Plate Juggling

You know how sometimes you have a lot on your plate? You don't necessarily know you have a lot on your plate; there are just things that need done and you do them. But sometimes you get more on your plate than you have room for. That's when you have to grab another plate. You have different roles to play for different responsibilities and, even though it is a busy time, you find yourself able to organize your responsibilities on the plates in what looks like a balanced meal (albeit, a rather full meal even for a very hungry man.)

But then, more things require your attention and you find that there just isn't room on those plates, so you need a third. I have found that it's easier to not interrupt the balanced meal arrangement on the first two plates, but to instead put all of the emotions that come with them onto a third. Think of it as dessert (albeit, a very salty dessert.)

The goal is to not eat dessert before you've finished the other plates. It tends to ruin the appetite and makes it very difficult to finish the tasks on the responsibility plates. It wouldn't be so bad if the plates stayed still, but they don't. They can't. So you juggle.

If you've met me, you know that I do not possess the grace to walk in a straight line, let alone juggle while doing it.

My plates aren't any more full than anyone else. You might have more plates than me. I don't envy you. I'm not in self-pity mode, but I accidentally ate off the dessert plate Wednesday night and now I'm having trouble talking myself into the enthusiasm required for the other 2 plates.

I know where my Help comes from and it's going to happen and it's all going to work out. I will never be able to do it with finesse, but I'll do it.

Then I'll have my good cleansing dessert cry. And then I'll sit very, very still and enjoy the quiet. I don't think we were made to function like this. I mean, I know it's possible. I see people juggle superbly all the time. But I think we're mostly called to excel in a few things...like our families. our friends. our talents. Being able to do something doesn't mean we should do something. I'd rather do a few things very well than to do lots of things mediocre. At the moment, mediocre sounds like an ambitious goal.

Crafty

I love making things.  I love whipping up anything in the kitchen (as long as it has cream cheese.) I love crocheting baby blankets (as long as they don't require anything more than two stitches) and knitting socks (as long as no one actually has to wear them.)  Most of all, I love making pages and planners and forms.  I started making household organizers about 8 years ago for friends.  I had so much fun doing it and I had intended to try to sell them online at some point, but never got around to it.  I started making notebooking pages about 5 years ago for my kids.  We did timelines and biographies and geography pages.  I went so far as to create a website last year to host them...but never loaded them.  I wanted to finish designing the site first and...well, I still haven't finished.   Can we say "procrastination"?

The truth is, I feel a little guilty working on the website when my laundry is blocking my path to the washing machine.  My children have to eat frozen fish sticks so I can find time to doodle?  Has it come to this?  In reality, I've put off the fun stuff and STILL haven't found time to conquer Mount Wash-more.

The logical thing to read at this point would be a book on time management, right?

Yeah, that doesn't work for me.  I've read it, know it, and don't feel like it.  So instead, I'm reading a book to remind me of all the things by which I love being distracted.  This way, I can be inspired enough to MAKE time for those distractions.  I'll force my reluctant inner slob to take care of household responsibilities so I can have fun, guilt-free.  Genius of a plan, isn't it?

The book is called The Handmade Marketplace.  It's geared more toward your crafty, Etsy-type business, but I'm finding plenty that speaks to my market-niche as well.   If you are bored enough to be reading MY blog, then you'll have the privilege of reading me think "out loud" as I work through it.  Feel free to kick me in the rear if I start slacking.  I could use the accountability.

I've already admitted that I fed my kids fish sticks.  The honesty is quite liberating.

I didn't even give them a salad with it.... I just tossed overly-crispy fish sticks on a plate with blobs of ketchup.  Ketchup was the closest thing they had to a vegetable with that meal.

It's the little things

The picture has nothing to do with my whiny post. She's just adorable. And is still losing that tooth - any time now. Pay no attention to my elderly looking thumb. My veins flow with Dr. Pepper and coffee and I don't know why I bother with moisturizer if I'm going to turn myself into a prune from the inside out. Switch to water or start moisturizing my hands? Neither. You see my thumb. It's too late to bother now.

Anyhow....I just felt like whining a little this morning. So before anyone else wakes up, I'll sit down and whine to you and God. I'm tiiiiiiiiired. We're having Honor's birthday party after church today and I have no pep in me to decorate a cake or supervise the application of sequins and stickers to craft projects. My alarm went off at midnight last night. Only, I didn't look to see that I had turned on the wrong alarm....the UNset alarm that automatically sets to 12:00 am....No, I hit snooze. I try not to hit snooze too often, but I was so very tired at midnight that I just couldn't help hitting it repeatedly and willing myself to move in between beeps. I did eventually figure it out and set a different alarm.

The other thing that kept me up was asthma.....we haven't found it yet, but I'm pretty sure there's more mold. It could just be allergies. We'll see.

And finally, the last thing that kept me awake, and nervous, was Honor. She woke up itching and wanted bug bite medicine. I pulled back her pajamas to see hives. The child had hives! I have no idea what could have caused them, but they're an allergic reaction to something, aren't they? We gave her knock-off benadryl and she was fine. Generally, benadryl has her bouncing off the walls for hours, but this one didn't. Thank you, Lord, for those little things.

This morning, even though I am QUITE certain I did no invite her, Aunt Irma arrived early to help me prepare for the birthday party. *insert groan* I now have to hunt for something other than those light khaki pants I was originally going to wear.

While hunting for, ahem, supplies, I ran across a Nestle's Treasure Dark Chocolate. I stash those there, where I know I'll need them most. But I always forget until I start digging in the basket. Thank you, Lord, for those little things.

