So these past two weeks my life has exploded into a whirlwind of activity.  I can’t keep up.  I’m not even sure what day it is anymore. Between school prep, kids camp, a new job, sleepovers, and a random, completely spontaneous trip for The Music Man my head is spinning.

Because lists are a driving force of calm in my life I thought I’d try to make sense of all this chaos by itemizing what I’ve been up to.  I know you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for this. So am I.

1. School Prep–Ah, Homeschool.  How I love thee and yet, how I hate thee.  Mostly I love thee.  With morning sickness screwing up our spring earlier this year, we ended first grade a bit…um…discombobulated. This summer has been one thing after another, so I didn’t even begin to look at second grade until just a week or two ago.  Did I mention I plan to start on Monday??? Yeah, needless to say I’ve been eating, sleeping, and breathing curriculums and lesson plans.  I still have a list of 10ish books I’m waiting on.  (Hopefully UPS, FedEx, and USPS will all have deliveries for me today!) Last night I compiled my master school supply list…um…it’s massive and it intimidates me. See…I think we’re still good-to-go to start on Monday, but it’s going to be a busy weekend getting everything pulled together.
2. Kids Camp–Ah, Kids Camp…how I love thee. The Girl went for the very first time and LOOOOOOVED it!!! This year our church did our own kids camp at a local conference and campground. It was just three days and nights and only 10 minutes from our house.  (That made Mamacita ok with the whole My-Baby’s-Leaving-Me-For-The-First-Time-How-Is-She-Old-Enough-to-Go-to-Camp?!?!?! thing.) While she was gone, I had planned to have Potty Camp with The Boy and rid my life of diapers (at least till November) and spend a ton of time prepping for school. Instead…we were busier than ever! Mostly because I started a new job…
3. My New Job–I’m not sure yet how I feel about thee yet. This jury’s still out. I’m working for The Man now.  Literally.  I’m working for The Music Man as his secretary/assistant/do-whatever-he-doesn’t-have-time-or-desire-to-do person.  I started this week while The Girl was at camp.  In fact, I cancelled Potty Camp so The Boy and I could be available for Daddy.  It’s supposed to be 5 hours a week at most, but I’ve already put in close to 7 just trying to learn everything I need to know.  He uses all sorts of fancy programs and what-not.  I can type up a mean press release in no time, but ask me to transcribe a chord chart and my brain turns to jelly. So I’ve been watching lots of tutorials for this and fighting with Facebook over this.  I haven’t even put a dent in all that I need to know to even begin to be of help to him.  Working for The Man is hard work!
4. Sleepovers–Oh, Sleepovers…how I want to love you, but… I don’t know what it is about sleepovers but I just don’t get into them as a mom like I did when I was the kid having them.  Don’t get me wrong, I love sleepovers at other people’s houses, but when they’re at my house I get all funny about it. I always on edge AND IT’S A SEVEN YEAR OLD coming, not the Prince of Monaco for crying out loud! The Girl’s friend is spending the weekend with us while her parents go to a wedding out of town.  I’m sure it will be just fine. It’s just at the end of two crazy weeks and right before we start school, so I’m already feeling a bit frazzled.  Plus, The Music Man decided to take a random, completely spontaneous road trip.
5. Random, Completely Spontaneous Road Trip–How I love thee if I were the one going. One of The Music Man’s BFFs’ (The Other Music Man) dad has an extensive antique car collection. His dad lives in the Midwest and due to his parents’  fading health The Other Music Man has been driving these old cars back to the East Coast and selling them for his dad.  This week he’s bringing back a 1960 Cadillac. Sunday night he texted my music man and jokingly asked him to fly out to meet him a ride back with him.  Long story short…The Music Man flew to Dayton yesterday morning, spent the afternoon and evening with his family.  The Other Music Man met him at my inlaws and they left to come home this morning.  They should be home later today.  I’m not sure which one is Thelma and which one is Louise.They’re having a blast, but I’m kinda going crazy from all the aforementioned reasons.  I’ll be glad to have him home and to have his help with my weekend.  Even if it’s just moral support.  I’ll take whatever I can get!

I am exhausted today.  Thoroughly. However, I had a half-caf cup of coffee this morning so my brain is buzzing.  So this post will be a hodgepodge of what’s going on in my brain right now.  Most of it’s from my google reader, but it’s random nonetheless.  You’ve been adequately warned.

1. Yesterday we had the absolute pleasure of hosting a new missionary family at our church.  Luke and Sarah and their three boys are headed to Bangladesh just as soon as they finish raising their budget.  It was extra special for us though, because I know Luke and Sarah from waaaaay back!  Luke’s older sister and I were roommates freshman year at NCU.  He was still in high school at the time, but he soon came to NCU and was friends with my brother.  Sarah and I lived on the same floor one year and I have always just loved her to pieces.  We took them out for lunch and then they came back to our house just to hang out “for a while”.  Yeah, they didn’t leave until after 10:30 last night.  We just kept talking and the kids played so well together.  It was pretty much a perfect day!
2. Today is August 1st. YIKES!!! This summer is FLY-ING too too fast, but August 1st also mean I changed my desktop on my computer.  Woo-hoo.  And it’s so stinking cute.  Be sure to go download your own desktop! 
3. I felt like I was reading my own post when I read Little Miss Momma this morning! Except I haven’t taken cute pictures of myself like that…umm…maybe ever, nor do I have an adorable ring like that…yet! This is how I roll when it comes to weekly list making.  Here’s the list for this week…
4. I’m gearing up to start school in the next few weeks, so my brain is slowly shifting to think about it more and more.  I love this idea of assignment cards.  I don’t know if we’re quite to the point of being able to use them, but I’m so glad she shared the idea…I may try to incorporate it somehow, even if in a smaller way this year.
5. My heart ached as I read this post over at We are THAT family.  Truer words have not been spoken, er written. I know I struggle with wondering if what I’m doing as a stay at home mom is really worth anything.  I mean I know in the long-run that it is, but in the thick of it, day-to-day it’s a whole lot harder to see the value in changing another poopy diaper or explaining another teachable moment.  It’s often a thankless job, so it’s nice to read a post that acknowledges that.
6. Last, but certainly not least, I’m deep in the middle of a new book series.  It’s The Daughters of Boston, by Julie Lessman.  I’ve already finished A Passion Most Pure and am halfway through A Passion Redeemed.  I’m not so sure how I feel about it yet.  It took me a bit to get into the first book, but by the end I really did want to finish it.  I don’t care too much for the characters in the second book.  (They were secondary characters in the first and now the main characters in book 2.) The girl is annoying and the story so much like the first book that it’s proving difficult to keep my attention.  But I’m not one to quit a book no matter how indifferent I may be and it is entertaining enough to hold my attention.  Besides, they are not short books, so I feel like at this point I know so much about the family that I can’t bail on them now. I want to find out what happens to every last one of them.  So I’m committed to the very end.  I did enjoy the first one by the end, so I’m hoping it will be the same with the second and then the third.  Once I’m done with the whole series, I’ll review it in full, but I’m curious if you’ve ever read this series?  What did you think of it? Am I totally wrong about them?