At the beginning of the year . . . and, in case you didn't know, it's already May, which means the beginning of the year was five months ago . . . yes, five . . . I was determined to blog a little more this year. Like, maybe, 15 times a month. Clearly, that train left the building, and I was late. Heck, I wasn't even late. I never even showed up!
And then came April. I don't even know what happened in April except that my calendar had something written on it for every. single. day. You know, somewhere to be, something to do. If thirty is the new forty, May must be the new December. All the Mommas with kids in school and extra-curricular activities (even if it's only one per child) know exactly what I'm talking about. This week is IT for us . . . you know the one . . . when you have to be in three places at the exact same time on the exact same day in three different towns. Yeah, it's nearly impossible. We're just over here doing the best we can.
I've been at it since 5:00am this morning. I dropped the big kids off at Sequitur, and Ellie and I went to Bible study. We picked them up afterwards, and I took the girls to get a hair cut (because it was absolutely necessary for Hannah Kate to lose two inches because it's just gotten too long for a bun, and the recital is this weekend) and then came home and fixed lunch. By the time everyone had eaten, it was after 2:00, and we still had school work to do. That barely got finished before we had to leave at 5:00 for Mason's baseball game. Last week I took a picnic to the ballpark, thinking that would take care of supper since we get home so late. But, no. We get home, and they're all like, "What's for supper?! I'm starving!" So this week I didn't bother with the picnic. Instead, I'm in the kitchen at 8:30 assembling tacos. They finally sit down to eat supper at 8:45pm. Yeah, it's not worth it. I mean, I fed them breakfast AND lunch. They're going to eat breakfast again shortly at the break of dawn tomorrow morning. So is supper REALLY necessary? I think not. I just don't understand why they have to eat all the time. Twice a day should be plenty enough!
I'll be up at 5:00 again tomorrow morning, and we'll do it all over again. Only we have the dance recital rehearsal tomorrow night. And baseball. At the same time. On opposite sides of the river.
Last week I was explaining to Seth everything that was going on this week and basically the plan for dividing and conquering. He told me he didn't understand why I didn't have all of it on my calendar. Well, I do. So I whipped out my planner and showed it to him, each day carefully marked with places and times and notes about who needs to be where and why. He insisted that I needed to join the 21st century and get automated with it. He even ever so kindly walked me through a little tutorial of how to schedule all this stuff on the calendar on my phone and "invite" him so it will be on his calendar, too.
I really can not do "electronic" calendars. I want to be able to open up my planner and see it all nice and neatly handwritten in different colors and decorated with little stickers.
I told him I didn't think that was a good idea. I mean, did he really want me filling up his work calendar with all our STUFF and marking him "busy" and "unavailable" all day everyday for the next eleven years or so? He thought I was crazy. So I got to work.
And then he's all like, "You are totally blowing up my calendar. What are you doing?" At that point, I wasn't even finished with the first week! But I kept on going. I was just doing exactly what he'd asked me to do.
So tonight we're driving to the baseball game. The conversation goes like this:
SETH: The game doesn't start until 7:30.
ME: It starts at 6:00. That's why we left at 5:00.
SETH: Well, you put 7:30 on my calendar.
ME: No, I did not. That's what time it ends. It starts at 6:00. Look at your calendar again.
We're not even a week in, and this shared calendar thing is going great! Oh, but it gets even better. We're sitting at the game . . .
SETH: Does Mason have a game tomorrow night?
ME: Really? What does your calendar say? Everything is on your calendar. That's what your calendar is for.
SETH: I can't read that. I can't even tell what's going on because there's so much on there, and it's all at the same time.
(And all the Mommas are laughing hilariously because THAT'S THE STORY OF OUR LIVES!)
ME: Well, I did exactly what you told me to do, and I put everything on your calendar.
SETH: Well, I can't even look at that.
ME: I tried to tell you. But you insisted. So I really don't know what else you want me to do.
SETH: We need to find an app. Google calendar. Somebody told me about that. I think we need to set that up.
ME: Really?! I mean, I already put everything on your calendar. What good is that going to do? It's not going to change anything.
SETH: Well, you put all your stuff on my work calendar, and you totally messed it up.
ME: My stuff?! No, NONE of that is MY stuff. It's all THEIR stuff. I don't do any stuff except THEIR stuff. I tried to tell you . . .
SETH: Well, I guess it wasn't a good idea . . .
