I have recently realized that I am very much like my sister's old dog, Tyler. Tyler was a pretty, buff-colored Cocker-Spaniel who had a big heart and an enormous obsession with squirrels. Okay, I do have buff-colored hair (thanks to Leslie) and I'd like to think I have a big heart, but our common squirrel problem is a little different. Tyler would chase squirrels even if there weren't any there to chase. It didn't matter what he was doing or who was already with him, if someone yelled "Tyler! Squirrel!" the dog was on the move. Poor thing, we could fake him out EVERY time.
Now, I don't obsess over squirrels, but I am, shall we say, "easily distracted", much like the aforementioned canine. It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing, who I'm speaking with, or where I am, something else can easily draw my attention away. (Ooh, look! Shiny thing!) You'd be amazed at how many times I've started and stopped this blog post.
I suppose I was always like this to some degree, but wow, has it gotten worse as I've gotten older! I shall now proceed to blame my children for my lack of concentration, though I'm fairly certain this affliction existed long before they did. (Don't tell them that--I'm pretty sure guilt builds character.)
Take, for example, my house as I try to get it decorated for Christmas. The kitchen, which only a week ago was completely spotless, is once again a pending disaster area. All of the spots and stains in the living room carpet, (which I just steam cleaned last weekend) have mysteriously resurrected and will need to be steam cleaned again. I have been hobbling around the past two and a half weeks with a fracture boot on my left foot due to an ankle injury, so that's put me behind as well, and now that the Christmas rush is on, I feel like Tyler after an imaginary squirrel, trying to decide where to go and what to do first.
Now here's where I blame the kids, at least partly: The girl child has ballet lessons on Monday, the boy child has drum lessons on Tuesday nights and there's kid's choir practice on Wednesday nights. Thursday nights I have to make sure they both have showers and clean clothes for church on Friday mornings. In between all that is school for them, work for me and the hubster, and all the extra stuff that always pops up like homework, school fundraisers, Christmas parties, school plays and doctor appointments.
Today after work, I went to pick the kids up from school. From there I dropped the boy off at drum lessons and took the girl with me to get groceries. After I picked the boy up, we ran more errands: to the bank, the dry cleaner (to pick up my winter coat which I forgot about...in May) and the dance studio to pay the December tuition. I at least had the foresight to put a roast in the crock pot this morning so we'd have something for dinner tonight. I usually like to make those when the hubster has a night off, but I forgot which nights he had off this week. It's tomorrow. He said he told me, and he probably did, but with all the other things I have to keep track of, his work schedule simply fell off the radar.
Now in between all of that other stuff, I need to fit in cleaning the house, putting up a Christmas tree, decorating the staircase and putting up the stockings, not to mention wreaths on the doors, candles in the windows, garland on the porch, ordering and addressing Christmas cards, shopping (mostly online due to that stupid boot-thing) and baking cookies and other goodies for gifts and family gatherings. Plus, in the interest of maintaining some semblance of sanity, I like to fit in a few fun things now and then, like going to see the Christmas lights and a theater show in Michigan for my hubby and I.
Yesterday, my sister texted me about a gift we were buying for our soon-to-be-niece's wedding shower. She asked if I had perused the wedding registry and if I approved of what she suggested. I informed her that I was on the way to my in-laws to drop the kids off for the night so hubby and I could go to the library's Christmas party. I had already driven home from work, bathed both kids, gotten a bag packed with their jammies, fed them dinner, and gotten myself ready- in the span of an hour and a half. No time to check my email!
I don't have the slightest idea how people with more kids and more activities do it and I salute them. If I had anything else to accomplish, I'm pretty sure I'd go off the deep end.
See, I know some of this stuff is optional and some of it is obligatory, but like any adult/parent it's sometimes hard to know when to draw the line.
And for some reason, at Christmas I get this wild desire to recreate the kind of atmosphere I had at home when I was little: beautiful tree, sparkling decorations, wonderful smells of cinnamon and spices...seriously, Currier and Ives couldn't have portrayed it better, and I want it.
It's just going to take a whole lot of creative time management and deep breathing exercises to get it all done. I'll probably have the Christmas village up until April and there will be a poinsettia wreath on the front door until June because I'll be too wrapped up in other things that will demand my already taxed attention span.
I'll admit, I know I'm in trouble...have you seen how many shiny things are around this time of year??
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