Life Interrupted

Can life interrupt itself? Because I feel like I have no life of my own but the reason is LIFE.

Too confusing? Well, let me explain. The past two weeks have been a nightmare of scheduling "issues" that have had me breathless and exhausted beyond normal.

During the day, I homeschool 4 kids. Not horrifically difficult but I do have a 7 year old with some attention issues. Ergo, I have to sit in the room where she watches her videos and does her work text pages to frequently remind her to stay focused. She is a very bright student but she lacks focus for mundane things like grammar, phonics, math, spelling and Heritage studies.

Fortunately, I get lots of knitting or reading time in during those times when she needs me to sit with her.

The other three kids are pretty independent, requiring only minimal supervision during the day. A few questions, correcting a few papers, etc. are the most interaction they require to fulfill their daily school work.

Unfortunately, with two teenagers in the house, there is a bit of drama that tends to unfold on a daily basis. This includes battles over who gets the shower first, which shower whom gets and figuring out why on earth we're out of shampoo AGAIN when I just bought some a few days ago. (Shampoo hoarding is an undiagnosed syndrome that seems to be reaching epidemic proportions in my home). Then my expertise in the negotiations/peace-making realm are put to the test as two teen-agers battle over who gets which t.v./DVD player today. Although they have each been assigned their own, permanent a.v. system for use, there seems to be the feeling that this should be re-negotiated on a daily basis.

I could go on and on about the epic battles that take place between two strong-willed teenagers but I won't. Needless to say, these power struggles are never ending but a quick phone call to DH usually results in a clear winner - DAD.

The rest of my school day is spent checking up on everyone's work, household chores, bills, projects and other necessary activities that keep a roof over our head (albeit not always that clean), food on the table (okay, so I use a lot of pre-packaged stuff) and the creditors at bay.

Now, that's the normal stuff.

For the not so normal stuff: I'm currently costume mistress for a local production of "Quilters - The Musical." Guess all that work for Beauty and the Beast last winter set me up for more calls on my talents as a costumer. Not that I mind but I guess I didn't take into account WHEN the bulk of the work would happen and have been a bit unprepared for the added stress of the beginning of the school year and costuming a show at the same time.

Add to that a serious case of tendonitis in my right elbow from scooping ice cream all summer. Makes normal activities just a bit more painful than usual.

To top it all off, our first homeschool academy classes are tomorrow and I'm not quite as prepared for "Embellishing Ready-to-Wear" as I hoped to be. While I have the first lesson sort of planned out in my head, that's as far as I've gotten in my preparations for the class. Oh well, since these kids are supposed to be designing their own one-of-a-kind fashions, we can all just wing it together.

And of course, we have dance, hockey, swimming, Awana, Quilter's rehearsals, and occasional homeschool meetings in the evenings. Just to round off the insane schedule I managed to create this year.

So, if the posts continue to be a bit scarce, hang in there. I haven't forgotten. I've probably just been flattened by the steamroller of LIFE - again.