My Mission

Whew. I am finally recovering from the insanity of the last ten days.  Here at The Gang's house, we've had some of the craziest happenings we've ever experienced in just this one 10- day time period.

Shaggy had his first car accident. He's fine. But the car isn't. So Momma is back on taxi duty. For his job, for Dr. D's football lifting schedule, and for all the other stuff that The Boss can't help with when he's at his part-time job.

The Boss has had several interviews and is working lots of hours at his part-time, fill-in-the-blanks job. He's also managed to finish his part of Baby BlueEyes' room and knock some random little jobs off his "Honey Do" list. Today, he's starting Li'l Empress's new room. We are getting SUCH a kick out of how cheaply we are able to transform these rooms.  Really, it's a sickness, I think.

Baby BlueEyes' room is all but done. A few pictures to hang and voila! I also have to find a bulletin board and a couple lampshades. A big reveal post should be coming soon. If it stops raining and I can get out to my local B!g L@ts on the way to Shaggy's night shift, that is....

Li'l Empress has successfully and even cheerfully navigated the change from her tiny, cozy little room to the bigger room she will eventually share with Brynna. She experienced a couple bumps but a smooth transition over all. Even after we moved BBE over into his new room and she re-adjusted to sleeping in a room alone again.

The Boss chaperoned a trip with BBE to historic sites around Philly with the whole 4th grade. He did it with the older kids too and I'm so, so grateful that they had a safe, fun time. When I asked BBE what the best part of the day was, he replied, "Seeing the Rocky statue." Ugh. That SOOOO would not be my answer!!!!

We had a big "Happy 13th" birthday party here for LadyBug. I took it easy on myself with the crazy schedule I've been keeping and just ordered pizza. You'd have thought THAT was her gift, she was so happy to consume pizza with her cousins!

LadyBug had not one but THREE major concerts in less than a week. (Really, what is UP with that?! THREE IN FIVE DAYS!) The final one was a competition with the organization called Music in the Park and was outstanding! Both sets of grandparents got to hear her ensemble perform, which was such a treat for all of us.

The best part of the competition is that the day included a trip to Dorney Park. It was the actual day of her 13th birthday and I chaperoned the trip. It was fun hanging out with her and her two friends. Such sweet kids. At the end of the day, there was an awards assembly and her ensemble won both categories that they were entered into, resulting in some pretty neat trophies.

My on-line yard sale is still running, but it has slowed down a bit so I've been creating some sales and incentives and trying to get creative with moving all that stuff out of my garage and into someone else's home.

Today, I've set aside the day to reclaim the counter-tops from the flowing piles of paperwork. So far, I've accomplished the following, all before I ate my late breakfast:

• updated my freezer inventory
• planned about 1/2 of the meals we need for the remainder of the school year
• made a rough grocery list
• updated all my sale sites on FB and on craigslist
• cleaned off the front of the fridge

Man, I hate the cluttered mess that my fridge and my counters become when things are busy here - scraps of notes and reminders all over the place. It makes ME feel scattered and phrenetic.

I call it reclaiming my territory. This time around, it really felt like the land was taken over by crazy alien invaders and I had to go in with a conqueror's mentality. Slaying the dragon of chaos. Vanquishing the enemy of order and peace. Restoring order to the kingdom.

Yup, today it's all about recovery. That's my mission and considering the condition of things around here, I have no choice BUT to accept it!