Happy Leap Day!!!
I have three pic-heavy posts almost ready to go, but today is turning out to be wacko so they’re not going to happen until later.
And wacko = time for a reality-check post.
The short version: We’re surviving.
The slightly-longer version:
It’s Monday, so it’s Laundry Day, even though I won’t be home for much of it at all. There’s a meeting this morning for parents of incoming ninth-graders.
NINTH graders.
Like, high school. And that is seriously freaking me out. But it also happens to be the day I am shooting my book cover at a studio an hour away from my house. So I’ll come home from the meeting, have the scheduled-before-I-knew-about-the-covershoot-but-it’s-the-last-day-of-February-so-I-can’t-reschedule online hangout for patrons.
This is one of those days (they happen a lot) when I’m so grateful to have routines. And not just routines, but the understanding of the importance of those routines because I’ve lived both with and without them. It’s only because the whole family knows Monday is the day when laundry happens that we sorted clothes last night, and I have the motivation to fold the load in the dryer and get a new load going before I rush out to start this crazy day. Most likely, it will be tomorrow (or Wednesday) before Laundry Day is done, but we’re 1000x better off because Laundry Day exists.
Without it, I’d never even consider trying to fit laundry into a crazy day.
The rest of the house is officially in the familiar state of: It Could Be Worse.
I keep running the dishwasher, emptying it and refilling it, even though the kitchen as a whole is far from Company Ready.
We’ve done two five-minute pickups in the last two days, which means the living room (don’t ask about the dining room, please) doesn’t look like our house was hit by a tornado.
No dusting or vacuuming or mopping has happened in the recent past, but really, it could be worse. I’m still amazed (after 6.5 years and writing a book about the subject) at the impact of little daily tasks.
So there you go. A rambly post for your Monday morning. And an encouragement to keep going in the Midst of the Crazy. It’s worth it, I promise.