Lists

I’m a list maker. That’s just how it is. Sometimes when things get busy and I feel like I’m running from one thing to the next, I cannot function without a list. I cannot start my day without knowing what needs to be done during my precious kid-free hours. I even write down my afternoon kid destinations even though they are mostly the same week after week. I write down things after I do them just so I can cross them off! Wow—I am accomplishing a lot! Mostly, the lists are made the night before so I can sleep knowing that I am ready to hit the floor running when the alarm goes off. This is life with five kids. Five busy kids. Recently life has been busier than usual. Extremely busier than usual. Lately, E. is busy with all that goes along with high school graduation. Ordering pictures, addressing announcements, AP tests, working part time, prom, studying for pharm tech certification, friends, church stuff, etc. C. is in Corpus right now with the orchestra. We miss her. She’s busy with practicing, tests, driving, church, tutoring 5 kids 3 days a week, and another year of swim team. S. just made the color guard for high school next year. Orchestra, private lessons for violin, studying, 8th grade dance, NJHS, swim team, and now color guard practice. J. is keeping himself busy with trumpet, piano, scouts, lots of GT and pre-AP projects, trying to mow lawns for a little pocket money (I finally hired him), swim team. B. is playing piano, and we have talked him into another year of swim team (he really doesn’t like it). So, I manage all of their schedules and my own. That takes lots of lists. I’m currently working part-time teaching preschool so I only have Tues and Thurs to get anything and everything done. This includes doing 15 loads of laundry a week, cooking lots of dinners, trying to lose weight, grocery shopping, substituting in primary, planning a visiting teaching workshop, making a t-shirt quilt for E., making a smaller quilt for NAM, altering E.’s prom dress, making a shrug for S.’s 8th grade dance dress and altering it a bit, planning concessions for swim team, ordering senior pictures, finding addresses for announcements, driving back and forth on Louetta every afternoon—to school, to church, to Target, to piano, to violin, to swim, to Kroger, to orthodontist. This past week, I’ve been flying without a net. I haven’t really had time to make lists. I’ve got my purse-sized calendar, which I consult occasionally, and then I hit the road. Looking back over this maddening week, I realized that there was a different feeling --something that I haven’t felt for a long time. I was enjoying all of the craziness as it was happening. I wasn’t trying to get through it just to cross it off. I was enjoying the moment and not just getting through it to get to the next thing. It was liberating to be free of the paper and pen! Not to say that all of my weeks will be like this, but for all of its craziness, I sure enjoyed it.

Joke of the Day

A Russian, a Texan and New Yorker were going out to dinner together. The waiter came to the table and said, "Excuse me, we have a shortage of steak tonight."

The Russian said, "What's a steak?"

The Texan said, "What's a shortage?"

The New Yorker said, "What's excuse me?"

April Fools' Day!

Sometimes we get a little silly with April Fools Day. I love to watch the kids thinking up tricks to pull on each other. Benj was so excited to take a fake spider to school to scare his teacher. This is a picture of our breakfast. It sure looks normal enough. The 'fried' egg is actually vanilla pudding with half of a canned peach on top. It was great. A few years ago we actually had meatloaf made out of Cocoa Krispies with bits of red and green fruit roll-up in it to help it look seasoned.