Flies Are Fun

You know what they say: Time flies when you're having...how does the rest of that go?

Almost a year ago, I entered the scary world of full-time freelancer. It was not an easy leap at the time, but I realize now (hindsight and all that) that I completely underestimated how overwhelming it would be to have what essentially amounts to two full-time jobs: full-time stay-at-home mom, full-time employee. Juggling everything--the laundry, the work, the mopping and straightening, the homework, the schedules, the extracurriculars, the library book due dates, dental/doctor appointments (especially the ones that are of an emergent nature), the dog--sometimes throws me for a loop. (And don't even get me started on how our summer went...) I'll feel like I'm on top of every. single. thing. and then realize I put dinner in the oven 15 minutes too late for the eight-year-old to eat before swim practice. This prompts her to act all annoyed and resentful, which makes me annoyed and resentful because do these people *realize* how much time and effort I put into keeping this whole thing spinning? Of course they don't. They're six and eight, and my eight-handed juggling act does not impress them the slightest. If I drop something, however, watch out!

Now that we're back to school, though, I find myself wondering how we could possibly do this any other way. Most nights, I'm spending an hour helping these two with their homework. Dinner has to be on the table by about 4:45 (normal American dinner hour, right?) so that the girls can make it to swim on time. When I worked outside the house, I didn't even get home until 5:00. I'm sure we would have found a different way to work things out (McDonald's every night?) or else the kids wouldn't have been able to participate in as many sports as they are currently are (overscheduled anyone?), but it's worth it sometimes when I'm feeling particularly frazzled to appreciate how much *crazier* things would be if I had to leave the house for work every day. I mean consider this extracurricular schedule that I (in my infinite genius) dreamed up for the girls this fall (okay, really, I signed them up for two sports each, and this is just what ended up happening, but humor me and admit that it is INSANE):

Monday: S soccer practice; E Girl Scouts
Tuesday: E swimming
Wednesday: S swimming
Thursday: E soccer practice (and once that's done, she will start attending the Th swim practice she is currently missing); S Girl Scouts
Friday: E swimming
Saturday: soccer
Sunday: S swimming

From this, you can deduce two things. First, the girls are bound to be excellent swimmers by spring. Second, my sanity is not long for this world.

It is a very good thing we bought this baby because between work and the extracurriculars, it is quickly becoming my new best friend.

The upshot is: things are crazy; I am implicit in this insanity; third-grade homework bites; I still like working from home but be glad you did not have to talk to me last week.

The End.