My Balancing Acts

I love Friday nights! The promise of a whole weekend is so exciting! A weekend full of laundry and sweeping and vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms...I truly love that the weekend provides me with time to get caught up on all the things that I simply cannot get to throughout the week. By Sunday night, I always feel so prepared for the upcoming week. The laundry room is emptied out. The kitchen is spotless. My bathrooms sparkle. I even have the energy to prepare the coffee maker for the next morning. I've had quality time with all my boys (big Ben included). Then we all go to bed at a decent hour, and I feel like SuperMom, ready to take on challenges that may lay in the week ahead.

Come Monday morning, I wake up at 4:30 so I can get on the treadmill uninterrupted. I shower and get ready, I leave the house with well rested kids and deposit one happy child at daycare before I head onto work with my second-grader in the back seat as we discuss the upcoming week. I arrive at school ready to be SuperTeacher.

By Monday afternoon I am still feeling good. I come home and play outside with the boys, and later I even cook dinner while helping with homework. I lovingly greet Ben as he comes home from work and then we all eat dinner together. But then it all comes to a screeching halt. Chaos sets in and it lasts until now--Friday night.

It all starts after dinner on Monday. For some reason, right around that time of day, time inexplicably speeds up. Suddenly, it's a rush to get the dinner dishes cleaned and the kids in bed by 8 (okay, 8:30) and all before I pass out myself from exhaustion. Remember, I woke up at 4:30!

Starting Monday night, the race is on. I feel like "balancing" my responsibilities is not even a fair word. A more accurate word would be that I "stumble" through them. I may or may not have the energy to get up on Tuesday morning at 4:30 (usually not). I feel like I am constantly trying to play catch up and I can never seem to stick to the schedule of how I would like things to go. While I am in the midst of stirring my morning to-go cup of coffee, if I spy something awry in my house, it's all I can do not to stop and go deal with it before I leave the house. It really annoys me when I see unfolded laundry or dishes in the sink from the previous night. But there isn't time to fix anything! So I must leave it until I get home from work. And when I come home from work, I am usually totally exhausted, have hungry kids, and all I want to do is have a glass of wine and veg out. But instead of vegging out, I must do the whole evening routine and try to fit everything in before I pass out from exhaustion yet again.

That is, until Friday night! It is when I actually get to have a glass of wine and veg out, and not feel guilty about it! And the kids don't have to be in bed at their normal time, because we all get to sleep in the next day!

Even in the midst of stumbling through my days, I try to grab ahold of the things that make me feel so blessed, and not take those things for granted. I remind myself often of the things that are truly important in my day to day life (like spending quality time with hubby and kids) versus things that are ultimately insignificant (like laundry and dishes). I know that things won't always be this busy and crazy, and that I will probably miss all this craziness when it has passed and my kids get older.

But I still love Friday nights!

The Mom Song

Spring

I love Spring, especially Spring in North Carolina. The flowers are amazing and we are surrounded by blooming trees, which bring so many birds. I opened my front door this morning and was overwhelmed by birdsong. It's amazing. It made me think of this wonderful quote that I read in A New Earth by Friedriche Nietzsche:

"For happiness, how little suffices for happiness!...the least thing precisely, the gentlest thing, the lightest thing, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a wisk, an eye glance, little maketh up the best happiness. Be still."

The Best Thing About Birthdays...

Fact and Opinion

Benjamin is learning about fact and opinion in school.

When he read my 1oo things and got to # 73, he commented, "That's an opinion."

Glad to see he's learning in school.

100 Things About Me

1. i love spring 2. kids are great 3. i am proud to own a station wagon 4. i love to read 5. i like to run 6. i hate cabbage, brussell sprouts and lima beans 7. my love languages are gifts and quality time 8. i like to color 9. i hate waking up before 7 am 10. i love coffee 11. i am the oldest of four kids, and the only girl 12. my parents are divorced 13. i adore my mother-in-law 14. my best girlfriends are my sisters (or my sisters are by best girlfriends) 15. i finally feel at home in NC 15. i love to see kids smile 16. i love the belly laugh of a baby 17. my kids still use baby soap because i love the smell 18. i prefer regular soda pop but drink diet because i have to 19. i miss running races with shera, amber, eve and kathleen 20. i’ve recently discovered that the best thing in the world is to simply occupy the same space as the person you love. 21. my youngest child is five 22. i hate traffic 23. i love anything pumpkin-pumpkin pie, pumpkin candles, pumpkin lotion. 24. i want to establish a free reading clinic for children and adults 25. i’m becoming more spiritual 26. i love Dr. Seuss books 27.the grass is rarely greener on other side 28. i hope to never own a video game player (sorry Benjamin & Matthew) 29. At the age of 30 i discovered that i really like to play tennis 30. i'm doing good when i can get out of the house on time for work more than two days a week 31. i want to go to italy, france, spain, greece, and england 32. i am allergic to cats 33. my favorite pizza is margherita 34. i love the smell of dryer sheets 35. i love teaching kids (although i don't always love being a teacher) 36. i love anything with mushrooms 37. a dirty house drives me crazy 38. i want a fancy new cellphone with all the latest fancy things 39. i love browsing Barnes and Noble with a cup of Starbucks coffee 40. i wish i was more artistic 41. i love that both of my boys love to read 42. tulips and gerbera daises tie as my favorite flower 43. i never want to move again 44. i don't like cherry pie 45. i think yankee candles are the best 46. i think everyone should see a therapist at least once in their lives 47. i meditate 48. i'm proud of all of my brothers 49. i love water parks 50. im thankful george w. bush is on his way out 51. i love world market 52. i think i look weird in a lot of jewelry 53. i try to listen and observe more than judge 54. i don't like my curly hair 55. it makes me feel great when kids tell me i'm their favorite teacher 56. i'd love a live-in chef 57. i can't wait for grey's anatomy to come back 58. i love to bake but don't like to cook 59. i went to high school with keri russell 60. i won't plant flowers outside because of the little snakes in our mulch 61. connie and i got tattoos right before college graduation 62. i don't wear a watch 63. i love real movie theater popcorn with butter 64. i love to tickle my kids 65. i have great friends 67. i miss skiing 68. (big) ben's eyes are the most beautiful eyes ever 69. i love massages 70. high quality sheets are worth the extra money 71. my second favorite season is fall 72. i wish i didn't have to worry about bathing suit season 73. i make the best chocolate cake 74. i will love you if you love my kids 75. my favorite clothes store is ann taylor loft 76. when i order new things at restaurants i always end up wanting to eat ben's food 77. i want to visit NYC 78. i am an INFP based on the myers-briggs personality test my grandma gave me when i was little 79. i love sleep (which is why good sheets are important) 80. my mom is a sweetheart 81. it's too much work to take a bath 82. i like pedicures only for the foot massage 83. my first car was a Datsun 84. if i'd had a girl we were going to name her Madeline Grace 85. i like to have real plants in my house 86. i don't have a favorite holiday 87. i think it's hilarious that Benjamin can't remember to call badminton "badminton" but instead calls it "manhattan" 88. i love getting cards and letters in the real mail 89. my favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry 90. i love watching the golden girls 91. i adore my dad 92. i was a vegetarian in college for about a month 93. i try to live in the present moment every day 94. i prefer the mountains over the beach 95. i love to go into williams-sonoma but i can't afford anything there 96. my biggest fears are either something will happen to one of my kids or ben, or something will happen to me before my kids grow up 97. food is better when you don't follow the recipe exactly 98. i hate waking my kids up in the morning when they're so warm and comfy in their bed 99. i love desserts 100. i believe life is a balancing act