One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

I did have a good birthday. Thank you for the birthday greetings/wishes. I will probably share more tomorrow; I haven't had a chance to edit the pictures my dear husband took. :)

Today will be short. Not sure about sweet. And honestly there isn't much reason to it. Sometimes you just have to vent.

I have a rule that MOST of the time I stick with. I don't go to my classroom before August. I feel like the summer is my time with family. Not that I don't do some planning or researching and occasionally taking a workshop/professional development class at times during the summer but I really try to be "present" while we are at home. I will admit, there are times I am a bit envious when I read about co-workers going in and really cleaning out their rooms. I need to do that. But like a lot of things in my life, for now, this is where I am and some things will have to wait.

Of course, now it is August. So now the juggling of roles begins!

Sunday night we all went up to the classroom (first day of August) to move furniture. Most years when I go in, everything is in one spot, including some really tall cabinets, usually not where I need them to be. I often just move them myself then moan about the back pain later. This year I thought ahead and asked Mark to help so I could get to work later in the week on the smaller details. Wouldn't you know that the the BIG furniture was all in its spot already? My whole family did help (well, most of them) get the other "furniture" into their spots. It was a big help. It at least looks like it is supposed to, just a little bare.

Today I needed to be out of the house for a while, so I took the kid crew with me to the school to "work". I let them take a movie to watch (partly because it is too stinkin' hot outside to do anything else). Three of the four settled right in to watch the movie. One little tornado did not. He watched about 15 minutes, then he was done. Since the other kids were watching the movie and not playing with him (which he is so used to), that left me. So I was trying to accomplish some things while he came behind me and undid them either by asking a thousand questions, demanding help doing something, or getting toys out. Thus the title. One step forward, two steps back.

By the end of our time (less than two hours), the big kids had decided to play too. Of course, nobody uses the nice block set to build or gets out a rousing game of Candyland. They invent games. And in the end, something was broken, I was not much further ahead, and my blood pressure was rather high.

The funny/ironic thing is that last week at swimming lessons, a friend asked me how to do it all. She is returning to work after a long absence (staying home with kids who will now all be in school). She said she heard that I had it all together and that I managed it so I might have some tips.

Today I just shook my head in frustration. I obviously don't.


Sigh.

It will all get done, right? (Nod your head in agreement with me :)
More later,
Reba