven’t taught in half a dozen years. This is in the middle of the most grueling, pointless, and confusing new “assessment” program that a useless school district administration ever imposed on their faculty. It took me a huge amount of work last year to figure out how it worked in social studies, but that’s all for naught now. Oh, also, I won’t be just teaching science–I’ll also be teaching an extra subject.
Then the fall: I get back to work and find they’ve changed some of the learning targets without telling anyone–the work I’ve done over the summer is useless. It is also a very busy season for Melissa at Fox because there are rumors her boss is going to leave and she will be interim registrar. She also has the busiest Portland Symphonic Choir Season fall season ever: a concert in September, 2 concerts in December. All these concerts involve 4 to 5 extra evening rehearsals the week before and 2 performances. Lot’s of time time for me to be home with Leigh. Great girl, but she’s turning into a temperamental toddler. LOTS of time at home… Of course, with teaching a new subject and having to grade them in this weird new way, I have plenty of work to drag home. Not to mention that fall pledge drive which means plenty of extra work, some extra 52 mile round trips to church, sometimes even attending all three services on a Sunday.
The end is finally in sight–sort of. Leigh has started waking up crying in the middle of the night after 19 months of being a championship sleeper (unlike Daddy the insomniac). Melissa will be starting the interim job in the new year and will be interviewing for the job. And we’ve got another baby on the way. We’re very excited, but there was a moment when Melissa looked me in the eye and said “You realize that by all accounts, the first few years after the new baby is born will be hell, don’t you?”
Yes, I know. If life ever gets consistently easy, will we just drop dead?
I have way too many kids to count, however I currently don’t live with any of them (I know how weird that sounds for those that don’t know me, but I promise its not). With so many kids all over Oregon and a few in Califonia and Texas spanning from 3 months to 18 years I feel like I can toss my overwhelmedness in the mix.
Last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I worked from 7:30am until about 8:30pm helping and supporting high schoolers all day! Friday I left right after school only because I needed to travel 2 1/2 hours to deliver a stocking I had hand knit that week to support a fundraiser that my mentee (I am her mentor) put on. The next day after doing some shopping to get Christmas gifts for the children of my students I had to drive back home. Why such the quick trip you may ask, because I am a chaperon for one of my students in the Distinguished Young Women program (formally known as Junior Miss). Our first rehearsal was Sunday and we will continue to have rehearsals every Sunday from January through mid-April.
I have 7 preps (which means I teach 7 different classes every day) plus give extra help after school, am often hold detention, and am the hangout for the boys basketball players until they start practice at 5. I am the Junior class adviser which means we are in charge of prom this year. At my school, this means we also have to fund raise for it. I am also the National Honor Society adviser and we are currently in the middle of a canned food drive for the holidays. This summer I am taking 10 of my kids to Washington DC and NYC so we are trying to raise as much of the cost as possible. So let me know if you are wanting to give kids money and I can make it happen.
After last summer I volunteered to be the recreation leader at camp for this next year. This means time planning and meeting (which I just realized completely conflicts with my chaperoning duties!) with people hours away from me. I also feel the need to knit for all the new babies in my life which means I always have at least one project going.
Ok, I think I am done because I think I am feeling more overwhelmed as I type about my overwhelmedness 🙂
Not sure I can truly compete, but I’ll try! Because overwhelmedness is definitely my present state of mind.
I have three kids at home: 5 1/2, 3 1/2 and 1 1/2. The oldest is technically being homeschooled though we’re keeping things very loose. The youngest still nurses on demand…DEMAND being the key word. He thinks all chairs and the floor are appropriate place to need a snack.
I have never-ending drama with my camera and the lenses I buy for it, and problems that really shouldn’t occur but do. Since I’m attempting to start an etsy store with my pictures, the fact that the camera may or may not work as planned is highly stressful.
Then add Christmas into the mix…
And winter hitting hard. I’ve always lived in snowy WNY but have never adjusted to the winters.
We got home from a lovely 2-week trip to Disney World (paid for by my saintly mother-in-law) to see a mouse run across our floor. Five trapped mice later, I’m hoping we’re done.
I’ve had a cough that keeps me up for 1-3 hours a night for a week.
