Day 4: For The Damsel in Distress

That's me. The damsel in distress. I can't seem to escape it, no matter how independent I'd like to think I am. I had hired two of the Young Women to come help me after school today, and with their help, I was determined to paint my living room area. But while they were in school, I decided I'd do all the cutting in. Not a bad idea, right? Wrong. This is me we're talking about, remember? I popped out to the garage to get some painting tape when SLAM! The door locked behind me. Here I was, still in my jammies, my hair going every which way, and I was locked out of my house. To make matters worse, Hayden was still inside. I quickly made my way around the house, trying every window and door. Everything was locked up tight. So, I ran to my neighbors house and asked to use the phone to call Jared. After 10 minutes of trying, he still hadn't picked up (most likely because he didn't recognize the number). I finally told the receptionist my situation and begged to have her send someone to find him or something. She said she would email him. Seriously? My baby is locked in the house all alone, and you're just going to email him? I tried to politely thank her for her help (or lack thereof), and decided to just continue calling Jared's cell until he picked up. At some point he'd wonder who the heck was calling every 30 seconds, right? Well, luckily, it didn't take too long. Can you believe it - he got the email! So, my Knight in Shining Armor rushed to aid his two damsels in distress. Meanwhile, I sat waiting at the back porch, watching a sobbing Hayden through the sliding glass door. It was heartbreaking. In fact, after crying throughout this 20-minute ordeal, she'd worn herself out, and was soon fast asleep, a full hour earlier than usual.

As the afternoon approached, I was looking forward to the girls coming over to help me paint. But the appointed time came... and went... without a single knock at the door. Neither of the two girls I'd hired showed up. I think it's time for a Sunday lesson on dependability! Seriously? So I got to work on my own, hoping I'd get it done quickly. When I was barely finishing the first coat around 7:30 tonight, I started panicking. I've got to have this done, my house cleaned, and food made for this baby shower by Saturday morning! I can't spend another day painting! Luckily, my fabulous husband stepped up again, as did my awesome girlfriend, Kristen. After the kids were tucked into bed, they helped me paint until the paint was gone. Unfortunately, there's still work to be done, but like I said, the paint was gone. So I've got to make an early morning trip to get some more, and hopefully Kristen and I will be able to finish before lunchtime tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Did I mention I have the BEST HUSBAND EVER?

Day 3: Cookie Therapy

So, this is probably the worst possible way to deal with stress. In a moment of weakness, I bought more Girl Scout Cookies. The Deaf Troop was in front of Raley's last night, and my Dad and I just couldn't turn them down. We bought 3 boxes. I don't even want to think about how many I've eaten since then. D@♡Ω Girl Scouts!

Day 2: Sleep It Off!

Another busy day. The frenzy has begun getting ready for this baby shower Saturday, but the most important thing I had to do was make sure that I had a full detailed outline for our Young Women in Excellence program to share with the other members of the Presidency tonight. I knew I needed to have it together before I sat down to do this, so a good night's sleep was a must. However, that wasn't really in the stars. When my alarm went off at 7:30, I dragged myself out of bed, surprised that Jason wasn't awake yet. He's usually in the family room playing the Wii when I get up. But no, he was out cold. I checked him, and he had a fever, so I let him stay in bed and if I hadn't been so tired, I would have jumped for joy at the thought that I could go back to bed, too! The kids didn't get up until after 9:00, and while I was awake, I didn't start functioning until about 10:30. It was lovely. By then, I felt pretty good, and was able to make a knockout outline for tonight. When that was done, I still had time to make dinner and to start unloading the bookshelves so that we can paint the living room on Thursday. Not looking forward to that job. By the time YW was over tonight, I was again pretty exhausted. So I was back in bed by 9:00. Sleep is good!

