Fragments of Recent Life

Life is a whirlwind of late...seems like I never fully recuperated from last semester, and now here we are about to finish out the second week of this semester. It feels like my life is so fragmented and so NOT cohesive - and I am a person who likes to have life TOGETHER, even if it does shoot out in all different directions.

My body is begging me for nutritious food, peace, rest, and water.

And I have answered with....

Coffee, processed (albeit lower fat/sodium) convenience foods for quick cooking (or none at all thru the day - I KNOW this is bad, believe me, I KNOW - but time is elusive), coffee, a stressful pace of life that leads many to say "I don't know how you do it," coffee, nights with 5-6 hrs of shut-eye, and more coffee. If I cut the coffee out, I am rendered helpless and sluggish in the completion of daily tasks. Coffee is my anti-kryptonite, ya'll.

Monday I was vacillating between stark raving mad and bluesy all day - everything made me mad, and then everything made me sad. It's the chaos of my life - getting to be a bit much for me. Is it any wonder that I've been on an organizing frenzy at home and at work in the past 2 weeks? My unconscious way of trying to order my disorder, and in a very surface way. I need to get real and figure out how to tame the chaos in my head to really get into a better place.

Tuesday my jaw and cheeks ached as a consequence of my constant clenching - of course I haven't been conscious of the clenching, just the side effects. I'm trying to be more cognizant of when I'm clenching, and what exactly is making me do it, but it is so subtle!

Switching gears...yesterday I registered Punkinhead for kindergarten. I thought registering LMNOB was bittersweet, but this was really a weird feeling that both of my kiddos are going to be school-aged next year. It's like a new parenting chapter. I'd forgotten just how DETAILED the kindergarten registration process is - At which week in pregnancy was your child born; Were there complications at delivery; how long was your labor; did your child reach his/her milestones early, on time, or late - and at what age; are there any family concerns the school should be aware of; when did you and your partner last have sex? Oh, I kid on that last one, but seriously it was grueling. And thorough.

But while it is weird to think that my babies will soon both be school agers, can I just say that holy hell am I glad that I should be done with school by the time BOTH of them are doing homework - LMNOB's schoolwork alone is overwhelming - though a new breakthrough came this week when LMNOB and Charlie Brown became the dynamic diorama duo.

Seriously, Charlie Brown came home from Hobby Lobby $50 poorer. For a first grade project. His answer? "That's what we had kids for was fun stuff like this!" Ok, and how can I knock the father daughter bonding? Priceless really.

Besides, hers really was the best. And the best is good.It was a diorama for Little House in the Big Woods, which LMNOB read all by herself!

I've been named leader of this week's discussion by my discussion group - which has made things a bit more stressful than need be. Also, a reading schedule that says "Ch. 14 of Req'd Text, plus Supplemental Readings," partnered with allusions of week one being "easy" since it was a short week, led to me being really overwhelmed when I clicked the "supplemental readings" link and found SEVEN ginormously long and technical journal articles. I still haven't finished them, and am now almost thru with week 2, which was 5 more articles. Crap. Guess what Heather is going to be doing this weekend? Reading. And wrangling kids (Charlie Brown's Saturday to work) and a new puppy.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that detail. We have a new furry baby. His name is Porter, he is a Springer Spaniel, and he is 9 weeks old. Which means, mornings have another dimension of crazy to them at casa del Meyer. Like I needed more, eh?