Usually when the cough subsides, baby boy comes back to my room to have me pat him back to sleep. And only I am acceptable (loved that in your post. Ditto, ditto, ditto.)
My 5-year old daughter just lost a tooth but I think a piece of it stayed put. I am having this constant internal battle about whether or not to call the dentist or wait until the end of the month to get it looked at (it and its neighbor got jarred loose hitting the lid of a blanket chest). It was a baby tooth or it wouldn’t even be a question.
My family (the one I was born into) always sings a song in church on Christmas Eve. This year my mom has chosen an old, obscure one with bizarre accents in the words and a melody that I’m having a hard time keeping straight (“The Salutation Carol,” in case you’re curious). We’re all musicians but this is a challenge!
I’ve been acting like I’m ADHD for the past several weeks. Starting to do one thing and then, ooh! squirrel!
Charlene, I think you just might be in the running for the coffee! LOL Love the ooh! squirrel! reference, I must use that one 😀 Simon also lost a 1/2 tooth. Should I be worried? I wasn’t, but now…:P
I really don’t know. I’ll tell you on the 29th when the kids all see the dentist!! 😉
I love my children. They are two of the most spirited kids God ever made. They totally overwhelm me. Tomorrow I will take both of them to the ENT.alone. One has an infection in the tube in his ear. You know the one that is supposed to prevent infections? That one.
The other has some strange ear piercing infection so rare that the seasoned (ie. old) pediatrician said, ” That is unusual. Call the ENT and have her seen right away”
She has to have the infection drained. Lovely.
With my move to Alaska this week I am too I overwhelmed to post.
Jeff in training
I packed up entire house myself
Jeff skipping Spencer’s 1st grade holiday program to load the uhaul
I am actually posting while at that program
All belongings leave Wednesday
We fly to Anchorage on Monday
I’ve yelled at Spencer a lot because I am too stressed to pay any attention to him – hope he is not permanently damaged.
Christmas is nearly here and I have yet to do thing one to get ready. My do list includes learning how to make a photo book on Shutterfly, and so far my three attempts have ended in pulled-out hair in File 13 along with all my effort. Why is that so hard? I have a new camera, which would be a good thing if it came with brain-programmable instructions. I have no children living in my house, but that cute little dog manages to drag in enough dirt from the backyard to change the pattern of our floor covering.
Are you feeling my pain yet? This reminds me of the contest on the movie “Notting Hill,” where everyone around the table has to tell their biggest life-sucks story to win the last brownie, and Julie Roberts, who plays a super star in the movie, has to work really hard at sounding pathetic.
Thank goodnessl life comes in one-day packages; otherwise, I’m sure I would have to fall in the overwhelm-ed-ness category. Since I’m “old,” I’ve learned how to simplify the not-so-important things and give my whole heart to the oh-so-important things.
No winner here, but happy to add my two-cents to your contest. Keep on blogging!
Ladies and gentlemen, you are cracking me up.
Thank you for sharing – this is SO good for my soul.
Kristen! So great to hear from you! Emailing you shortly.
Dave, I never realized how overwhelming it is to work right next to the Coffee Cottage. See how valuable this is?? Here I was thinking that’s a good thing. 🙂
Oh, Jeffy, I think I may have to repost your reply as its own entry. That was practically a public service announcement.
Sanna, Janell and Andrea – this blog needs people like you. Thank goodness for supportive and overwhelmed moms that make me feel human and as though spilling my guts is moderately entertaining. I promise to keep my life as chaotic as possible so I can continue to provide encouragement.
Your blog entries have made me laugh out loud…I really needed that! “I’m washing my HAY-er LOL!!!!!!
Why am I overwhelmed? I have three children, need I say more? I’ve read a couple of the other entries and decided that I’ll just stick to believing I’m the busiest Mom in the world, even though I know I truthfully am NOT!
Please keep blogging, I need chuckles like this every day!
we have 3 boys; ages 3, 2, and 6 months…doesn’t that sound overwhelming? our family is moving from idaho to oregon the 1st week of january. we have 3 boxes packed so far. still trying to solidify job and housing. we’re excited to be in newberg though!
I stated to write a dissertation on the subject, but I figured I would let my blog audience in on my morning “routine”. I’ve posted my entry on my blog!! http://kelleighratzlaff.com/life/overwhelmed-contest/
Love it! Great idea, and great post!
