Trying to slow down

It is show week once again. That means concessions. Last night after baking one batch of cupcakes, one batch of lemon bars (because the lemon bar baker extrodinaire is out of town), and two batches of brownies, I had much more left to check off my mental list...read to Jake, finish my own book so I could start my next one, fold and put away all the clean laundry that was on my bed, etc...etc... The problem was it was already 10pm. I'm starting to realize that there is no way to get more time in my day, so I guess the only reasonable way to handle this is to lower my expections. I have high expectations. High expectations of others, higher expectations of my kids, and astronomically high expectations for myself. It is no secret that some of the things that I strive to accomplish for myself each day (especially this summer) include a lot of reading, working out, daily Mass at least a few times a week, and currently making a dent in the 1000 piece puzzle that is on our front room table. This doesn't include computer and telephone time, never mind the in person chatting with the various friends that I might run into during the course of the day. Then there's all of the house stuff: laundry, dishes, the constant cleaning out, throwing away and donating that has been my summer. Then there's the driving to and from the kids activity du jour. I haven't even gotten to the time actually spent with my family. We are a game playing family. Games take time too. Some how I've seemed to get off on a tangent here and while I'm considering deleting the whole thing, I think I'll just attempt to steer myself back in the right direction. The thing is in the midst of all of this stuff, my main focus is on preparing for our schoolyear. If our house is clean and decluttered, we can focus better, if I've had time to recharge my batteries with reading and quite time, I'll focus better. This year I actually bought the unrealistic homeschooling mother's schedule book that I've borrowed for the last several years. Grand ideas are my enemy. I'm thinking too much. Last night I had a dream that I had to return library books to a library in Rhode Island, I even know what town, Exeter. They weren't even our library books, they belonged to a family that we know from a distance, Jake played baseball with the little boy a year and a half ago. My brain is too full. It is so full of clutter that I've been stuck for 2 days on a level 1 sodoku from the newspaper. I've been decluttering the house, but I really need to declutter my brain. I guess that's what I'm hoping to accomplish by dumping it all here. The thing is since hardly anyone is reading blogs anymore, I don't have to try to be articulate or anything. What this post was supposed to be about was how I've been hit over the head a couple times this evening, right here from the comfort of my computer chair, with stories about simplifying. One by a friend I know in person here. and also from a whole bunch of people that I don't know here.

The thing is we have grand plans to simplify this year. The problem is the grand plans part I think. How do you balance accomplishing enough and not running around like a chicken with your head cut off? That is my eternal question. This year my "accomplishing enough" must include guiding a high school student. I have many many more questions, but right now there's a game of CLUE set up with my name on it and it's not even 9pm yet, I just might get Jake read to, my book finished, and the rest of that laundry off my bed. Thankfully tonight Madi made the brownies!