If I were a Poet

I would have written a poem called "I love Rain Because it Isn't Snow" a few days ago and today I'd write one called, "I Love the Sun So Much More Than the Rain". But I'm not. I've been so absent, and all the great stuff I would like to write, I don't have time to write.
But, there's hope.
If I can get my new people we finally got called to help us out in Relief Society (after 6 months, whew!) trained and doing their jobs, I might start to have a more normal life. If you could call my life that. Or, at least, I'll probably get more done of the things I'm supposed to be doing, so I'll at least feel better about the chaos. Even with the insanity, and the awful feeling I'm not doing other things I should be doing more of, so far it's been pretty rewarding. I need to stop getting myself into these situations where I am doing labor intensive work at night so things will get done in time for whatever. Then I can't keep track of time at all, and it seems to slip away when I most need it. I get way too frustrated with myself and by the time our activity rolls around, I think I should be on Prozac. Then it all works out great and everyone loves it and I feel better.
Except, it never ends because for example, we did an activity yesterday on using church resources to teach the gospel in the home, do better family nights, and help children be more reverent at church. We gave out a lot of information packets and instructions- 20 sets of 4 presentations, as well as some booklets and CD's and cardstock posters for all the moms with Primary age children to use to help their kids with the primary scriptures and songs- 40 sets. We also cut and separated packets of 10 sets of materials each for making quiet books and pillows. I was worried about no one showing up so the Primary presidency called all their moms to tell them they needed to come get their gifts from the Primary/Relief Society combined effort. We had about 30 people come, and a lot weren't even primary moms, so we ended up coming up short and we have to make about 10 more copies of everything. We have used up all the toner and paper in the library, so first we have to hunt down more of that. Sigh! Such fun. BUT this time, I'm going to make my secretary do it all. :) And next month we have a committee to help us :) :) :). I'm bowing out, plus I'm already getting too involved in our LUAU coming up in July, even though I'm only going to be worrying about the program because it's top secret :). See, I'll never learn, never never learn to keep myself out of trouble.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, laundry is piling up, ironing is piling up, STUFF is piling up EVERYWHERE, paper has exploded all over as if 10 ticker tape parades just went by, kids have school stuff and scout stuff and baseball is about to start, the THings are getting ready to turn 8 and get baptized and have some kind of party, Carino is going to have a birthday too, Enigma is doing makeup and hair for photo shoots, plays and movies, Papi is working and trying to dig us out of our financial hole, and guess what? It's tax time! But thanks to tax time I was FORCED into doing what most needed to be done, namely tame the paper dragon and find all the tax related paper so we could file this year. Now the paper is only semi out of control, and I found my Christmas newsletters I never sent! One less thing I need to find. I'd almost feel like I was getting caught up on things if it weren't for the fact that ITS SPRING! Time to dump the messy house and go out and garden! Maybe I should just ignore the house till fall, but then I won't be able to invite people over. And I decided I need to invite people over a lot more often, seeing as how if I even leave my two oldest boys alone for a half hour to go see someone, they manage to play with my phone and call 911. And then hang up and not answer when they call back. At least they opened the door for the police. I guess it's theoretically OK to leave 10 and 11 year olds alone on a Saturday afternoon, at least I didn't get in trouble with the police for that one but it makes me leary to leave them. I had the 7 year olds with me because they wouldn't be a problem at the house I was visiting, and I thought the oldest would go play at friends. Right. I also made a trip to the doctor with two kids to get things taken out of their ears. Thing 2 tells me one night that Thing 1 can't get an eraser out of his ear. It was too deep for me to dare try, and then as we are discussing this, Carino mentions that oh, yeah, by the way, I have tape stuck in my ear, (his only ear), and it's been there for like a month. Sigh. I wish I had that little instrument the doctor used to remove it. Of course, I wish I had a taser gun too. Life is full of little things we'll never get.
Somehow in all this chaos, I'm trying to teach my offspring to be more independent. Making a PB sandwich and filling yourself up but getting 3/4 of the jar spread all over the kitchen isn't my idea of independent. Needing constant monitoring isn't either. Our new plan is to get ready for bed when we get home from school. A bit drastic, but it's working. We review the routine on the way home from school. They walk in and are supposed to hang up coats, belts and backpacks, put shoes in the bench and make a beeline for the laundry room where they must strip off their uniforms and then find play clothes to get on. Then they are supposed to go make their lunch for the next school day and make their snack, then clean up after themselves while I get the wash and dinner going. Next we move on to homework, and if they manage to get that done quickly and do their one chore, I will read to them and/or then they can go play. Whew! The cleaning up after themselves is still not sinking in much, so I have plans for that. Plus, I got ALARM CLOCKS today so they can start working on getting themselves up.
Freak, this is getting really boring! It almost sounds like I'm turning into a responsible adult. Except that not keeping the house clean thing. Plus, I keep hitting up on the ward clerk (Good thing he's my husband.) As you can see, I'm still alive. I hope to someday make it back to read everyone's blogs and write something funner here! But it won't be today, not even if I write about our Spring Break that involved a lot of snow and barf. I'm off to do a million other things. Take care and hope to be in touch soon!