So I have had THE WEEK. You know, the week where…the dishwasher breaks. And the son gets sent to the principal. Again. And the husband is travelling. Again. And a bird flies onto the patio and dies. And the crickets decide they prefer to live inside instead of out in the wet grass. And two of the three boys is home sick from school – on my day off. And so on and so forth. Like I said: THE WEEK!
In the midst of all this, I am learning that my coping skills are greatly reduced by a lack of sleep. So I took a nap today. I’m also realizing that I have to give myself permission to let go of everything. Everything except the one thing I am doing right now. Also, I have reverted to setting my timer for 15 minute intervals so I can focus on one thing at a time.
(The key to the timer, I have learned, is to first set it for 15 minutes of job time for the boys. Once they are done working, they tend to disappear for a good 30-45 minutes until a scout comes by to see if it’s safe, then reports back to the others.)
I would like to be all ooey gooey and claim that all the stress is worth the lessons learned. But it’s not. Given some time perspective, I will probably be able to say that, but not yet. For one thing, it’s not over yet. Peter’s still running a 102.7 temp that spikes up when the motrin wears off. For another thing, Brad’s plane hasn’t landed yet. And I have learned not to count my husbands before they have walked back in the door. But I’m sure one day I will look back on all of this and…well, maybe smile. A little.
On another note, is it strange that I dreamt last night that I was in the shower and walked out to the sound of a vacuum running upstairs, only to discover that someone randomly rang our doorbell, the boys answered, let them in, and then they started cleaning our house as a free demonstration of their services? Kind of like the door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesmen of old, only this was a maid service and in my dream I literally started crying with relief when I realized they were going to clean my house for free. (Apparently, when I dream I am a lot less concerned about the boys letting complete strangers in the house than I am about the house being dirty.)
Well, on another random note, Samuel’s new backpack came in yesterday and it makes me smile to see the three side by side. Can you believe we got that awesome L. L. Bean backpack and lunchbox – a $74 set – FREE because my husband is willing to click on ads? It really adds up over time.
Despite the great savings on the backpack, I am running low on cash this month. Last month was our first to start using cash to help control our spending and I did great, just like I predicted. This month, not so great, also just like I predicted. I tend to have a personality that puts a lot of effort into something that’s new and exciting, then I lose interest. The cash game was fun when I was winning but now that I’m only halfway through the month and running out of cash – not so fun. Well I guess this month I will get to learn how to streeeeeeeetch my dollars!
Well since I don’t want to end this on such a depressing note, I will end it with whatever pics I can find here on my phone. Hopefully one will help you drag yourself out of the funk that reading this has more than likely put you into. Good luck with that and…I’m sorry.
