On Where I've Been

I am not good at using my time to its utmost efficiency. Or maybe it's just that I grossly underestimate how long most things will take. Example: I've always been pretty convinced that driving anywhere in the county will take me about 15 minutes. And then in those RARE instances when I actually trek out on a Costco run (one of my top 5 most dreaded outings because who can stand the chaotic parking lots and terrible lighting and the lines and the ridiculously heavy carts), clear on the other side of the county, it becomes very obvious that "15 minutes" was a major underestimation. More examples: a few years ago, I saw no reason why we couldn't paint three bedrooms in the span of one morning, even if we had a curious crawling baby at the bottom of our ladders, playing in the tray of wet paint. I honestly thought it would take an hour. SINGULAR. One hour. Really, it took 5 days. In this case, gross underestimation of about 39 hours.

My husband still laughs (and yes, there's a slight mocking tone to his laugh) at my constant state of over-optimism. I'm the type of person who wakes up thinking how wonderful it would be to make a lunch for my husband before he leaves for work, begin a load of laundry, prepare individual 3 egg omelets from scratch (but not before I begin making delicious morning muffins) for the entire family, clean the kitchen, get everyone showered, dressed and pressed before 8 am. But in reality, the truth is SOMEthing always gives, something falls to the bottom of the priority list, and the something is usually my shower or personal grooming time that suffers. So instead, my reality is Dan leaves the house in the morning making his own sad little lunches, laundry only gets done when everyone is out of clean underwear, I've still never actually made an omelet in my life, the kitchen accumulates dishes all day long, I often face the world without makeup or appropriate clothing (I feel a nomination for What Not To Wear coming on...), and sometimes the dog doesn't get fed until dinner. Jealous?

So what's with all the true confessions and where have I been, you ask (well at least 3 of you have asked)? Why have I abandoned my blog for almost a month?

I'm not really sure. All I know is, the kids both got sick at the same time, and then I underwent what was the two most challenging weeks of my life. This wasn't the first time they've both been sick simultaneously, but it was definitely the most exhausting. A few doctor visits, sleepless nights and SEVERAL prescriptions later, they have been restored to health, but I honestly think the experience took a huge toll on me. The backlash of it all sent me into an almost month-long state of writer's block. There were lots of tears. There were days where it took every ounce of energy just to get out of bed and do it all over again. I was like a 90 year old woman, and would fall asleep within an hour of eating my dinner. I could hardly even muster the energy to watch The Bachelor! I was behind on EVERYTHING for weeks. Bills. Phone calls. Emails. Showering. Working out. Grocery shopping. Showering. Quilting (!). Reading. Showering. And truthfully, it's hard to sit and blog when you feel unclean and hungry and completely out of sorts. So....I just didn't blog. I just didn't do a lot of things.

And, I'm a creature of habit. So once I got out of the routine of blogging (and showering and paying bills and working out and quilting) it was extremely hard for me to get back in it. It's just the type of person I am- regardless of the wonderful intentions I may have, I have a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. I mean, for heaven's sakes, when I was growing up I had my younger siblings convinced that if we just put a little elbow grease into it, surely we could dig a tunnel to China. TEAMWORK! KEEP DIGGING!!! See? Classic case of over-promise, under-deliver (or as I affectionately refer to it, OPUD).

Also, for the record (and somewhat in my defense): there haven't been many inspirational "bloggable moments" lately that I felt were of any interest to write about. But then again, I've been asleep or in a haze lately, so maybe I missed a few things.

But, regardless, I'm back, baby. Sooooooooo back.

And I killed it at the gym yesterday and celebrated my success with a homemade milkshake.