Friday, December 3, 2010

TOO MUCH TO DO

It's ten o'clock in the morning and I really should be going over a math lesson with one of the teenagers. Instead, I'm taking a minute to doodle on the blog. Confound it, I'd rather be writing than schooling!

Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and several of the Riders of Rohan have just reached Isengard, where they are holding counsel with Fangorn, also known as Treebeard. The tension is building...what will be done with evil wizard-gone-bad, Saruman? Schooling, writing...nah, what I really want is to curl up in front of the fire and get lost for the day in The Lord of the Rings.

Or maybe I'd rather spend a couple of hours with Susan Hunt, reading and reviewing notes for tomorrow morning's study with the women of the church. I also need to take time to catch up on emails and make some overdue phone calls. I haven't walked out on the farm in two days, and could sure use the exercise and fresh air. It being Friday, I ought to clean the bathrooms and try to get the floors mopped. I definitely need to make a grocery run - because tomorrow, we'll be running from 7:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night. Women's brunch, piano recital, wedding, youth retreat, cooking for Sunday...I don't see any time for errands and household chores in Saturday's schedule!

You know what? I can't do it all. I just can't. What will get checked off? What will fall to the wayside? I'm not sure. At this point, I'm in Do-The-Next-Thing mode. Don't worry about the impossibly long list, the insanely hectic schedule...just do the next thing. And then the next. Experience tells me the sun will continue to rise and set - days will pass (maybe in a blur!), and then I'll suddenly find myself in a quieter, calmer stretch of the river.

Martha is back from working with Little John. Ben has finished building up the fire. Blog is posted. Time to go do math.

Gandalf, how about a date one night next week?

3 comments:

Suzanne said...

Preach it, sister. I can testify. I just finished making huge paper mache heads and costumes for the entire cast of A Charlie Brown Christmas for a parade float. Woo hoo. Somehow I missed teaching my children to sing the 2 carols for the homeschool group Christmas Party tonight, but we got through both without dying of humiliation. AND I got there early to help decorate and brought two potluck dishes, one a recipe I made up in the nick of time with what I had in the pantry (turned out awesome). Now that the party is over, the brood is abed, and the alarm set for 5 a.m. to get to Bowling Green and get on the float before the parade judges come around at 8 a.m. Then what? Taking 7 children on individual shopping trips for their siblings, baking 12 dozen cookies for a cookie swap, making a trip south for Walther Family Christmas, bolting from that for Christmas caroling at the nursing home,... Somehow I do have to teach those children the carols before then. Life. Both of us have our hands full with our broods, but neither of us would chose to be empty-handed, so we dive in and LIVE, moment to moment.

Camille said...

It's 11:47 p.m. Schoolwork completed this morning - check. Forty-minute walk on the farm this afternoon - check. Reviewed notes for tomorrow's study - check. Kids delivered for weekend youth retreat - check. AND, Sam and Frodo are now sleeping under the watchful care of Faramir - woohoo! Bathrooms, floors, and groceries will just have to be squeezed in somehow tomorrow.

Suzanne said...

Christmas parade float, divisional 1st place...AND Grand Champions of the Bowling Green Christmas Parade. Kudos to the Rough Riders 4-H Horse Club. Tomorrow is another day.