Overwhelmed

Alright a little disclaimer before I start here....I am going to share my heart here but I don't want you, dear reader, for a minute to think that I don't appreciate my life and all the blessings that God has given us....there are times though that life gets overwhelming.  In all honesty, most of it is my own doing....so I can really only blame myself. But just for a moment I want to give you a little peak into my crazy life right now!! :)

I should be getting ready to head to a band concert right now. I found out about it yesterday. The calendar says "Marching Band concert"...Isaac isn't in MB...so I ignored it. But apparently, as of 7:30pm last night it was an all band concert.And because it was on Election Day of all days in the school calendar...it had to start an hour later at 8pm.

So the plan was that Dominic would work right up to the time that I needed to leave and I could go listen and he could put the littles to bed. But I feel kind of yucky and Dominic has so much work to get done....and Isaac being the amazing son that he is told me to make me feel better, that he'd rather I not come because they don't sound that great right now anyways.

sigh....I don't deserve such grace.

So I called Dominic and told him he could work even later...and started Rio for the kids so they could calm down a bit before bed and so I could "rest" and write and hope for a moment of quiet.

I finished painting our kitchen this weekend. Worked on it all day Saturday. And woke up Sunday morning with the worst pain in my neck I have ever had. Awful...and all my own doing. On the upside the kitchen looks fabulous and I can't wait to have people over to see all the changes!!

But because of this mishap I have had to see a chiropractor twice in the past 2 days...taking me away from work and putting a kink, pun intended, in my already busy days.

Dominic being the totally wonderful husband that he is took "kid taxi" twice for me today so that I didn't have to miss SOOO much work and I could make an appt. 

He is so good to me, and I couldn't get through this life without his love and support.

 Isaac has an ortho appt on Monday morning and we still have to bring him back to Sioux Falls for those visits. I had planned on having to take off that entire morning so that I could get him back. But without even knowing how much stress it would take off me, my mom volunteered to meet us in Pipestone the day before and take him to the appt and bring him back to Marshall!

I seriously can't thank God enough for my parents and all they have done for us!!

Work has been CRAZY busy....this is apparently the busiest time of year and wow am I feeling it. (As is everyone in the office) but that coupled with the various appointments for many of us, not feeling great, trips to and from school and preschool etc....it feels like all of my days are disjointed and difficult to get everything I want done...done. (In case my boss/co-workers are reading...I not complaining here...just painting a picture!) :)

Dominic too has been so busy (this is good I know) and so he is feeling that pressure as well.  In addition I am trying to learn Quickbooks to get the business accounting all in order and I am struggling...and feeling the pressure to get it all done and FAST so our accountant can take a look at everything here before December....

It is staring at me right now and I will do just about anything to avoid spending any time with something that makes me feel so incredibly stupid!! I know that once I "figure it out" it will be a piece of cake...but I am not there yet and so I am in that "pulling my hair out" stage!

And I miss writing...it is an outlet for me and I haven't taken the time to do it lately because I have been filling up my days with so much stuff. Some of it is stuff that I just HAVE to do....but other things I have a choice about and I am trying, struggling to find a good balance between what I must do and what I "want" to do.

Here is just an example of the "list" I have going....

Hang Christmas lights on Saturday b/c the weather is going to be great and then Sunday - really cold.

Have Dominic replace the screen door with the storm door before the cold comes.

Repaint/winterize the front door. When I painted it last year I used indoor paint...and I have some exterior paint leftover from Dominic's office and really want to get that done here before winter.

Write our annual Christmas letter, make labels for the cards. (Yes they are ordered and came in the mail today!!)

Put the kids summer clothes away so there is more room for all their winter stuff.

Paint the play room....because you know I can't stop!! Although paint isn't on sale right now and I haven't found any good clearance paint recently....so that will slow me up a bit.

And on and on it goes....

Yep, I know, I create my own stress. I need help I know I do! But I do feel a little better after writing it all out....still a little guilty that I am not headed to that band concert....but better non the less.  

As a side note, and just to dispel any myth that I deserve a "Mother of the Year Award"....as I was finishing this post I could hear a funny sound....the longer I listened the more I thought I knew what the sound was...but hoped I was wrong....so I got up to find Karlena holding one kitty in her left arm while scooping cat litter out of the cat box and onto the laundry room floor with the right. And quite pleased with herself I must add.

This IS my life...on a daily basis. :)

So how about you.....what do you do to add stress to your life by trying to do it all?? And more importantly what do you do to combat the need to be everything?? I'd love to hear what works for you!!