[…] she is having a little contest on her blog because she just cleaned out her purse and found some Starbucks gift cards. I thought […]
Well, I was going to compete until I read the other entries…I am no longer overwhelmed. My life is quite tame and I will now stop whining in my head about my overwhelmedness (totally LOVE that word!). Love your blog posts as I always laugh out loud! The first one I read was about your son and his unfortunate pajama zipper incident. With two boys, it struck a cord! Happy competing, moms! I take my hat off to you all! 🙂
Awesome contest! I would share my overwhelmedness story, but I’m too overwhelmed to take the time! Ha! Does that count? 🙂
Beth! I hope you remember me…Kristen Dalton, now Peirce. Kristi just shared your blog address with me. Sooooo fun to read about you and your family! I love “hearing” your sense of humor come out – you sound just exactly the same as you did 17 years ago! 🙂
1. I have a hair appointment tomorrow (to stroke my vanity) which I made early in the morning so Jason could stay home with the kids. My hairplace just down the road from my house – nice.and.close. Come to find out, Jason has early morning “server stuff”, i.e. actually has to be at work rather than have his work schedule conform to his life priorities, i.e. me. I have secured childcare, but carless childcare. I now get to get my children fed, dressed, ready for the day, loaded in the car, and in Newberg so I can get back to my appointment at 8:30am. All so I can not look like a strung-out over-scheduled frantic suburban mom.
B. My parents are moving. In January. Therefore, Christmas will be at my house. Which sounded delightful at the time – woo hoo for not packing! But oh: five adults, three kids ages 6 and under, and 1400 sq. ft. Correction: five INTROVERTED adults, one introverted middle child, and two extroverted children, one with a fairly “directive” nature, particularly in regards to his uncle, who is used to living in his Fortress of Solitude. They are staying at a hotel from Wed-Sun, but still: that’s a WHOLE lot of personality under one roof. And Christmas: presents, food, sugar-powered kids with Schwanz energy and Gerick emotional-prowess.
III. And then I have five days of turn-around (which is more than Twin Rocks generally gets, but I don’t have a Mary Kyle on my staff) to prepare/repair for a Schwanzi visit. Jason’s folks fly in on the 30th, his sister and family on the 4th. Our tree has to last until January 6th when we will do either late Christmas 2010, or maybe we can just make it really-early Christmas 2011 – totally on top of our game! I got an email three weeks ago about what Jason’s nephew can and cannot consume (this is how organized and forward-thinking my in-laws are) – he is a three year old diabetic. Jason’s parents are lactose-intolerant, and my house subsists on dairy-laden carbs. This will be three introverted adults, three extroverted adults (two being women. in my kitchen. being “helpful”), and five children ages 6 and under in my 1400 sq. ft. house.
5-1. And during the Gerick round of Christmas, I need to come up with six months of kindergarten homeschooling curriculum for Judah, letters to send stating we will no longer be using the local public school, and a non-emotional logical dissertation-style defense to deliver to the in-laws while corralling my toddler-aged inner self from using phrases like “my kid” and “don’t care” and “thbbth” with a swift kick to the shins (and begin to believe I actually *can* do this). You know, there’s nothing like starting something completely new during the holiday season: summer-planning, schmummer-planning.
five. Josephine’s gums show a molar popping through. She only has her front four teeth – two on top, two on bottom. This, combined with her being a mama’s girl – something my side of the family does NOT birth, just makes me wonder about the entire nature of this girl and what the future holds, and that’s enough overwhelmedness to power this melancholy through for a couple of years. 🙂
My non-toddler self is feeling the need to clarify: my in-laws are nothing but supportive and loving towards our family. We just speak in different languages, and mine happens to have matured to about age 4. 🙂
Oh, AJ, how I love thee. If only I had time to count the ways.
For now, here’s two:
1. “All so I can not look like a strung-out over-scheduled frantic suburban mom.” Yes. Just… yes.
2. (or, in AJ-speak, b.) the calculation of numbers of introverts vs. numbers of extroverts in your house. This very week, after nearly 16 years of marriage, it finally occurred to me to say to my husband, “When I’m not talking to you, it’s not because I’m giving you the silent treatment or trying to be mean. It’s because I’m trying to be civil. After having six or more people talk to me all day, it’s the nicest thing my introverted self can think to do.” He had no idea. Oops.
