Thursday, July 20, 2006

Sometimes You've Just Gotta Face The Facts

I had big plans this summer. I was going to save money, get organized, take care of some home improvement tasks on my list, and finally start that project with my friend, J. Big, big plans.

I've done nuttin'.

It's just too hard with the boys home. "Mommy, can you read to me?" "Mommy, can you make me a snack?" "Mommy, can we put away the laundry before the pile crushes my little brother while he plays on the floor near the couch?" It's always something.

The other goal was to cook at home more. We've done really well up until this past week when the temperature went past the century mark. I'm sorry, it's just too damn hot to cook sometimes. We made a run for the boarder and picked up burgers this week. Baaad mommy! Bad, bad mommy! In my defense, I gave Papa the option of cooking, but he wasn't having none of that. In fact, he's the one that boogied through the drive-thru on the way home. So there!

I've been busy with work and my new boss (yipee!) told me to take it easy until Monday or I was going to burn myself out. True dat. I love the new boss. He was promoted from within and the new management team is kick-ass. Things are getting done! I work four blocks from where I live so I want to stay there as long as possible. With the price of gas any more money I could make somewhere else would only be sucked up by petro. They're flexible with my working hours, the perks have been great and they're really supportive of outside commitments. There are times of the year when I have to put in more, like this past week, but hey at least I have the flexibility to get it done. I haven't worked this many hours (43 in 15 days) in a loooong time. Remember I'm a part time employee. That's okay I could use the extra bucks, which brings me to what else we've been up to.

School supplies.

Lawdy, this is a process I think I'm going to get down to a science and I never do. Apparently there is going to be a drought on glue sticks because there are none to be found at Target. I'm having to go to a bunch of different stores to get the list. Then the boys want to add their own stuff to the cart. "But, honey, you don't *need* and electric pencil sharpener. The list says an enclosed manual one." No avail. So there are fresh arguements at every store. No, you can't buy a toy here." "No, we're not getting another video game." "I'm sorry you left your money at home, but I'm not giving you any money for that $3 piece of crap that will break promptly after we leave the store" (Okay, the last part of that I said in my head, but you know you would have thought it too).

All this has me thinking that I should face the fact that I'm not going to progress as far as I hoped. I think we might be at a place where more things get done with the boys in school. Oh sure there are more commitments added to the mix, but I have 6 solid hours of boy-free time. Quite a bit can be accomplished without the constant interruption. That makes me feel better. Nothing like procrastination to keep you moving forward with your denial.

So that's why I haven't been around much. I'll try to be better.

-E

5 comments:

Denise said...
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Denise said...

"Mommy, can we put away the laundry before the pile crushes my little brother while he plays on the floor near the couch?" '

Yeah, my kids are always griping about the d@#$ laundry too. I haven't gotten a friggin thing done this summer either so don't sweat it!

Andrew McAllister said...

I always fool myself. Every spring I say, "This is the summer I'll be tough and say no when the kids want a drive everywhere, all the time. This is the summer I'll use the hours to good advantage and accomplish a ton."

But they need us. They'll be grown someday and we'll wish we had these summers back.

You're not alone!

Candy said...

Heh... I cheated. I gave a check to the PTA and they are getting the supplies for Jamie. Yeah, it was probably more, but I figured that after I was done buying the extra $3 toys and freaking out over glue sticks that it'd be worth it... I see I was probably right :-) I do need to get him a book bag... unless I can find his spiderman one...

We've gotten ZIP done ourselves this Summer. It's too hot outside, so the garage is a bust - Tom still cooks, but it's usually light stuff or stuff that doesn't need any baking (god, the oven is just terrible, my office gets too hot when it's on - well you know, we have the same freaking house!) LOL

Unknown said...

I agree with Andrew. They grow up too fast. Enjoy the lazy days of summer. We played scramble (scrable) last nite with L and the night before was non-stop card games. Have fun and don't feel guilty. I love shopping for school supplies. I've scoped out the prices and will be taking L next week to purchase.