Most of the people who read this blog know me in real life.
(Hi, Mom and Dad.) But for those who don't, I'll let you in on a little secret: I am reeeeeeeeeeeally bad at saying no when people ask me to do things. Part of this stems from an unfortunate character flaw I have wherein I think that, since I know the best way to do everything, I am therefore the best person to ask to complete any task you might have at hand. (I'm working on it, I promise.)
But I also love to be busy. Choosing to be a stay-at-home mom was
not a choice to have a freer schedule in any way. In fact, sometimes I think that if I were still at work, I'd be able to get a little more done during the day because I could use my lunch hour to run errands and not have to spend half of the time wrangling a baby into and out of a car seat.
Case in point: at church on Sunday, I was chatting with our organist after the service and asked him how things were going with the musical he's conducting over at our local high school, where he happens to be the choir director. Ten minutes later, I had agreed to play in the pit orchestra for a six-show run of
West Side Story with two days of preparatory practice time (for those not in the know, it's just about the most demanding musical score ever written).
A few weekends ago on the anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's* birthday,
Penguin Books Australia tweeted about a
Jane Eyre bracelet I was selling in my shop. Since then, I've somehow agreed to a dozen custom orders for similar bracelets, most of which are being sent to some lovely ladies in the land down under -- and did I mention that each bracelet takes me about 10 hours to complete?
In addition to trying to get our house ready to have two bathrooms remodeled and a dishwasher installed, prepping before company comes for 5 days during which time I have to attend two parties and serve as the liturgist at church, planning a wedding shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law, trying to decide if we're putting our house on the market, and writing a guest post for
a blog I love (Megan, I swear I loved doing this one -- totally not complaining!), I've been schlepping a squirmy baby with me to try to get some other tasks done: renting a storage unit, having my dress altered for the wedding in July ("No, don't touch those pins!"), and the usual trip to three grocery stores since none of them sell all of the things we actually want. We've actually managed to squeeze in playdates, swimming lessons, and our weekly library trip somehow, too.
Oh, and in case I didn't tell you (ha ha -- it's been my major conversation topic lately!), baby girl has been waking up 5-6 times a night so I've been averaging 3 or 4 hours of sleep in between the crying jags.
This sounds like a very long complaint about my life, which it isn't. I started this by saying "I love to be busy," right? And I do. But my "busy as a bee" stamina seems to be a little less than it used to be pre-baby...so I compensate by skipping things like actually doing my hair, eating a lot more sugar than I should to keep my energy levels up, and letting some stuff go that I probably shouldn't. (Hello, giant pile of dirty laundry. Greetings, takeout from Noodles and Panera instead of healthy, home-cooked meals.)
So how do the rest of you do it? I know I'm not the only busy mom out there -- I would love to hear your tips on keeping yourself sane while managing to get it all done, or your ideas for learning how to say no!
*I know I'm missing the umlaut, but blogger refuses to cooperate!