The other alarm is now announcing that it's time to wake everyone up. Now that the whole house will be awake, I can relax and enjoy my family all together, as we prepare to visit the church and worship our Saviour.

I'm totally lying. It's the entire family, together, getting ready for 8:000 service on a Sunday morning. There will be tears from someone this morning, I guarantee it.

BUT, the ring tone going off to wake everyone up, is Business Time. And who can help but smile with a little thing like that?

Let me tell you about the hand of God

We've dealt with mold. We're dealing with termites. We may have discovered more mold. Taxes from the computer business were mailed but apparently not received, and now we owe money. Chris told me yesterday that he is about to be laid-off from his job in the lab.

As I was driving to the store alone, I started sniffling and asked, "God, are you mad at me or something?" And then I remembered this little video that I'd seen the day before and had to laugh at myself. I repented of my attitude (it won't be the last time) and remembered to be thankful for the many gifts God has given me.



That night, around 2:30 in the morning, I woke up to the sound of whistling. I looked around the room for my whistling children and found no one. Most likely, it was my own nose whistling. Embarrassing.

I couldn't sleep. I felt a burden to pray for Chris, who was working late. Me being paranoid or voice of God? No matter, it doesn't hurt to pray regardless of the source of prompting. So I prayed and went back to sleep almost immediately.

At 3:00, Chris called to tell me he was in the next town over and walking home. He had hit a deer half an hour before. His jeep was trashed, but he was fine. He'd been walking for the last half hour. He thought he could make it, but his steel toed boots were slowing him down. I insisted he NOT walk 10 miles home and went to get him, waking Ethan to tell him where I was going.

I didn't drive more than a minute before I realized I couldn't tell which side of the road I was on. I had forgotten to put on my glasses. I returned home for glasses and as I walked past the girls' room, I smelled something funny. Upon investigation, I discovered their box fan had fallen against their bean bag and the motor was about to blow up. There could have been a fire while I was gone! I called my neighbor to sit with the kids while I was gone and then picked up Chris.

Once Chris was safely in the car with me, I asked him: "Have you wondered if God is mad at you?" and then told him my story.

If I hadn't woken up at 2:30? If I hadn't had to come back for glasses? Not going there. But the God I serve wakes me up for prayer and sends me back for glasses, and I know that He has a plan and purpose that I will not question (for long) even when it involves mold and termites and loss of job.

I'm grumbly

Chris found more mold today. This time behind the bathroom sink.



I'm still at my parents' house.

Ethan wanted to know what was wrong with me this morning. I explained to all the kids that mama is feeling a little sad this morning. Sad that we aren't home. Sad that when we do get to go home, that home will be VERRRRY messy. Sad that we don't know how long it will be. Sad that daddy is working very hard and we can't help him., sad that all of our savings are going toward mold and termites.

And then I heard myself.

I had to apologize to the kids, do some repenting, and explain that mama's attitude stinks. I need to stop thinking about how sad I feel and think about how thankful I am that we have a daddy that CAN work hard, thankful there is a house to work on, thankful for parents that so generously let us crash their house, and thankful we had the savings in the first place.

Nothing like God holding a mirror up in front of your face, huh?

I've moved out

Temporarily, of course.

The kids and I are staying with my parents while my awesome husband tackles the monstrous mold back at camp. The workboxes made it very easy for us to pile our stuff in the van and drive over, so we aren't going to get behind in our schoolwork! Hooray! Tomorrow is our first homeschool group meeting and then Saturday we celebrate a graduation of a homeschooling friendn and the wedding of a cousin. Both of my girls were chosen as flower girls - they'll get to walk down the aisle together! I'll share pictures when we're back at the house, but this is probably the last post until we're home.

Day 3....from the trenches

Wow. Day 3: not so easy.

We discovered more mold. The utility room and bathroom will both have to be gutted. The hot water heater will have to be replaced. I'm apparently allergic and will be of no help. In fact, the kids and I will move out for a few days while Chris fixes the mold problem. Again. This is the 2nd time this year.

The kids all think we had a great school day, so don't tell them differently. But between you and me....it stunk.

All four wanted my attention at the exact same time. I couldn't complete a sentence to one child without another child walking over and interrupting. I want to give them each my undivided attention but there isn't enough of me to go around! While advising Ethan, Sarah colored her match-the-correct-color page red. All of it. All red. Even though I'd told her to wait before doing anything else. While helping Sarah, Honor skipped the dot-to-dot numbers practice to trace her alphabet letters though I had just told her to WAIT and do them while I watched to be sure we were doing them correctly. "We" weren't doing them correctly and had lots of erasing to do. Joel kept having trouble with his math. Again. And again. Though I told him to stop working on his math until I could sit down and discuss it with him. But he kept plowing on.....until I mentioned that his questions really should have been covered in the text he was supposed to read before tackling the workbook problems. Textbook? Oh, yeah!

sigh

And Ethan, my dear boy, mailed himself several letters. His birthday was in June. He wrote thank you notes. And then we stopped school for the summer. His thank you notes were apparently in his grammar folder and never mailed. I discovered them and had him address and stamp the envelopes as part of his grammar assignment yesterday. Today, I opened the mailbox to see several stamped cards addressed to.....Ethan. He put the addresses in the return address corner....he'd forgotten how to address an envelope. So......if you gave the boy a present and never received a thank you, my apologies. It will get there.....eventually. We hope.