Here Goes Nothing

 Genius Golfer and I made an offer on some commercial property.  The seller has a week to respond.  We asked for a part of the lot they are selling, instead of the whole thing. We didn't know that was an option when we started.  The only reference we have was in the world of residential real estate...and commercial is a very different animal, as we are learning.

So we wait.

In the meantime, I have been woken up a few different days with thoughts of how much stuff is still left in our northern house. I woke up with ideas about how to liquidate the stuff and what the house will needs in terms of TLC and projects completed to get tit ready for whatever comes next--sale or rent, we don't quite know yet.  Either way, the more my middle of the night thoughts got going the more awake I felt and the longer I was actually awake in the middle of the night. And that creates a very tired morning after I eventually do fall back asleep.

So my progress to reign in the fatigue is upended. At least for a little while.

But the next day I still get up and do my regular half hour or yoga and then swim for another half an hour and try to push myself the rest of the day so I can be tired enough to go to bed and stay asleep. The cycle sometimes repeats but not always.

My chores to get healthy and feel better and get rested and back to "normal" are in constant flux, but that is life. Each day gives me a chance to try again.  And each night my brain gets a chance to rest or wake with surges of to-do lists that are not even in my wheelhouse at this moment. But I still try.

I am excited about our proposed location.  We met with the franchiser, and will again this afternoon to show and tell our proposed location as well as the other 2nd, 3rd, and 4th picks. But happily, I might add, I haven't had any sick to my stomach feelings of nerves or doubts since we made the offer. I count that as a win.

More details to cone, as they are revealed to us. But I am feeling good, and physically gaining ground on my way back to feeling GOOD.

So Much to Do....

Saturdays are getting old.  I have so much to do over a weekend, and never enough time to do them all.  Then Sunday rolls in and I have stuff I have to have ready for the morning--teaching Primary does that to you--and then before I know it I am facing Monday head on.

How does this happen EVERY week?

Laundry, shopping, cleaning, projects.  All these need to be done, but I want to play and have a relaxing weekend--not a chore-filled end to my chore-filled week at work.

I guess this is the part of life my mom tried to teach me wasn't fair, so I should just suck it up and get on with life.  But it doesn't make me like it any more.

So much to do, so little energy and interest to do it. 

We Must be Getting Old

Remember when a cute guy was someone with tight jeans or a cool car or both?  I must be showing my age because HERE is what a cute guy looks like now:

Yep.  You can't see it, but Genius Golfer was vacuuming the stairs for me Friday.  Actually it was for The Boy, whose job that is each week and who also traded  his dad that job for a vacuuming of the cars instead.  I think GG won that deal.

But I won in the end, since I didn't have to vacuum the stairs!

 Even if he didn't like the picture taking of his in action!

Labor Day Holiday

The title alone warrant a chuckle.  It is a holiday for those who labor.  Well, for most of them.

A mom's work is never done, as the piles of laundry are here to attest.  Also, I forced The Boy to help me power wash the back of the house and the patio...probably  just in time for the rain to come...and for me to be completely pelted with dirt, leaves, gravel and mud from the power wash process, thus creating even more laundry.

Some things change, and then there is laundry.  Time to change it.

In Mid-Avoidance

I am finding all sorts of things to do today to avoid getting out all the paraphernalia that it takes to work on scrapbooks.  It was on my radar to work on the scrapbooks today--the yucky weather helps that project--but I keep finding things to do to avoid it.

There was a time when the scrapbooking was a therapeutic and relaxing things to do on a rainy, or snowy day.  But I have two banker's boxes full of the scraps, plus all the photos from the last two years for our family book; and each of the kids have a banker's box of their stuff, along with photos for the past year or so.  I try to keep theirs up, as they do occasionally look at their books.

I know that scrapbooks are just a nice thing--and not necessary to my eternal happiness, not even the idea of happy for the weekend.  But I would feel much less guilt and have fewer "bad-mom" vibes if I could get it caught up.

I have discovered that as the kids get busier with their own friends, the scouts, work, teams, etc. I am not taking as many photos of them as I did when they were little and we are together all the time.  I guess I miss that on one hand, but on the other I am relieved that I don't have more to put into their books.  Pretty sad commentary, right?

It is amazing how many other "undone" things are getting my attention, however, as I avoid the supposedly "fun" way to spend my day.

Checklists: The Solution

As this was the first Saturday morning in many weeks that four of us were home for a few hours at the same time, I set us up a plan to get some things done around here. And I made lists for everyone.

I am a natural, genetically-predisposed to list making. My mom has been making lists for as long as I can remember. They are wildly helpful, you know.

So for each of the kids, I made a checklist of all the chores that they were facing today. Many were the regular Saturday chores, but they each got a few more than normal just because it was the first day of summer vacation and they aren't tired enough to be grumpy about it yet. Plus, Genius Golfer went out early and bought donuts and chocolate milk. His donation is the bribe.

