A Balancing Act

I don't know how other mums do it. They manage to participate in almost every activity with their children, work full time, manage a beautiful house and garden and still have time to go away to some exotic location for holidays. They work out, maintain their own personal hobbies and manage to entertain friends and family on a regular basis. To an outsider the entire family looks perfect in their nice clean outfits, walking their tongue-lolling gigantic dog.

Let me be clear: I'm not that kind of mum. Nor do I want to be. While I do try to participate in Daniel's activities, my level of participation will be drastically pared back this year. I do work full time (thankfully), but managing the house and garden are quite frankly, beyond me. As for travelling, I'll let you know how our trip in November goes. Personal hobbies... does mending count?Entertaining... what's that? Although I'd love to have a dog, Daryle's allergies and my lack of energy just wouldn't work with a big pet, let alone the fact that our back yard isn't fenced. However, we'll soon have a goldfish for Daniel, I don't know why we haven't got one already - must add that to the to-do list.

Daryle and I have had a few discussions over the last little while. Some I remember, some I don't. (I'm rather disheartened that I don't recall some conversations in which, from what Daryle has told me, I was articulate, assertive, and my words struck a chord). This fall, as a family, we're focusing on my health and each other. We're also focusing on our home, making it a more comfortable, happy place to raise the boys. We're even considering selling the house and moving into another home that may be more manageable, requiring less maintenance, time and money.

Here are a couple of lists of fun and exciting things to do this fall:

For myself:

• Start taking my new medication. This will involve a lot of wincing, cursing, money flying from wallet and general discomfort
• Focus on establishing a daily routine. Crawl out of bed, work, stagger to and from activities, fall back into bed. Repeat
• Establish better sleeping habits
• Stay connected with friends and family. I don't know what I would do without you all. It would be a sad, bleak world

For the family:

• Get Daniel to soccer games and practices
• Practice soccer drills with Daniel throughout the week
• Get Daniel to his Cub meetings and events
• Participate in Cubs meetings as a helper
• Get organized for Christmas ahead of time (I know I won't have the energy to deal with it at the time)
• Spend time reading with the boys in the evening
• Spend time with Daniel while he does his homework
• Pick away at projects around the house
• Oh, and buy a goldfish and necessary goldfishy stuff to keep it alive

Together, I'm sure we can manage the items on these lists this fall. They're too much for me to handle on my own, but with Daryle's help and the being able to say "no" to requests of our energy/time/money we'll manage. Hopefully.