April is Gone

How did that happen?

I looked at my calendar and got a little breathless today. April is nearly GONE . . . already? I was so preoccupied with my dad for the first half of this month, then Paulette was here for a few days, we were all sick . . . and now, here we are, staring down the barrel at MAY.

May is so busy for us . . . on top of a weekend trip to Charleston and a week long trip to Iowa, we have the end of the school year events, birthday parties, a big graduation party, bunco, Mother's Day, a friend coming from VA, a big neighborhood block party, and five photo shoots. And -- I realized -- I have to make, order, and send birthday party invitations for BOTH of the girl's June parties. That's a lot to accomplish in 31 days. Thank goodness the Memorial Day holiday is thrown in there . . . it's like a 'bonus' day, with Jim being home and all.

Um, Jim . . . in case you didn't know . . . don't make too many plans for next month. I kinda booked us up already.

This last weekend in April was much like our May to come. A (fabulous) birthday party, a photo shoot, dinner with neighbors, Jim's sister got ENGAGED!!, another photo shoot, play date with some friends, and another birthday party. It was a picture taking palooza around here. It's nearly 8:30pm as I write, and poor Jim is outside mowing the lawn. A chore that must get done, but there was nearly no time to do it. And the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow, which means some major 'pre cleaning' has to get done around here. I guess the night is not over yet.

I am trying to NOT freak out and get too stressed about all the busy-ness . . . the busy weekend, our busy week ahead, a non-stop upcoming month. It is what it is. We are busy, and I either have to learn to deal with it better or become a hermit. The latter sounds less than optimal, so deal with it I must.

I find that I'm always trying to get things off my "list" so that I can have time to do nothing and just relax. As long as my list continues, I feel like lying down and vegging on TV, reading a magazine, or doing something for me is equivalent to 'blowing off' stuff that really needs to get done. What I guess I'm going to start doing -- to avoid that feeling of always needing to get things done -- is just schedule time for myself. Like Tuesday nights -- no working, I get to chill and watch American Idol (yes, I watch -- no judging from you!). My list is never going to end, never going to get shorter . . . so unless I find a way to manage that AND allow myself time to goof off, I might go crazy.

Think it will work? We'll see.