ACK!

Last week I taught preschoolers at our Church's Bible Camp. It was a great experience. Unfortunately because of a terrible storm the night before, we couldn't begin on Monday because the church didn't have any electricity.  We started on Tuesday and nobody was expecting that we'd get our power back so quickly.

Let me start by saying that last week was a wonderful experience. I absolutely loved it and so did my kids. Boogs loved being in camp and Buggy was a hit in the nursery.

But, ACK!  I was so late the first day of camp. It was so bad. I just couldn't get moving in the morning and it was awful. I finally got us fed and dressed and still had time to barely make it to camp in time to realize that I could not find my keys. I looked everywhere and called my husband in a panic.  I didn't have anyone's number so it wasn't like I could call and tell them that I would still be there, but was running late. I think I had a panic attack as I ran around the house like a chicken with it's head cut off.  After saying a prayer to St. Anthony, the finder of lost things, I found my keys. (St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around. What has been lost cannot be found.) Let me say that St. Anthony has saved me many a time!

I found my keys headed down the road and realized I left my lesson plan at home. I had to sacrifice an extra 5 minutes going back to the house to pick it up. I truly needed it, otherwise I would have ditched it. But it had my class list and the story lesson for the day. ARGHHHHHH!  Driving down the road I thought we might make it, then the closer we got to church realized that multiple lights were out and we had to do a 4-way stop at each intersection.  I might it to camp 5 minutes after the day was supposed to start. Not only that I still had to put Buggy in the nursery with all of her stuff and check her in and put her in a new environment without any prep. Thank God she's the second baby and goes with the flow!  I also had to walk Boogie to his class and get him settled. Of course as I pull into the lot, the director calls and because I'm fumbling with everything I accidentally hang up on her. I quickly call her back and she is very annoyed and rightfully so!  I'm late and she doesn't know where I am.  And I'm not a little bit late, I'm probably 20 minutes late, because of course I should be there at least 15 minutes before the campers arrive.  That's BAD!  Fortunately, when I ran into her in the hall on the way to my class she was pleasant and nice. I think she was just relieved that I showed up!  I walk into my room and my fabulous teenage helpers (which include the director's daughter!) have already started circle time and getting to know the kids and their names. They're singing and the kids have no idea that I'm way behind. There is a parent there and I'm mortified. I apologize and she's so cool and doesn't give me a hard time.

My teenage helpers tell me to relax and they truly do have it under control. I put away my stuff, take a deep breath, look over the plan one more time and ease into their circle time. The rest of the day went well and the rest of the week even better!  It was a great camp experience, minus the getting there on time part on the first day.

The worst part is that when I spoke to Hubby later in the day he told me he's pretty sure he got a call from the director looking for me. His phone rang, he didn't recognize the number, but answered anyway.  He heard someone say to someone else in a panicked voice, "I can't talk to you right now! I have a teacher who hasn't shown up and we don't know where she is!" He said, "hello" a few times, but the director was so busy that she didn't realize he had picked up and ended up hanging up without speaking to him. Probably about the same time I called to say I was there in the parking lot.

I.am.absolutely.mortified!  I was debating about volunteering next year, but at this rate, I'm too embarrassed to offer my services because I think they think I'm a huge flake!  As you can see this blog is aptly named. I am truly the epitome of the discombobulated mommy. *sigh*

Week in the Life: Day 1

I'm taking this idea from my friend Mandi. I was reading her blog and she decided to do a week long blog using pictures to describe her day/week.  I loved the idea so much I thought I'd give it a try.  It really made me stop throughout my day to analyze my day.  Maybe it will be an insight to why I'm so discombobulated...or just an affirmation that I made the right decision to stay home with my beautiful children.  I thought about putting the posts in my family blog, but some of the pictures are so quintessentially discombobulated that I felt that they belonged here.  Welcome to Day One.

How I start every morning. My devotional on the book of Luke, The Soccer Mom Devotional, and my trusty Macbook.

My constantly cluttered kitchen counter. My catchall for all things throughout the day. I need to find a better system!

Wrapped present for our neighbor's 3rd birthday.

No crying over spilt milk. Unfortunately this was the first of 4 spills today.  My daughter is learning independence and it didn't matter if there was a lid on her cup or not, it spilled. *sigh*

Pigtails make me happy!