Somehow, when the kids see the chores on the paper and they can check them off the list, I think they are happier to do them. Well, "happier" might not be the exact word for it, but they are less likely to whine. Plus, as an added bonus, when I make the list and they do the chores and check them off, I am more likely to feel satisfied with their efforts at the end too. Maybe it is something visual about seeing the list checked off.

Whatever it is, I have no problems with them playing with friends for the rest of the afternoon (The Boy's plan) or heading off to work and then meeting friends at the pool (The Girl's plan) or playing in a tournament today (GG's plan, nearly every weekend).

Mr. Pouty-Face

The Boy, now 12 and going quickly on 13, has been charged with the daily chore of wiping off the table and sweeping the dining room floor this month. He hasn't been doing it. Seeing as the month (and the chore assignment) changes on Monday around here, I told him that the consequence of his not doing his assignment would be that today he gets to sweep all the wood floors--kitchen, dining room, and entry way--and mop the same.

He was thrilled. NOT.

Even as I type, he is moping around with a broom slowly sweeping up the pile of junk from under the table, under the cabinets, and near the front door. Poor baby.

You'd think he would learnt o just do the job assigned, right? Last night, his assignment was the dishwasher--everyday, load and unload and put away. Did he do it? Only when I nagged him, and that usually meant that there were no dishes in the cabinet to put out for dinner that night. At the end of January he has a pile to wash BY HAND.

You'd think he was being tortured.

I believe I will think up some devilish assignments for him this summer and then he will be sincerely happy to go back to the school year chores. Maaahaaahhhhaaaaa. (evil laugh)

Being the "mean parent" is not only my job, it is also my hobby.

Contemplating Sentencing

Here we are, midway through the summer, and my two little "darlings" have had a great vacation so far, if I do say so myself. They are swimming, they are camping, they are getting treats at the Gas 'N Sip with me almost daily, they have been out to lunch more times than I care to mention, they play with friends, they play at the pool, their chore charts have been light, and I have pretty much let them do what they like once the things I need them to do are completed.

Well, the bubble burst yesterday.

I had a full morning of PTA audits in Lindon. [These are the year-end, turn-in-your-reports, trade-books-with-the-incoming-folks, wash-your-hands-of-this-mess kind of thing.] We help them file the required IRS 990 form to show they really are a non-profit organization. It is tedious and necessary, and certainly not my favorite part of this gig.

By the time we were done, it was then almost 1 PM. My head was ready to explode. I drove home, expecting my little dears to comfort me and make me feel happy I chose only two children in my life. What crazy stuff was IN that mug, really?!

Instead, I found a basket full of wet laundry in the bathroom, and grunting and huffing-like-trolls children who had spent their morning growling at each other about who got to watch what on TV while they did NOT finish the jobs I had left them. When The Girl left to go with her YW group to hike for their activity today, The Boy took over and figured since she didn't finish her stuff, he didn't have to do his.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my life this week? I didn't think so.

Today is not going to be better, I am afraid. I have Day Two of Audits--hopefully not from hell--today, then I spend the afternoon with Dear Friend Tammy, where I get intensely agitated that her girls have not stepped up to help their own mother and family during this ALS-induced upheaval.

I'm thinking if the demeanor of my two isn't much improved by an hour and a half of swim practice today, I will be bringing them to Tammy's and making them do some housekeeping chores there, where I can supervise, and where they will be watched by Tammy's girls--who I know will not lift a finger to help out. That might be a good opportunity to "adjust" their attitudes.

I might just be back in the running for Meanest Mother of the World again! Yesssss.

Saturday is a Special Day

The swim meet this morning was crazy, but now it is done. I have power-napped and sufficiently caffeinated my afternoon. The best part was coming home to smell bathroom cleaner. No, I wasn't huffing the foaming bubbles, but Genius Golfer had brought The Boy and The Girl home from the meet after their events. (I was still working the end of the swim meet). GG got The Girl off to the Youth Conference activity-of-the-day with her YW leaders (thanks, Deb and Amy) and then helped The Boy clean his assigned bathroom. I didn't even have to ask (or threaten or cajole or coerce). I LOVE it when that happens!

Now, all that said, The Girl didn't get her Saturday chores done. But after arriving at the pool this morning in time for the 6:30 AM warm ups looking like Dawn of the Living Dead and proceeding to swim all her events and still be in a decent mood wanting to attend the Youth Conference activity in SLC, she agreed to do her jobs later this afternoon. She even has told me that she would like to practice her piano and do her reading that she missed on Thursday and Friday (because of Youth Conf) on Sunday afternoon after church. That is a deal I'll make.