Beth – You were actually pretty close about there being 5 antidotes for overwhelmedness. There are actually 6. After Coffee, the others are Sleep, Laughter, Lists, Exercise, and Alcohol. You can even combo them up, but some combos are more effective than others. For example, Coffee plus Lists is a powerful overwhelmedness-reducer. However, Coffee and Sleep don’t play nice together. Exercise plus Alcohol can also be problematic.
For the ultimate overwhelmedness-eliminating experience, I highly recommend getting drunk on Kahlua, laughing at someone far bigger than yourself, getting knocked out, then dreaming of making lists while riding a recumbent stationary bike. And to be clear, by “highly recommend” I mean “strongly caution against”.
“I’m more overwhelmed than you are” because it’s 75 feet from the corner of my business to the Coffee Cottage drive through. Six days a week I struggle with do I, or don’t I?. And it’s clear, Beth, from your on the edge posts that you’re not “overwhelmed” by the do I or don’t I conflict. You just do, you easy writer.
Overwhelmed Dave
Beth-I had no idea you had a blog! How fun! I’ve been a blogging mom for about 3 years now. Is there a way to follow your blog-so I can keep updated on new posts?
Anyway, Here is why I am overwhelmed…..
My son Kye is 3. He just turned 3 last month. He has an older brother who is 5. This morning my youngest was whining and just needing a little extra attention so I said “I think Eli needs a little extra attention today. Come here let me give you a hug”. Kye comes into the room with a mischievous look on his face. And I said “I don’t think Kye needs any extra attention today, he looks like he’s doing just fine.” And Kye says “yes, because I’m a man!”.
If you have time, you’ll have to pop over and check out my blog too. It’s all about our adventures homeschooling. Oh, maybe that also can apply to why my life is overwhelming? Teaching two kids at home 5 and under, teaching preschool at our co-op once a week and teaching the 2 year olds class at church on Sundays. Actually…..now I’m thinking that I’m just insane. Not overwhelmed!
Thanks, Kristi! I say that homeschooling your 3 and 5 year old definitely qualifies you as either overwhelmed or insane. Personally, I think insanity is underrated. It’s awfully fun to be insane.
LOL – game ON. I am so in on this judging thing. 🙂
Yay! I can’t wait to see what you and Kim decide!
first things first – I have the boys’ school pics. Miriam thought they’d be safer in my hands than putting them in the boys’ buckets – but what she didn’t know was that I’m irresponsible and who knows when I’ll get them to you.
overwhelmedness game
I flew in from Mexico at 2pm. In said Mexico I got about five hours of sleep each of the three nights I was sleeping on a floor with dogs, roosters and hearty partiers outside waking me up at least every one of those five I slept.
I picked up my oldest from my ex-husband to get home by 4, where I kissed my husband and he left to take my 2 step sons to Corvallis. I then had my oldest and youngest with me. They ate leftover pancakes that Nathan made that morning (I hope/think) as I was too exhausted to make anything that resembled dinner. I took the two children to the Nutcracker, loved the program but it’s all a fog.
The next day I spent in team meeting discussing North Valley and all the joys that are included in that arena right now. I stopped to visit my office which had been flooded and people moved my office for me (read: placed it in another room without rhyme or reason – it will take at least a day to re-assemble it).
Today – the day I set aside to start and finish a research paper due this Thursday at seven o’clock – only to have my oldest throwing up. Yep, no idea when I’ll get that paper done now.
i at least better get a runner up award. i need to win something.
oh yeah, and I think I might have a stress fracture AND for the five minutes I saw my husband I had to tell him that our car had a huge dent/scrape on the passenger side of the car half the length of the car – which I had assumed happened in the airport long term parking lot only to find out my husband hit a semi on Thursday and didn’t want to tell me about it before my trip because “it might stress me out”.
OK – so the fact that you replied with your overwhelmedness story and then forgot the parts about having a potential stress fracture and your husband hitting a semi truck… that’s a seriously strong overwhelmedness move, Les! Good strategy. 🙂