The independence of which I speak. Buggy stealing a sip of milk from her brother's cup.

My beautiful daughter with a milk mustache and a runny nose.

In the midst of writing thank you notes for my son's birthday gifts.  I admit I bribed him with jellybeans to sign his name on each one.

My son's constant companion, Chester.

Spring planting

My companion and nemesis rolled into one.

Um, Did I Say March, I meant May...

That's right, May. My son's preschool confirmation paperwork is due MAY 7th, not March. I.Am.An.Idiot.   I must have looked at the paperwork due date a dozen times Saturday night and another half dozen yesterday.  When I turned in the paperwork today (oh, don't forget I sent an e-mail late Saturday night pretty much begging them to not give away my spot), they kindly (and really, they were very nice about it) that I was very early and the paperwork isn't due until May 7th.  When I came home to check there it was in bold: MAY 7th.  I need a second wife. Preferably one that has better vision and a keeps a cool head in all situations...

Deadlines Pass and Discombobulation Ensues

For the last week I have felt off...by like a week. I have missed deadlines and dates, and I have felt like that I am very much off my A-game.  I'm usually very good at remembering what needs to be done, where we need to be, and pretty much what needs to happen hour by hour. This week, no such luck.

In my post, "Busy Days Ahead" I shared a bit of what my week was going to look like. That was two weeks ago and I think I'm still living in that week.  First of all, I invited friends with preschoolers to join us March 12th for the soup supper our Church was doing specifically for preschoolers. Monsignor was making yummy soup and then speaking to the kids about the meaning of Lent. Then we were going to listen to a child-friendly version of the Stations of the Cross.   For one of the parents, I don't have an e-mail address or FB friend status.  I have her cell phone number but didn't feel like texting all of the information in 160 words or less.  I ended up looking her up on FB and sending her message, because you don't need to be FB friends to do that. (She's the parent of one of my son's classmates in preschool).  Well in writing to her on Wednesday, March 10th I told her about the info. I forgot to include the date and sent another e-mail saying it was for March 12th and how it wasn't THIS week but NEXT week. Well guess what...March 12th was last week.  See? I'm off by a week.

Example #2:  I vaguely remembered that we were sent a letter letting us know that my son was accepted 4 days next year at the local preschool.  Yay! I also vaguely remember that the due date for sending in the paperwork to confirm our acceptance was due relatively soon. How about it was due 2 days after receiving the letter and I just remember yesterday! Again, off by a week. It was due LAST week.  I freaked out because it is freakin' hard to get kids into preschool. There are applications to be filled out , fees to be paid, lotteries to attend to get a good number for getting your first choice or to even get into the school.  I frantically tried to leave a message with the person in charge while our family was doing the 2 hour drive to my Goddaughter's 5th birthday party.  Unfortunately, I couldn't do it from my phone and I ended up sending a midnight e-mail to the person in charge when I got home. Of course she isn't going to check her e-mail on a Sunday, but I still wanted it sent ASAP. I plan on going in first thing Monday morning to drop off the paperwork and pray that I haven't lost my spot.  I'm also praying that because all of the snow we had last month, and knowing that the acceptance letter was two weeks late in arriving, that I'll be given a grace period. I was also surprised that no one called to ask if I really wanted to give up my spot. My husband thinks that the school hasn't finished processing all the paperwork, but he also thought the last lottery hasn't happened yet (which it has...2 weeks ago!). Sigh...

Example #3: Sitting in Church today I realized that we hadn't been in to clean the Church in a while. My family volunteers to clean the Church one Saturday a month.  I had the sneaking suspicion that we were supposed to be there yesterday. So during one of the readings I sneaked a glance at my "organizer" (lot of good that's been doing me this week!) and yes, once again I have missed another date. We were supposed to be cleaning the Church yesterday and we missed it.  It was supposed to be this Saturday, not next! Again, off by a week.

So here I sit in discombobulation. My house looks like it's been hit by a tornado and I should really spend some time straightening, organizing, and spring cleaning.  My calendar is overly full and I feel like I'm losing my mind. I feel like I should start re-priortizing, but I feel guilty (see Edvard Munch post to understand where that comes into play). And, none of my clothes fit...the one upside of that is that I need smaller sizes...the downside, I really can't spend a lot of money on a new wardrobe.  Lastly, I just need some sleep! I have been running on empty for, well I guess it's been about a week now.