Well it's certainly been a long time

As usual I have been thinking about writing without actually doing it.  This morning I needed my computer to print out bookclub discussion questions (more on that soon).  There are five windows open on my computer right now.  Only this one is mine.  I don't want to close any of them because I'm not really sure who needs what.  There are so many ways that this could be a metaphor for my actual life.  Not the least of which is "only one is mine". This morning I woke up to the sound of the garbage truck.  A quick look out the window confirmed what I'd suspected...our garbage was not out.  And so the garbage will stew another week.  The turkey carcass (doesn't everyone have turkey as soon as November hits because you just can't wait for Thanksgiving?) and the carved Halloween pineapple (Madi's doing) will not be driven away in the big truck until next Thursday.  So to recap, the garbage did not get picked up, I was supposed to tutor this morning and now I'm not (maybe more on that too, we'll see), Jake usually has band at the school from 9-11:30 (Advanced band and Jazz band) today he does not, instead he will play for a pep rally from 3-4 (4ish, we're a little unsure, he is currently visiting neighbors and making phone calls trying to figure out how and when he can get a ride home).  Speaking of phone calls, Jake now has an iphone (go ahead, judge away). 

Ok let's get back to bookclub (I like that to be one word like breastfeeding and homeschooling --blogger is not too fond of that, but it does accept breastfeeding and homeschooling as one word (well not all together)-- you're welcome!)  Jake and Joe (and Tiffany and I) have a little bookclub where we try to read all the sunshine state recommended books.  Today we are meeting to discuss three of them.  Here's another metaphor for my life, we can't seem to get it together to discuss them one at a time, so knocking out three at once is the best way.  I'm pretty sure Tiffany and Joe are done with a fourth.  We are not. 

Jake is now back in the house, he does have a ride home, he's got music and talking going on and I had to move to the next room to even be able to concentrate on writing this desperately pathetic blog post.  There are too many windows open in my brain remember?  Sometime in the near future I might write a tribute to my brother, Rob, who lost his fight with melanoma two months ago.  That will definitely need more focus than I have right now, but I felt like I couldn't blog at all until I at least mentioned it.  Eventually I might write more about Madi being in the throes of college admission/ scholarship applications etc and how I am trying desperately to not lose it every time I think about how she will not actually be living at home this time next year.  Now "living a home" is of course a relative term around here because while Jonathan does indeed still live at home, what that means on many days is that he gets home from working at Disney at 3am, sleeps until noon, and leaves for work again around 3pm.  There are many variations on this, but that is a fairly typical day.  Yesterday Jake and I went to Disney after band.  In the evening we met up with Jonathan (who had just gotten out of work on a rare day shift) and Mike (whom Jonathan "let in" with his employee privileges) for dinner, then we met up with friends/ relatives visiting from Connecticut.  Madi had left home at 7:30 for all day dual enrollment classes at Lake Sumter.  After about 30 minutes at home in the afternoon, she had theatre and then a class at church.  She ended up getting home at about 10pm, so really living at home is kind of a relative term for her as well. 

While I am not really getting anywhere with anything actually going on around here, I'd like to think I'm doing a fairly good job at describing how I'm not really getting anywhere with anything actually going on around here in reality.  Time is flying so quickly and I'm just barely trying to keep up.  Because so much of Jonathan and Madi's lives go on outside of the house and away from me, I do have physical time to do some other things (mental time is a whole different story).  I have been tutoring a girl that is doing full time virtual school due to a medical condition.  It can be a challenge, but the financial compensation is significant.  She isn't feeling well today, so I am not there right now, but remember how I mentioned that Disney dinner last night?  Well I already spent the money I was supposed to be making today.  Bad idea!  I have also had a little time to try to figure out what I might want to do when I am no longer a homeschooling mother.  I really like learning stuff and teaching it to other people.  That's what I want to continue to do as I "grow up".  I am thankful every day for Jake and that I don't have to make any "career" decisions right now because I am not done with him yet.  Jake is 13.  Thirteen, in the past, has been a rough year.  Jake and I are in a good flow right now and spend a good amount of time with just each other.  I told him thirteen was going to be a good year for him.  I plan to remind him of that everyday.  He's been enough of a challenge most of the rest of his life.  He owes us a good thirteen. 

In addition to the tutoring, I am involved in quite a few things at church.  A typical week will find me there on Monday evenings, Tuesday evenings, one Wednesday evening a month (not including if I have to bring Jake there for his Wed class and Madi can't be there {as opposed to last night when Madi was there and Jake was not}), Thursday evenings, and of course Sundays.  Oh and one Friday morning a month for a mom's group.  (plus occasional mornings for daily Mass) Yes, we are still Catholic.  I know that schedule doesn't look very Catholic.  Maybe someday I'll blog about some of the things that I am doing there some of the time. 

My computer with all the open windows just told me to plug in to a power source.  Do you think that also might be a metaphor for my life?  Or yours?  Think about that one for a while.  Maybe I'll be back with more words of wisdom in another four months.