Worry Up and Wait

I suppose you could say I’m high-strung, a worrier.  My mind is constantly scanning the horizon for things that need to get done or acquired, with a priority and due date attached to each.  On one hand, I think it’s impressive and helps keep my world from becoming a chaotic rats’ nest of filth, dirty uniforms, empty pantries, and missed birthdays.  On the other hand, it’s kind of exhausting.  Something will pop into my mind – today, it’s Halloween and how I must put all of our events on a calendar so we can make sure we hit the stuff we want most to hit (yesterday it was table covers and plates for Stella’s upcoming birthday party, and where can I get the stuff the cheapest).  Once that alarm has been triggered, I can’t turn it off until I do the thing – whatever thing.  I can’t even hit snooze.  Sometimes a brain dump helps – pouring out items or sentence fragments on a piece of paper or the white board in the kitchen.  Sometimes not.

Stella going back to school again has caused some new items for the brain dump.  Last year, she ate the cafeteria food like most other kids.  This year, she’s on the ADHD meds and won’t eat much if anything, so I’m packing lunches, horrible lunches, full of the most nutritionally vacant yet kid-friendly fare you can imagine (or not).  There’s pepperoni, beef sticks, summer sausage, black olives, Cheetos.   My rationale is that I’d rather her eat something and maintain her blood sugar than nothing at all.  But now there’s an extra lunch to pack each night.  And since I’m a wanna-be overachiever, I have to include a cute paper napkin and an encouraging note and cartoon on a post-it.  The notes are no biggie.  The cartoons are problematic.  I suck at art, usually drawing such goofy and nonsensical things as Talking Sandwich and Cactopus.  Any artsy types who wanna send me some post-its, let me know.  I clearly need help.

Not particularly inventive OR well-executed.

And then there’s the usual worry about Stella.  Will she have a good day or act a fool?  Will other kids pick on her?  I must admit, though, knowing she has such a phenomenal teacher is helping so much with that.   Each day, I’m more and more impressed.  Tuesday, the first day back since the flooding over 3 weeks ago, Stella left her lunchbox at school.  Hey.  She’s a (still) 5 YO with ADHD.  It’s going to to happen.  As I dug out her older stained lunch box from last year/summer camp, her teacher messaged me with a picture of her lunch, saying not to worry.  She totally didn’t have to do that.  Goodness knows the Harpy wouldn’t have.  I think if anything, this year will illustrate how much more evil that woman was than we already thought.

Still in keeping with school and Stella, now there’s also homework to contend with.  So far it’s been a breeze. Stella did so well on her first spelling pretest, that she moved straight to the “challenge” words.  They are not challenging, at least not for her. I’m so grateful that she’s finally in a position where she can truly excel.

Felix? He’s the exception. That little dude is the most easy-going little boy you can imagine. My biggest worries about him are whether not I’ll be able to find the requested Beethoven birthday cake for his party next year, and whether or not I should warn his school that he ate 4 heaping bowls of yogurt and blueberries this morning for breakfast.

#3 on its way to be a helluva #2

All of the above is only the tip of the iceberg of what swirls in my mind.  There is also my job, upcoming travel, the holiday season, Will.  I suppose this is my justification for enjoying a glass of wine at the end of the day.  Now if only I can stop worrying about needing new wine glasses or my liver……

Where DO you find a Beethoven birthday cake?!