Goals For the Weekend
I think it’s safe to say I’ve survived the final week home with my children before school starts. We still have Monday and Tuesday next week before the big kids start school and another full week Jonas’s Montessori is closed, but we’re getting closer to my normal, actually productive schedule. Can you tell I’m counting the hours (23 more with just me and the kids. And my job. And my blogs. And the laundry and the cooking and the mess. All of us alone here in my house and me as the only adult. Twenty-three more hours. I don’t really see the light at the end of the tunnel yet. It’s still a lot of tunnel.)?
There have been some positives this week.
1. Approval for a buyer on one of the shortsales we’ve been waiting for. You know, after a daily update of, “I should have it in my hands today!” for two straight weeks. But beggers can’t be choosers, now can they?
2. I finally booked our 10 year anniversary trip for January. We’re going to Cancun. The planning process almost killed me. My friend, Amanda, adores trip planning and I have to tell you, I do not get it. It’s incredibly stressful and time-intensive. It also inevitably reminds me of one of the only trips Jason and I have ever taken together just the two of us, our honeymoon to Greece. During which I told him I hated him and was sorry I’d married him. Yes, I’m a peach to travel with. It’s just so much pressure for it to be perfect. It’s like prom. I was always a total bitch at prom, too. So maybe this one’s not completely a positive for my husband.
3. Jonas and I showed 7 houses together and he’s well on his way to becoming my protege. He totally has the awestruck, “Wow, this room is HUGE,” line down and we only had to practice it like three times before we left. He even ad-libbed a, “That pool is so great!” in one house and it came off completely sincere. Kid’s a natural. I’m gonna slip an extra fig Newton into his lunch next week for a job well done.
4. I’ve made some progress with my middle son on his reading. This has been one of those epic struggles I’ve just been completely unprepared for as a parent. To get us through a book, I have to summon every iota of patience in my body to be positive and helpful and properly motivate him to want to read it. By the end we’re both near tears and when Ben walks into the room and asks for a glass of water I snap, “Why don’t you just suck the blood from my veins while you’re at it!” because I’ve left everything I had to offer my children on the floor with that book. Yes, we learned that if you get separated from your mom at the mall you should really head toward the nearest toy store and a totally non-creepy security guard will come help you find your mother, but at what price? The price of my sanity.
So… yeah. That was the positive. I swear once the kids are back to the normal routine and I have 10 minutes straight to focus on one single task I will stop writing such maudlin posts about how I suck at life. Or I’ll try to keep those down to once a week, at least. Because let’s face it, without dramatics and sucking at life, what do I have?
To get me through the weekend (which will be busy, but at least I’ll have another adult around to help deal with the kids), I’ve made myself a goal list so that this weekend doesn’t end up like last weekend:
1. Drink enough water I don’t have dehydration-rage when I walk in the door after showings on Saturday.
2. No more than 3 stress-induced fights with my husband (I was going to say ‘No stress-induced fights with my husband’ but I like to keep my goals realistic.).
3. No stops at Chipotle for binge eating of chips.
4. Attend at least one ballet class so I feel less like punching a kitten in the face.
5. Give the box of wine a rest and go to bed early at least one out of the next three nights.
I think those are doable goals, don’t you? I think I can, I think I can, I think I can survive the next 5 days.