Mmm hmm.
Now, if you'll excuse me, they added an extra practice for tomorrow night so I need to go add that to Seth's calendar!
And then came April. I don't even know what happened in April except that my calendar had something written on it for every. single. day. You know, somewhere to be, something to do. If thirty is the new forty, May must be the new December. All the Mommas with kids in school and extra-curricular activities (even if it's only one per child) know exactly what I'm talking about. This week is IT for us . . . you know the one . . . when you have to be in three places at the exact same time on the exact same day in three different towns. Yeah, it's nearly impossible. We're just over here doing the best we can.
I've been at it since 5:00am this morning. I dropped the big kids off at Sequitur, and Ellie and I went to Bible study. We picked them up afterwards, and I took the girls to get a hair cut (because it was absolutely necessary for Hannah Kate to lose two inches because it's just gotten too long for a bun, and the recital is this weekend) and then came home and fixed lunch. By the time everyone had eaten, it was after 2:00, and we still had school work to do. That barely got finished before we had to leave at 5:00 for Mason's baseball game. Last week I took a picnic to the ballpark, thinking that would take care of supper since we get home so late. But, no. We get home, and they're all like, "What's for supper?! I'm starving!" So this week I didn't bother with the picnic. Instead, I'm in the kitchen at 8:30 assembling tacos. They finally sit down to eat supper at 8:45pm. Yeah, it's not worth it. I mean, I fed them breakfast AND lunch. They're going to eat breakfast again shortly at the break of dawn tomorrow morning. So is supper REALLY necessary? I think not. I just don't understand why they have to eat all the time. Twice a day should be plenty enough!
I'll be up at 5:00 again tomorrow morning, and we'll do it all over again. Only we have the dance recital rehearsal tomorrow night. And baseball. At the same time. On opposite sides of the river.
Last week I was explaining to Seth everything that was going on this week and basically the plan for dividing and conquering. He told me he didn't understand why I didn't have all of it on my calendar. Well, I do. So I whipped out my planner and showed it to him, each day carefully marked with places and times and notes about who needs to be where and why. He insisted that I needed to join the 21st century and get automated with it. He even ever so kindly walked me through a little tutorial of how to schedule all this stuff on the calendar on my phone and "invite" him so it will be on his calendar, too.
I really can not do "electronic" calendars. I want to be able to open up my planner and see it all nice and neatly handwritten in different colors and decorated with little stickers.
I told him I didn't think that was a good idea. I mean, did he really want me filling up his work calendar with all our STUFF and marking him "busy" and "unavailable" all day everyday for the next eleven years or so? He thought I was crazy. So I got to work.
And then he's all like, "You are totally blowing up my calendar. What are you doing?" At that point, I wasn't even finished with the first week! But I kept on going. I was just doing exactly what he'd asked me to do.
So tonight we're driving to the baseball game. The conversation goes like this:
SETH: The game doesn't start until 7:30.
ME: It starts at 6:00. That's why we left at 5:00.
SETH: Well, you put 7:30 on my calendar.
ME: No, I did not. That's what time it ends. It starts at 6:00. Look at your calendar again.
We're not even a week in, and this shared calendar thing is going great! Oh, but it gets even better. We're sitting at the game . . .
SETH: Does Mason have a game tomorrow night?
ME: Really? What does your calendar say? Everything is on your calendar. That's what your calendar is for.
SETH: I can't read that. I can't even tell what's going on because there's so much on there, and it's all at the same time.
(And all the Mommas are laughing hilariously because THAT'S THE STORY OF OUR LIVES!)
ME: Well, I did exactly what you told me to do, and I put everything on your calendar.
SETH: Well, I can't even look at that.
ME: I tried to tell you. But you insisted. So I really don't know what else you want me to do.
SETH: We need to find an app. Google calendar. Somebody told me about that. I think we need to set that up.
ME: Really?! I mean, I already put everything on your calendar. What good is that going to do? It's not going to change anything.
SETH: Well, you put all your stuff on my work calendar, and you totally messed it up.
ME: My stuff?! No, NONE of that is MY stuff. It's all THEIR stuff. I don't do any stuff except THEIR stuff. I tried to tell you . . .
SETH: Well, I guess it wasn't a good idea . . .
Mmm hmm.
Now, if you'll excuse me, they added an extra practice for tomorrow night so I need to go add that to Seth's calendar!