Day 1: Sending Out an SOS

Today was a little more nuts than I expected it to be. It started at 6 am, when a multitude of trains decided to pass by (I didn't think we lived that close to the tracks). It woke both me and Hayden up, after being asleep only 3 hours since her last midnight meltdown. Not typical for her, but she had a fever last night, and was pretty miserable. I did get a little bit of a load off, though. Jared didn't have to be to work until 9:00 this morning, so he got Jason up and off to school. I finally got around to getting up and ready for the day around 8:30, and was ready to run my errands by about 11. Jared had asked for more garden boxes, which we get at The Container Store... in San Jose. So, because I was willing to go get them for him, I figured he could meet me for lunch today. Which he did, and it was really nice because we actually had a real conversation for once! One that wasn't about the kids or the budget or the amount of weeds yet to pull. After lunch, Hayden and I made it out to get our garden boxes, then headed back to pull Jason out of school a little early for his doctor's appointment. I had called earlier to get Hayden in as well, as she seemed to be coming down with the same thing. But no. Dr. Burke was able to diagnose her right away: an ear infection. Not that she made it easy for him. I think she remembers all too well last week, when she got 4 shots. Jason was a whole other ball of wax. Because his antibiotics didn't seem to be working, the doctor sent us to get a chest and sinus x-ray. Hayden loved that. The first 10 minutes we were there, she kept running out the front door and making a beeline for the parking lot. I finally shut the door, tired of chasing her, and she threw a monster fit on the waiting room floor. When she was done, she decided it was time to empty the contents of my purse. She pulled out my wallet and started walking around showing all the other patients what she had found. And of course, every time I tried to get it back from her, she screamed like a banshee. Lovely child I've got, really. The x-rays took forever. And Hayden was driving me crazy. Luckily, I was granted a lifeline. Jared texted to see if I needed some help. YES! Save me, please! So, my wonderful husband left work about 20 minutes early to rush to my aid. He took Hayden home, picking up her prescription from the pharmacy on the way. Jason and I, however, had to go back to Dr. Burke's for his x-ray results. Chronic sinusitis. 2 more prescriptions. Not generic. Ouch, says my bank account. Well, at least I didn't have to drag a screaming toddler through the line at Walgreens.

Week 7: Be Cool

I am not looking forward to this week. I just feel like there is so much going on, and I'm really hoping I can just get through it all. First of all, I've got two sick kids. Jason's been sick for about 6 weeks now. He's been on antibiotics for 2 without any improvement, so he's got another doctor's appointment tomorrow. At Church, we've got Young Women in Excellence coming up in a few weeks, and I've been assigned the planning of this event. We're having our meeting to discuss my "plan" on Tuesday, so I've got to get that all ironed out and ready to present. My dad's in town this week, so I'm also trying to make time to spend with him. And of course, there's the baby shower this weekend. I'm trying really hard to have my house looking lived in, yet clean by the time people start arriving on Saturday. We'll see how it goes. Jared, and I admit I too am anxious to get our garden going, so that's another big job on the list of to-do's this week. So, I'm just a little stressed out, a little frantic, about having the time to do it all, do it all well, and not fall down on my whole mommy and wife gig too much. Oh, and did I mention that I'm still sick as well? I gave in and took some cold medicine today, hoping it would help me get through all I had going on. Big mistake. I still had all my cold symptoms: pounding headache, post-nasal drip (ew!), scratchy throat. But in addition, I felt like I was on speed (and not in a good way). So, because I'm already feeling overwhelmed at the mere thought of this week, my focus is going to be just keeping it together. I'm going to try to be aware of the length of my proverbial string, and attempt to keep it from getting too short or wound too tight. Is this a pathetic goal for the week? Maybe. But at least it's realistic.

Days 3-6: Dropped the Ball

Okay, so I've kind of blown it on posting my progress this week. And my progress has been minimal. I discovered that I'm too short to paint the stars on Jason's ceiling, even when I'm standing on a chair, so until we can buy at least a 3-step stepladder, that's off the agenda. I did, however, manage to get Jason's room put back together. We painted his old picture frames black and then embossed them in gold, silver, and blue with a cool star pattern. I have yet to hang them up, though. Maybe it'll happen tomorrow. It is looking pretty cool in there, though. Jason's pretty happy with it, at least, and that's what counts.