Bob

Summer break, huh?  As badly as I want to look forward to spending time with my kids, this prospect of zero moments to catch my breath has me just barely getting by.  I can't seem to squeeze in any time to write anything at all, let alone write it well or edit it.  There is always somebody vying for my attention, until those lonely precious late night moments when I should really be sleeping.  I tend to squander those with reading and listening to podcasts and ted talks and folding laundry.  The laundry, and the clean/cook cycle in the kitchen seem like a top-strength vacuum eager to suck every bit of my time I leave unguarded.  I'm trying to get organized enough to keep a steady stream of meals and snacks coming with minimal mess, but haven't quite pulled off a convincing attempt yet.

But I think, hope, think, that my kids are having and headed for a perfectly childlike summer.  I'm trying to plan enough outside activities that they don't spend the warm months sutured to the television, but I'm not going to make it a point of contention. There are too many fun things to do to be fighting over it.



I've just resigned myself to the fact that they'll probably be stuck to the screen all those moments when I'm planning, scheduling, cleaning, cooking, or on the rare occasion sitting down to blog something. There is, after all, only one of me.  And there are four of them.  To call me outnumbered is to commit a gross understatement.

But I'm having a phase where I like my kids a fair amount.  Sometimes I feel like they are out to get me, but lately I have a reasonable amount of patience for the crazy, messy things they do.  We just have to get out of the house often enough to keep from going totally stir-crazy.  And luckily I've passed that magic 6 month postpartum mark where I start feeling like I can actually leave the house alone with the kids.



And in every iota of "spare time" I'm wishing I could study and prepare for the GRE some more.  I have taken some practice tests, and plowed through a fair amount of study material.  If I'd been more on the ball I would have taken the test by now, but I didn't dare register until I felt halfway prepared, and by then the earliest available dates were mid-June.  I am so incredibly ready to put that squarely behind me. I need to be spending time re-reading old textbooks instead of studying for this bizarre and rather silly test.



So while I can't claim undaunted, I'm still shooting for optimistic headed into June.  Here's to holding it all together. I'm always up for tips and tricks if you have some words of wisdom for me.