Suddenly . . .

After months of low key nagging we suddenly have a date for our family vacation.  We leave in 6 days.  All of sudden summer is over in a rush of preparation and travel.  Between now and Monday, the following must occur. 

• Grocery shopping.
• My yearly gynnie appointment that due to my complications takes 1/2 a day. Following this I will need to  . . .
• Pick up prescriptions.
• Laundry.
• A trip to the Boy Scout Council Store for updated uniform bits.
• Buy stamps, sunscreen and a half dozen other random items.
• 2 days of cub scout camp.
• 1 day of office wrangling to be ready to hit the ground running when we return.
• At least one visit to my grandmother who is in rehab care. (Two would be better.)
• Make hotel reservations.
• Pack for S and J’s scout camp trip.
• Pack for the whole family’s vacation
• Get the car to the garage for an oil change and to find out what the hissing sound is when the vent fan is turned off.
• Help J mow lawn.
• Arrange for someone to feed the cats.
• Water the house plants and the garden.
• See if my Mom can watch S during Aug. while I prep the Fall courses.

The schedule is kind of nuts.  J plans to leave at 7AM Monday after coming home from Scout Camp on Sunday afternoon.  We will drive 4 1/2 hours to a water park in VA, GO TO the water park that day and spend the night in the area.  Yikes!  I can see the meltdown already, and not just S, all of us.  When we get home from this hastily planned vacation we will leave again in four days for a three day camping trip with friends. A week and a half is all I have to spiff up my courses and design scenery for the first show. After that I start having scheduled activities on campus for the start of the Fall semester, another half week and 2nd grade starts for S.  Oh man, I’m tried just thinking about it all.

I have been so inactive for about a year and a half because I have walked away from almost all the work offered to me in the hopes that I would be caring for a baby girl.  That did not happen.  At first, it was torture, being idle was really hard for me.  It was about nine months before I started to adjust to my new (lack of) schedule.  Now, I’m so laid back I would describe myself as lazy.  It looks like that all ends tonight.  

I am fortunate though.  All the people who have offered me work in the past are still offering. This kind of lull in employment should’ve been career damaging.  But it wasn’t.  Two schools have basically given me the pick of their seasons and a more classes to teach than I can actually physically handle.  It will be easy to dive into all this work and never look back, or at least pretend I’m not looking.  I really do enjoy teaching; it is the only thing I’ve found that rivals parenting in the potential for satisfaction.   The next 40 days will fly by and then I will be up to my eyes in courses and shows and plans for two student trips and preparation for our new building and harvesting the garden and getting S off on the right foot in 2nd grade and J’s stepsister’s wedding and and and . . . . . I may drown.

I have not done the research on Taiwan; I don’t know if I am still actually holding onto hope for Vietnam or if I just want to have some time where I don’t feel like I’m teetering on the edge of bliss and disaster all the time.  There are days when I think it would be OK to have just S.  (Like yesterday when he entertained me by improvising an entire cable system of TV shows centered around slugs to my too loud protests of “GROSS” and “STOP” and my pantomime of a remote control.)  But, when I think about doing something, anything with the baby’s room, I am paralyzed.  The door is shut, I don’t go in there, I don’t look in there.  When I have to deal directly with the possibility of there not being a baby girl E ( yes, I have had a name picked out for about 5 years) I can’t do it.

So, all of a sudden we are down to 40 days.  I read on the DOS web site that they expect to have referrals for about half of the 1,700 pending dossiers prior to the Sept. 1st deadline. It all seems like such blatant fiction.  If they can do that why don’t we have a referral already?  Our dossier has been circulating orphanages since late January, nearly 6 months. How is it they expect to complete 850 referrals in little more than a month when some have been in the system for such a long time already?  

Maybe it will all happen very suddenly.

One more time!

Four and a half.  Whew!

So, we do have to update our home study BUT, it is not for Vietnam.  We will need to bring a current document with us for the US embassy in order to be allowed a visa for the child.  Not great news, but it could have been worse.  This time our task will be completed after I visit our notary.     We will not have to send the home study on a tour of state and national offices this time.

The process of sending documents to be state certified and authenticated is very trying to me.  I guess because all of your hopes go off in a little package entrusted to others who will do what I would feel much safer done with my own hands.  It doesn’t matter how many times we have been through that process without any troubles, all of our couriers have been excellent and prompt, I still feel a huge amount of uncertainty when that package leaves my hands.

A year ago when we renewed our home study I remember thinking, “Whew! Last time I will have to do that!”  Oh, well.  I can almost do this with my eyes closed now.

Today was also commencement at the university.  I think I have been working there too long now.  I was happy for all our grads, but didn’t tear up even once.  It is starting to feel like a tread mill. 

but who’s counting

four.

I am.

While waiting for our referral I have begun counting other things too.  

Goodreads.com has become a almost constant companion.  I have 430 books on my list, read and to-read.  I have had a lot of time to read this year and have not had that pleasure in a long time.  I have had excellent luck finding things to read that suit my tastes.  The reviews and comments by real people seem to be far more useful than publisher provided information alsone.  I am also hooked on the never ending book quiz and have finally broken into the top 100 ranked players.  I don’t think I will ever make it onto the leader board which is determined by the most correct answers.   

I count my calories on Fitday.com.  So, far I have lost 10 pounds in about a month.  I should also add that my food hobby previous to fitday was binge eating, which caused me to gain 25 pounds.  I was at the diet or shop point. I could not even put on the vast majority of my clothes and the ones I could caused me to be very uncomfortable.  Yesterday my Fine Cooking Magazine came in the mail.  Wish me luck.

So, this blog is supposed to be about a busy working Mom.  How is it that I have all this free time on my hands?  NO BABY!  My employer did not want me to disrupt my teaching by leaving the country for two weeks.  So I have been on unpaid leave from my teaching duties this entire academic year while I wait.  Fortunately, I have been allowed to design a few shows, and had the time to take on some projects that I normally would’ve had to miss.  I did a small project for a large theatre company near where I live and was able to participate in an exhibit of theatre designers.  This has kept me from going completely bonkers.  Next fall, back to my normal schedule, I hope, but I wouldn’t count on it.  

Current Projects

The academic year is winding down, so despite the theme of this blog, things are relatively calm.  I suppose that is why I have time to do this now.

Irons in the fire right now?  

My husband and I are throwing ourselves a 20th wedding aniversary party later this month.  Hopefully the weather will co-operate, we will need to be outdoors or we will be so crowed I will need to find a hall on very short notice.

We are working on our second adoption.  Let’s just say I’m a year overdue and pretty cranky about the whole thing.  I’m sure this will be the frequent topic of future posts.

The university I work for is building a new facility for our program.  We will be in temporary shop spaces for the next academic year.  We have to move out of our current shops a year before the new building is ready to make room for a new medical program that cannot wait for an orderly departure on our part.  I’m sure this will be the subject of future rants.

With spring comes gardening at our home.   There will be photos, just wait!

Weight loss! (UGH!) Nine pounds in three and a half weeks.  (Did I mention how hungry I am right now?!) Sorry, no photos here.

Yeah, pretty calm.