Please Condone Me or Clone Me

I need 8 more arms, and about 2 more brains. Or, just a clone of myself. Maybe then I wouldn't be so tired and feel pulled in 5,000 directions.

Let me explain.

I've had company ALL SUMMER. First of all, Michael's son Kyle arrived the end of May and he's staying with us until August. In addition to him, my friends from Boston and Dallas have come to stay. And although I love them, I haven't loved every minute of it.

I've enjoyed having time to spend with friends, but I feel like I can't keep up. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that Michael and I are refinishing the basement and it's been crazy. Another part of it is the fact that for the past few weeks, I don't feel like I've had 5 minutes to just stop and relax (and now it's sorta making me grumpy). And I'm a little disappointed that I took three vacation days last week and not one of them was spent relaxing whatsoever. I didn't even sleep in. Not ONCE. I hate that.

Seems every second I turn around, there are groceries to be purchased, meals to be made, trash to be taken out, dishes in the sink that need attention, a dishwasher that needs to be unloaded, sheets and bedding that need to be washed, beds that need to be made, laundry that needs to be done, bathrooms that need more towels, toilet paper, q-tips, cotton balls, nail-polish remover, and the list just goes on and on and ON.

And then, there are requests. Pedicures, massages, visiting friends, going here, going there, seeing this movie, doing that activity, eating at this place, driving to that place, inviting everyone over to hang out tonight, tomorrow, and the next night. And of course, wherever there is a party, there's a mess to clean up, a table to clear, trash to take out, and new chores filling up space where old ones were just completed. It adds up, and when your husband is busy finishing the basement, you're the only one left to do the rest.

I'm grumpy. I'm tired, and I'm not able to enjoy everything and everyone like I want to. In fact, I was so tired and had so much to do yesterday that I canceled all plans for Sunday so I could stay home and get my life in order considering I had to go back to work today. I started laundry at 9:00 AM and it's STILL NOT DONE. It's clean, but not folded or put away, and the blankets we had sitting out on the lawn are still waiting their turn in a pile on the floor of the laundry room.

The snow cone juice from someones Styrofoam cup is still sitting in what is now a sticky puddle on my deck because it wasn't thrown away. Pieces of this and that are still littering my kitchen counter tops because they don't have a home. Piles of pillows and pictures are scattered across the sofa in the basement because the paint isn't quite done, and the circles under my eyes are still there because I haven't had a full night's sleep for two weeks.

All I can say is that I either need my life back, or more help (and probably more patience, too). I get the feeling that this is exactly what my mother used to complain about when I was little and she had to get dinner going the second she walked in the door as well as run me to piano lessons and my brother to baseball practice all the while being certain that the laundry was done and we had clean beds to sleep in and food in our bellies. I really am turning into her, and what's scary is the fact that I don't even have children yet.