The ride so far

The roller coaster continues to gain momentum and speed.  Feeling so much pressure, being pulled this way, being thrown that way, flying up to the peak and racing down to the bottom...it's all going to be great fun!  What a ride so far.

Lots of the details came together yesterday in concrete and today in planning.  Am still requesting another helper for the open house, but so far no volunteers.  This isn't Sudan, but I am trusting Papa for things beyond my ability to produce them. 

Learning to control me and to not try to control others or be controlled by others is a challenge.  Not sure why, but I tend to take others' problems on as my fault or as them pointing to me as the one at fault.  Thanks to my BESTEST BESTIE, I am at least recognizing that it's not true.

Our 10-year-old daughter is the only one here with me right now; she came out with her giant stuffed gorilla named Gloria to hug me goodnight, when we remembered her medicine for the UTI she is fighting off.  It's her room time, but neither of her roommates are here: 12-year-old and 7-years-old sisters.  They went over to the nearby beloved YMCA camp with the rest of the fam.  This daughter, the 10-year-old, is so sensitive and beautiful; all five daughters are, actually. 

Just to make myself feel better, I am going to record as much of the last several days' events as I can remember.  Early Friday morning I finished the re-made crinoline I had worked on all day Thursday in short spurts, in between the day-in-day out realities of home schooling and all that being a wife, a mom and a homemaker involves.  We left later that day for drama rehearsals (which is why the crinoline remake), with a stop as a friend's house to drop off cake pans and mixes for the cakes she is baking for me for eldest son's graduation reception and pick up some stuff for a garage sale that I agreed to deliver for her.  Unfortunately I did not escape from the building fast enough to avoid being asked to babysit for the make-up committee moms' children.  Three long hours in the toy room took their toll, and I was absolutely exhausted by the time I arrived home, with no errands run or shopping done as I had hoped to do.  I slept in a bit on Saturday morning, ran, showered and set out for errands and shopping, planning to pick eldest daughter up from her SAT, which BESTIE had dropped her off for earlier.  My mission was accomplished with only slight disappointments:  had to find things to do for 30 minutes so that I could drop off cushions to a seamstress for her to use for estimating how much yardage would be needed to recover them, and the salad I ordered for lunch was not as superb from the restaurant in WL as it had been from the one in L.  Once again I was exhausted, but managed to get a couple of short naps so that I could make supper and put daughter's hair into rollers; she needs tight ringlets for her character in the play, yet unfortunately has stubborn straight hair (like me).  We have improved each time we've practiced, but have yet to get it right.  This morning we slept in again, and then I made waffles for the fam for breakfast.  Second eldest daughter made a small batch of batter more to help fill up second eldest son, too.  After breakfast was church, then hemming daughter's chemise and making a sash for her costume.  I broke for lunch, then went right back to work, continuing to move laundry through the washer and drier and then clearing off my desk from all the schoolwork, paperwork, mail, email and notes that needed my attention.  A quick lie down on the couch with paper and pen in hand helped me to rest while still allowing me to make notes of anything that ran through my mind that I had yet to do.  Supper prep time arrived, and BESTIE agreed to grill the burgers, which meant I could do the other meager side dishes and make chocolate-no-bake cookies, too.  While the kiddos cleaned up after supper, I hit the couch again for a rest and relaxation time before starting to do more food planning for the open house and for meals coming up this week.  It's tech week for the play, so we will be out of the house a lot (the 3 eldest girls and I).  Our menu this week will reflect that fact, too.  I should plan something special that they all like for Sunday.  Maybe I could do a jello cake for dessert...

So the story for today ends, as I need to end the meal planning and start a different project -- finding pictures for eldest son's graduation slideshow.