It Always Could Be Worse

I sort of felt like I was losing my mind this weekend.

With two twenty-year-olds in the house.
My husband.
A three year old, who always wants to be a princess. And now talks back. As a princess.
A four year old, who always wants to play baseball and use the furniture as playground equipment.
A blind wiener dog who has to be carried up and down the stairs all day.
Four piles of laundry that had to be done. And then folded. And then put away. And then done again.
Three parties, one of which Matt was in charge of. And one where I had to bake and bring 6 dozen cookies to.
Also, I work.

So, I didn't really want to face anyone on Monday morning.
I was struggling. Bad.

Then, I took the kids to the library and I saw this children's book.

It is called "It Always Could Be Worse"

Isn't it amazing how children's literature is really written for adults?

It's a Ukrainian children's story from a Yiddish tale of Jewish folklore.

The story starts out with a man going to see his Rabbi complaining that he and his wife, his mother and six children all live in one room in their house and it has dissolved into chaos.

He seeks the Rabbi's advice. Which is?

Bring his chickens into his house.

It just brings on more madness.

He returns to the Rabbi.

The Rabbi tells him to bring in his goat.

Even more madness ensues.

Back to the Rabbi; who tells him to bring in the family cow.

Once the chaos becomes absolutely intolerable because chickens, geese, goats, a cow and a horse with a wife, a mother, a man and six children in a house is ACTUAL CHAOS! The man returns to the Rabbi who tells him to take all of the animals out of the house and to see what happens.

The whole family finds peace.

In the house that was too small for them at the beginning of the story.

The man returns to the Rabbi and this is what he says,

I decided to just find peace. Even in the midst of the chaos. We have so many pockets of quiet and fun all day long, there isn't enough time to waste being grumpy and overwhelmed. I still am grumpy and overwhelmed. Especially when it comes to grocery shopping. But, this time isn't going to last much longer. And we are going to look back on it with great fondness. Tonight, we were all around the dinner table together as we have been nearly every night for the past two weeks and I had joy over how sweet our little/large family is.

Chaos is chaos. Love is love. And It Could Always Be Worse.

My Schizo Week of May

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.

I am going to review, not for sympathy but for posterity so that when my children look back and wonder why I have lost my mind; they can point to things like this week and say "Of course! It all makes sense now."

So last Monday night we had the Joe Nichols fundraising concert. And yes he sang, "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" but we did get to raise some money for Young Life and awareness in the area and it was great fun.

This was after we had removed our kitchen all weekend long. We had to take a few days off you remember to work, the kids went to Jeannies etc. Well on Wednesday, I get the brilliant idea to drive to IKEA, buy the cabinets that I need and then drive to Greenville and pick up the kids. Drive back to Asheville, then Weaverville for a wedding shower. 6 hours in the car on Wednesday. Plus a full day in IKEA. I was wiped out. But I did get to help with some of the renovation stuff that night! See PROOF:

Ben's has more fun than me though.


Thursday, the kids were in school and I had meetings all day, but we had a YL ladies night that night. So I got a much needed pedicure and dinner out with friends while Matt and the other dads had the kids.

Then on Friday morning, I had a meeting at 7:30am for work, came home packed all morning. Loaded up the kids and waiting for Spooner to get off work and then we drove to my parents house in south Georgia to take them my dog, Slappy; for the month. Spooner was a GREAT road trip partner and put up with me, my kids, my dog, my parents and my hilarious family. Highlights from the weekend include her tweeting the minutes on the way home, not trusting the GPS and then LEARNING TO TRUST THE GPS, all the crazy talk about gator attacks and then being told that I worried too much about them, then the two hours of conversation centered around Dr. Bukks teef and the ensuing fambly photo shoot.



One of the things I love about my parents house is there is no shortage of things to photograph. My kids, doodads around the house, the incredible scenery there. I love this picture of Lucy. It makes me remember feeling like trees were enormous. By the way, that is actually an ENORMOUS oak tree. And yes, it was a damp and muggy as the pictures look.










We got there Friday night. Played Saturday. Took off Sunday. Matt worked the whole weekend getting the kitchen totally demolished and cleaned up.


Monday was a holiday but we spent the whole day getting ready to leave for Colorado. Because that is what we were doing on Wednesday. Leaving for Colorado for the month. But we also had a Weaverville Supper Club on Monday night, plus Amy Noll staying with us Monday and Tuesday and on Tuesday I had a HUGE meeting for work. So my stomach was feeling pretty rough and sleep was getting harder and harder to come by.

But we had a wonderful time at the Supper Club since all of our kids love each other like brothers and sisters and everyone played American Idol. Especially Lucy. I just want to squeeze her these days.

On Tuesday it was our 8 year wedding anniversary! Yay! Looks like we made it through the seven-year itch. Shoowee! That was tough.
We went to dinner kind of early because we had so much to do to get ready for Colorado on Wednesday. How early? At the table next to us was a couple celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary and the table behind us their 20th wedding anniversary. Can you say SENIOR DISCOUNT?

But we left dinner and went on a really nice walk and got all caught up and were so excited to leave today to come to Colorado.
We left our house at 6am and got to Crooked Creek at 3pm Colorado time. Long day. But our kids rocked it out. They were amazing.

It is however, 30 degrees here right now and I am having serious misgivings about EVERYTHING that I packed. See that snow on those mountains? That ain't so far away from us. Cute skirts and rainbow flip flops are not going to help me make it through the month. Fleece hats and jeans is more like it.

Get ready to see some pictures of cold high school kids at a pool party next week!