Catching up, via a bulleted list

Gosh, it's been a crazy two weeks.

A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONGGG 2 weeks.

• The Blizzard, part one and part two snowed us in before and after Christmas. We were able to get home for the holiday, which was nice, but the kids being out of their routines was stress enough - add cabin fever, and well, egads. I am reminded as to why I am not a good SAHMommy - edited to add: and thus, am a responsible parent by working out of the home so that the kids get a good Mama! Round three is around tomorrow's corner, apparently. Oh. Joy

• Meanwhile - Christmas happened. I was not really in the spirit this year. AT ALL. And then....well, to make a long story short, husbands take note: white elephant/gag gifts to your spouse are not necessarily appreciated when they are not expecting them - as opposed to the normal, more thoughtful gift(s) - especially when they have been hyped up to believe said gift is "so awesome it will make you cry," for days on end, or when this gift has a sentimental, sappy card affixed to it, that is nothing more than a huge set-up....And, this lack of appreciation is not indicative that your spouse needs a sense of humor, either. That's all I'ma gonna say..

• I'd scheduled last week off, as "vacation." Picture me laughing out loud like an idiot dribbling my finger in my mouth. I may as well have booked a trip to HELL. Serious. I LOVE my darlings. When they are in their grooves. When I'm in my groove. When the status quo of activitiy is interrupted, my kids go temporarily insane - and the cabin fever, which was merely icing on this cake of madness (departing from routine), is all the City's fault! Not really, but it seems like everyone expects the surrounding municipal governments to dig everyone out - they're doing what they can without our property/sales/luxury/pull-money-out-of-thin-air taxes going thru the roof. Get out and be a Rambo like Charlie Brown...then you can get out! At one point I was walking around the house, going, "Loud noises!" and covering my ears like the weirdo dude in Anchor Man. And, since I was snowed out of 3 days the week prior to my "vacation," I was totally tempted to cut my vacation short and return to work and get some of the more pressing things done - merely as a means of being able to hear myself think. But I didn't, b/c arranging childcare that I'd already cancelled would be a PITA.

• I came back to work, with my new FULL-TIME status, on Tuesday. And catch-up has been a bee-atch. But I'm totally glad for it, that's a craziness I can handle! Today I got lots of stuff done.

• My award luncheon got rescheduled for MIL's b'day. Which since none of you know her, is February 21st. And since it is a week after V-day, they are theming it a "Hearts for Housing" luncheon, since winter holidays are no longer the fitting seasonal theme. Cute. And, who knows, maybe it'll be 75 degrees in February?

• School starts in less than 2 weeks. I'm getting scared. Now it is sinking in - how will I do it all??? There's a reason everyone is asking me that question. But, I'm still putting on the Li'l Engine That Could game-face: I think I can, I think I can....Edited to add: prayers always welcome!

• Since my new d/c gal/neighbor is has been out of the country, I've been able to utilize the hired help of a woman from church. I'm thanking God that I landed her versus a college student/teen - no offense to my younger readers. But seriously - my experience with the younger girls is that the kids are fine, great even, but 99.9% of the time, my house, is not even bordering fine when I return. Thus, the whole purpose of a babysitter (making life easier) is lost, when the time deficit earned by the household mess I now have to clean is greater than the savings. But I digress....thanking God, right? Yes.....L is a dream! The dishes she and Punkinhead use during the day are always clean. My laundry that is in the dryer is always folded! Laundry that is not in the washer magically appears and keeps me caught up. Glory hallelujah - I'm so NOT being facetious - the woman is worth her weight and then some in GOLD.

• And, last but not least, going on the ~100 years lifespan premise, I am in what I've coined my 1/3rd life crisis. Not mid-life, since I'm only roughly one-third through it. Who am I? Who was I? Who do I still want to be? Who have I decided not to be? When I get all the who's figured out, then I have the what's and how's to tackle. What does that mean? How do I get to be that who? What parts of my life can I look at as if it were advice, and take the good but leave the rest? What parts of my life do I need to totally cut out? What parts of my life do I need to remodel? And just how in the hell do I go about doing all of this? It sounds dramatic - like I need a crisis to be. I don't want that to be the case - fervently and feverishly, I do not want to be the over-emotional nut job. And at the same time, it is dramatic. After all, I've only MAYBE got 2/3rds of this life left to live - who needs the process of figuring it out?? I want the life of having it figured out, ya know?