Everyday Balance, Vol 1

Sometimes I just need to know other people struggle with balance as much as I do.  Ironically, it’s the very knowing that helps me stay balanced.  Then I look at my chaos and go, “Okay, this is normal, Sandy.  Carry on.”

Maybe you feel that way, too.

That’s the idea behind my new feature called “Everyday Balance.”  This is where I simply give you a glimpse into my imperfectly balanced life.  The good, the bad and the messy.  And let you know it’s normal.

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I look at this first thing every morning to get my brain on straight and remind me who I am.  It’s a printed copy of this.  And it’s taped to my bathroom mirror.

 

The other night, Rebekah and I set out to make two dozen cupcakes for an 8th grade demonstration speech.  Four hours, lots of red dye 40, and two trips to the grocery store later…They came out beautifully.  But not without some tears and frustration first.  I’m not exaggerating when I confess they were a lot of work.

 

 

Speaking of school, Elliana had to do a “kind deed” for her kindergarten homework.  Since her daddy was working very late, she chose to write him a note and stick it to his mirror.  She wrote it sans help from Mommy.  How adorable is this?

 

If you have small children, you know how difficult it can be to have an uninterrupted adult conversation in the house.  So sometimes, after dinner, I follow Jon into our bedroom and lock the door.  I know it sounds very steamy, eh? But honestly,it’s very boring as I sit on the edge of the bathtub and catch him up on the day’s happenings.  Elliana hates when we do this, and usually sits right outside the door until we are finished.  Here is what we found outside our bedroom door when we came out the other night.

Let’s get a close-up on that carpet.  Before you tell me how “not gross” it is, let me just say it was installed in 1999 by the previous owner of the house, I’ve potty trained two kids on it, and it’s supposed to be white.  We are replacing it in the spring.  I. Can’t. Wait.

I finally tackled this job.  For nearly a month, I had a pile of new clothes on top of a giant bin of hand-me-downs plopped in the middle of Elliana’s room.  I couldn’t hang anything until I first removed all the out-of-season and too-small clothes from the closet.  A few weeks ago, it was 45 degrees outside and Elliana was coming down in a sundress and flip flops because that’s all she had in her closet.  Man, how I dread that job.  I’m so happy to have it finished.  Clean closets bring me peace.  You think I’m kidding?

This is what Elijah means by “I made my bed neatly.”

 

And check this out.  Elijah has been working on this Lego fortress for about a year.  Every night, he goes up to his room and adds a few more pieces.

Apparently, there is some kind of Lego battle going on, because there are a few dead guys lying around.

Tonight Elijah came down after his shower to give me an impromptu concert on his viola.  He started taking lessons this year.  He played me “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”  It was fabulous.  And I’m not just saying that because I’m his Momma.  I was truly impressed.

Every year Jon and I try to do something generous for another family for Christmas.  This year we adopted a family with two kids, ages 3 and 5.  We always try to make it a fun family project, you know, to help our children focus on giving rather than getting. It was hardly the true-meaning-of-Christmas moment I was going for. One of our kids didn’t want to be there.  And the other kids also did not want to be there.  After a lot of, “No you cannot have that.”  And, “I said we are NOT shopping for you right now.”  And, “You can BOTH hold onto the cart!!!!” we planted a little seed of generosity in their hearts.  I hope.

And finally, Jon and I spent 6 hours shopping today and just about wiped out our entire list in one day—and that’s sayin something because we have 37,000 people to buy for and we hadn’t done a lick of shopping prior to this day, exept for 3 presents I ordered off Amazon last week that have yet to arrive.

We would have had it completely done, except we forgot the malls close early on Sunday. We were in Panera and we were all, “Why are they locking the doors?”

Duh.

I don’t have a picture of the loot, because it’s  locked in the storage room and I’m dog-tired and my eyes are stuck to my contacts and I’m fairly certain I’m no longer writing coherent sentences.

(Insert picture of giant pile of Christmas presents here)

The End.

 

Q4U:  How are you enjoying the holiday season?  I’m feeling a little more stressed and overwhelmed than usual.  Is it just me?  Are you done with your shopping?  Are you one of those people who have it all wrapped and under the tree by Thanksgiving?  Please say no.

 

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Linking up with Emily today at Tuesdays Unwrapped