Only Sometimes Overwhelmed

It was a wild and crazy Friday night as I watched hair videos on You Tube to get ideas for L's hair. I found out how to do that twisty braid-like thing and did E's hair like that. I followed this tutorial to do a bun for L and it turned out well even though I didn't have the cute flower hair clip to accessorize (mental note: buy a cute flower hair clip!). That girl in the video has the most beautiful hair. I did this updo this morning based on this tutorial, even accessorizing it with a bow we already had! I'm feeling quite successful for being such a non-hairstyle person my whole life. 

E and L started Girls on the Run this week and like it thus far. They run after school twice a week in preparation to run a 5K at the end of May.

C made this sign about herself and my SIL suggested that world peace could be achieved if everyone did this.

The children have made a cardboard house/rocket that Roland seems to think belongs to him.

I am having that overwhelmed I'LL NEVER GET EVERYTHING DONE feeling as I think about having a realtor come, look at our house, and make suggestions about getting our house in shape to put on the market (this year or next). Then I think about the regular day-to-day things of dinner and homework and laundry and I start to hyperventilate. Friday morning I was lolling about thinking, "Why bother? I'll never get everything done" but decided to do SOMETHING, so I:

• started the laundry
• ran 6 miles
• took down that Christmas decoration that I had forgotten about and brought it and next year's Christmas pjs that I had bought on sale in January to the basement.
• made three phone calls
• returned a library book
• meal planned, made a grocery list, and grocery shopped
• spent 15 minutes in the new Goodwill by the grocery store to see if its worth frequenting
• picked up the kids, got home thinking that I would have over an hour to get dinner ready and then realized that I had forgotten to pick up the cat medicine from the vet. Piled all the kids back into the car and drove to the vet. Got home, realized they had shortchanged me a lot of pills, called them, got it straightened out, and made plans to pick it up on my next day off (Tuesday). 
• Made everyone dinner and brought them all back to school with sleeping bags and pillows for a movie night (Hotel Transylvania) in the gym.

I find the days I work to be overwhelming and then I DON'T want to be doing a million things on my days off, but I'm not sure there is any alternative. I have so much sympathy for people with long commutes and full or more than full-time jobs. On my work days, I'm out the door at 6:30 and - ideally - leaving work at 5:15-5:30. By the time I pick up my kids and we're home, it's an hour later. We eat whatever I've got in the crockpot and are doing bedtime stuff by 7:15. A and I are coming back downstairs to pick up, pack lunches, etc by 8. I am in bed by 9 or 9:30 to get up at 5:30 the next day. There isn't a lot of extra time.

We had a great Saturday yesterday even though I was on call and was called in to place an internal defibrillator. I went to my step aerobics class and A went for a run when I got home. Just before 11, I went into work, but was home by 1:30 (two hours of overtime pay! Thank you!). A took E out for lunch and frozen yogurt while L and I put away laundry, cleaned the fish tank, and baked cookies. In the evening, we popped popcorn and watched The Gruffalo and a few more episodes of The Cosby Show (I think we're on season 3). We finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and I don't THINK my kids are sociopaths, but no one was as sad as I thought they should be at the end of the book. Seriously, I BAWLED.

I am thinking days and evenings like this need to be put on hold if we're going to do home improvement stuff and get our house on the market. I'm such a glutton, though, and I don't WANT to give up relaxation time. I want MORE relaxation time. Sigh. 

Comments

[Jody]

That is a lot accomplished.

I had that seem fear about HP6 because I was bawling and bawling and the kids were not. I don't think they're sociopaths so probably it's either weird to have your parent reading and sobbing, or there's something about the death that hits adults harder.

[Snoopymom]

Same thing with Half Blood Prince at our house!! My 9 year old is really sensitive to intense scenes in movies so we expected bad dreams or total water works and nada!! Hearts of stone I tell you!

[el-e-e]

I want MORE relaxation time, too! This week's home-task for me (same reason) is to start repainting all the baseboards and some of the other trim. Gah. I'm going to try to have our shows (DVR'd episodes of some comedies) playing in the background so I can feel like I'm getting half-relaxation. Think it will work? ;)

[Shalini]

We moved and then sold our house remotely... I recommend it ;) I cannot imagine how much of a PITA it's going to be to get out of the house every time there's a showing.

Next house we move to, we won't leave til all the kids are in college!

Good luck with the getting house ready :)

[Christine]

You made phone calls. Impressed, right there.

[Emily]

They weren't sad about Dumbledore??!!
Watch your back.
;)