Let me explain. No, there is too much--let me sum up

Before I go two months without a post, I'd better fill you in on what's been filling up my time and attention. Or at least I should make my excuses and move on.

1. For about a month (from the day after Christmas until last week) we had house guests.

A good friend of ours from Nigeria was starting a Master's degree program in Chicago. So our house provided a sort of a landing/launching pad for his family. He came with his wife and two little boys (ages 4 and 1 1/2 years), then after a week he headed up to Chicago to start school, find an apartment, and so on. The family stayed with us until he got set up, because you know how it is getting an apartment. Why keep your family in a little hotel room during that time if you have any other option?

Having guests, especially kid-guests, was a lot of fun but also all-consuming. If kids around me are upset, bored, or acting up, my best solution is to engage them directly, like play with them or read to them or get them going on some kind of activity. Otherwise I just get more and more frustrated listening to them acting up. But that does take some time, energy, attention--all those things. These boys were really well behaved, but, c'mon, all kids act out sometimes. Plus we all, adults included, needed to get out of the house now and then, so we had to plan that into our day; plus conversation takes time . . . .

I found that during afternoon naps, when we all retreated to our own quiet corners, I felt completely productive just watching a movie on the computer in my room because, hey, I had guests.

2. As the new Enrichment counselor, I pulled off my very first ever Enrichment a week ago Thursday.

Granted I've been to plenty of Enrichment and Homemaking nights, but I've never been involved with putting one on. I'm not sure how I've avoided it so long. And let's face it, I'm not much of an Event Planner. That requires thinking through logistical details and calling people to give them assignments. Eww! Plus, with our little ward, I don't have a committee.

Thinking back, I didn't put tons of active time into it, except the last two days, but all that worrying, gearing myself up to call people, and second-guessing myself took a whole lot of time and energy. Like Grandpa says, you've got to schedule in your preliminary procrastination. But somehow, it all came off alright. Next time, even if it kills me (and it just might), I'm delegating out more responsibilities.

3. My oven still hasn't been fixed.

Whirlpool has the part on backorder, and they keep changing the estimated shipping date--one week, another two weeks, okay, now another two weeks. After being strung along for ten weeks, I still don't have an oven. It's not a tragedy; it's just an annoyance. But annoyance somehow takes energy. Also it takes time to call the repair guy and home warranty people to see what's up and what else can be done, to crack your brain for dinners that don't require baking, and just to stew in frustration. Grrrr.

4. I've taken over a week to recover and catch up on all the stuff I put off while I had such great excuses. Come to think of it, I still need to clean the little fingerprints off the closet door mirrors.