Is it nap time yet?!

I'm trying to gear myself up for the craziness that will be the rest of August.  I'm pretty sure the ONLY thing that will keep me pushing forward is the promise of a trip to the coast on the very last weekend of the month.  If it weren't for that, I might just give up & throw in the towel.  (But if I did that, what would I have to whine about?!)

On this week's agenda is a yard sale.  It wasn't something we had even considered doing until someone in our neighborhood decided to organize a blocks-wide yard sale/"junk-out".  Since we're pretty low on funds for our Disneyland trip in October, this seemed like a good opportunity to make a little cash & get rid of some stuff that is just taking up space.  There is a lot that needs to go to the dump, but clearing out the stuff that might be worth a little money will make that dump-run much easier to do.  I have exactly 4 afternoons in which to mow & weed the front yard so that we look respectable when people are stopping by, find everything on our list, clean it all up, tag it, set it out, and make signs.  Trin is also doing a lemonade stand on one of our yard sale days, so there's that to prepare for, too.  Our disorganized & cluttered house is becoming one of my largest sources of anxiety, so I'm hoping that most of the stuff we put out will sell.  If not, it's likely to end up on craigslist for free.  (Seriously, people will take ANYTHING if it's free.)  The stuff that is in good shape & worth some money, I'm going to donate to my friend's yard sale, which is taking place the weekend after ours.  The proceeds from her sale are going to the ADA, so while I'd like to sell quite a bit of stuff, I'm hoping at least one or two nicer items don't sell so I can pass them along to her.

Next Wednesday is the epic estrogen-fueled road trip to meet the Bloggess.  I'm piling in a car w/ 3 female friends to drive over 5 hours, meet up w/ 2 other female friends, and go to a book signing where we may very likely meet Jenny Lawson.  Just the idea makes me tinkle a little!! It's going to be AH-MAY-ZING!  I'll be getting my customary 5 - 5.5 hours of sleep on Tuesday night, going to work Wednesday morning, leaving early to hit the road, and when it's all done, I'll be getting home on Thursday morning in just enough time to shower & go to work.  Thursday is the day my kiddo wants to go school shopping (and it's the best day for us to get it done, no matter how sleep deprived I may be), so I most likely won't be getting any sleep until Thursday night.  I'm betting I'll be asleep way before the sun goes down, though.

The following weekend, my dad will be in town w/ his girlfriend & her kids.  We've got dinner plans on Saturday night, though I'm hoping we can spend more time than that together.  We had hoped to do the Hellgate jetboat excursion w/ them, but we have tickets to see Weird Al on Sunday, so no jetboats for us.  (I LOVE LOVE LOVE the jetboats, but I've never seen Weird Al & have been a fan for as long as I can remember, so I can't be too sad about choosing that over dinner & a boat trip.)  I don't foresee a whole lot of rest on this particular weekend, so I'm predicting major Mombie outbreak the following week.

The 22nd is my niece's 12th birthday.  All she wants is to go ice skating, so I'm trying to work that out, but her dad is pretty much blocking all of us out of the kids' lives at the moment, which makes it a little tricky to plan anything.  I don't even want to get started on that b/c I'll just get angry & frustrated at the injustice (to us & the kids) of whole situation.

The last weekend in August, which is also the last weekend before school starts, is when I will FINALLY get to visit my beloved Oregon coast.  It's been a year since we last made it over to the beach & if you know me, you know that I have a deep, abiding love for the ocean.   It restores me in ways nothing else in the world can.  To feel completely well, I would need to visit at least once every couple of months.  But I usually only get one weekend a year.  This being THE weekend, I intend to soak in every last second!!  It's a family vacay, of course, but that doesn't mean I can't sneak off for a few minutes to really give myself a chance to decompress & recharge.  All it takes is a little time & appreciation, staring out at the endless water, and I'm as good as new.

Even as I write out all the upcoming activities that we've got going on this month, knowing that I'm already struggling just to get through my normal daily responsibilities, I feel a stirring within.  A desire for more.  Ideas of photos I want to take, crafts I want to make, and household to-dos I want to get done.  I need to be very cautious when I feel this way b/c I will get in way over my head & that always backfires.   It's only logical that if I'm already overwhelmed, I shouldn't be piling more on my plate.  At the same time, it's hard to stop myself.  I spend so much time doing things that I'm REQUIRED to do, that I jump at the opportunity to do something I WANT to do.  Unfortunately, the requirements take precedence, so like I said, I need to be careful & remind myself that the want-to-do's can wait just a little while longer.  After all, it's a miracle I was even able to write this post! How the hell am I going to squeeze in even more?!