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I am fortunate enough to be able to send my two older children to sleepaway camp.  It is a fantastic learning, growing and maturing experience - for me and them!  My kids learn that the world still turns if they wear clothes that don’t match or the same shirt 4 days in a row, or what it’s like to meet new people, watch themselves become independent beings and experience things they never could at home (we don’t have a lake in our backyard or a kiln in the kitchen).

That said, there’s a lot of waiting involved with camp.  It all starts with the waiting-to-pack time period.  It’s incredible how much stuff needs to be stuffed inside of the trunks that are taken to camp.  Ok, first off, let’s not date ourselves to when they were actual black with gold rivet trunks – they’re really just duffle bags.  Granted, huge, enormous, can hold at least 4 grown men duffles, but duffle bags nevertheless.  And these duffles sit in my bedroom for weeks until they are actually picked up and taken away (given that we don’t have an extra bedroom and my husband and I’s room has the most space).  So I wait as long as possible to unearth them from where they are stashed all winter to reduce the number of nights I can possibly slip, roll and kill myself on an errant battery or sunscreen stick that has escaped the double layered ziploc bag in which it was stored.  Aside from my general safety, I have to wait to pack because nothing pisses me off more than putting items inside the bags and crossing them off my checklist, only to be asked the next morning by one of my chidlren if they can wear that shirt, jersey, soccer cleat, you name it, one last time.  So, although I have a few friends that are happy to feel organized starting this process in February for a June pick-up, I’ll stick with the wait-until-the-last-minute crunch time way that seems to work best for us.

But the waiting doesn’t end with the pick-up of the bags.  No siree.  Then there’s the parking lot send-off where the parents stand in the middle of an open parking lot in midday.  Blinking, shielding their eyes in the glaring heat (even behind the giant black Jackie-O glasses bought for the occasion) at a tinted window to try to catch a last glimpse of their child while trying to choke back emotion to “put on a good front”.  Inevitably, there’s a late-comer who was stuck in traffic so us parents are left standing like beauty pageant idiots waving and waiting, waving and waiting.

Once the bus pulls away then the wait for the first online picture begins.  Can you say refresh button?  You never know when new pics will be posted… And of course, the first letter (hopefully with no circled tear droplets or talk of homesickness and hitching a ride home) and the first phone call.  Visiting Day can never arrive quickly enough and as soon as you pull away from camp, the countdown to their homecoming begins.  And then there’s the the daily wait for the mailman in the hopes he brings some small tidbit of a literary connection.

Key thing to note (and I learned this the hard way the first summer my kids were away), is that my summer life is what happens in between all this waiting.  So although I miss them terribly each summer and usually have several countdowns going at once, I also recognize that the countdown to the hectic long days of the school year with homework, carpooling, sports practices and coordination of schedules is also going on during these precious and fleeting summer weeks. 

So I’m trying to appreciate the waiting.  And dare I say, enjoy it.  Because before you know it, we’ll all have to endure the longest wait of all… when summer ends and we wait until next summer to do it all over again.

I am consistently shocked by the hamster-wheel of pandemonium that I call my everyday life. Maybe I’m trying to get too much done. Maybe I need my own office. Maybe my to-do lists need sub-lists. Maybe I need to hire a personal assistant. Maybe I’m suffering from some type of attention deficit disorder and should seek immediate medical attention.

My aunt recently forwarded me an email that made me feel less alone in my illness (and made me laugh hysterically!). Though my daily tasks and activities are different than the ones described, the flow of the day is disarmingly similar…

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Pepsi I’d been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Pepsi aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. The Pepsi is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need water. I put the Pepsi on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote…someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day, the car isn’t washed, the bills aren’t paid, there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter, the flowers don’t have enough water, there is still only 1 check in my check book, I can’t find the remote, I can’t find my glasses, and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys. Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I’m really tired!

The crazy part is, if this really was my exact day, after realizing my inefficiency, I would wash the car while the kids’ dinner was cooking, I would pay bills and find a new book of checks while my kids were doing their homework, with baths and showers running I would clean up all loose house clutter – including the now warm can of Pepsi, and just prior to bedtime I would start a game of seek and find with my kids to see who could find my glasses and the remote first – winner allowed to choose which TV show we watch before collapsing in bed!!

No matter how crazy, distracted, or chaotic my focus gets, at the end of the day I keep the wheel spinning until my jobs are done. Most of them anyway. Some may say I’m just spinning my wheels, but it’s my raucous reality and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’m a hard worker. So is my husband Ken. We wear many hats in our company – and never one at a time. Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at some of the things I have to do, deal with or endure in my day to day. I often feel like I have a Rodney Dangerfield-like comic sitting on my shoulder pointing out these aspects of daily life like a comedy bit – “You Know You’re Working Too Hard When…”. It must be my subconscious’ way of dealing with the stress involved in running a new growing company. So like my Multi-Tasking Secrets, I’m going to throw jokes out there every now and again.

So, for my first entry:

You know you’re working too hard when… You live in the same town that you grew up in. Your sister lives in town too. You have 3 kids in school in town. They participate in a bazillion different sports (of which your husband coaches several) and your youngest is enrolled in the local dance studio, etc., etc. You then take these 3 kids to lunch at the local hot-spot diner and the only person you or your kids recognize in the whole place is the UPS delivery man! Ba dum dum.

But seriously folks….

At 6:50am yesterday morning, Lily – my 5 yr. old – lightly padded into our room and woke Ken and I up. She then proceeded (as is her usual style) to chatter incessantly about what’s on her mind. She went on for several minutes about her favorite new book and how cute our dog, Maisy, looked snuggled in her chair – all while Ken and I were still dozing, barely acknowledging her every once in a while with half open, unfocused, sleepy eyes.

Suddenly, her eyes wide with wonder, she changed topics. “Did you know my friend Casey’s Nanny lives on an island?” she said. “Isn’t that cool?” I was now awake as I had a feeling I knew where she was going with this conversation, as my favorite show is Lost and my kids have become obsessed with Flight 29 Down – a series on the Discovery Channel with a similar premise of an airplane crashing in the middle of the Pacific, but focused on more age appropriate subject matter.

“Lily, Casey’s Nanny doesn’t live on a tropical island”, I explained. “She lives on Long Island.” “Wow”, Lily replied, “a long island. It must be hard to survive there”. Before correcting her I chuckled inwardly as I thought that many of us New Jersey natives have often wondered the same thing – how do people actually live on Long Island?!?!

My shopping style has changed dramatically in the past 18 months. I used to fill an entire afternoon wandering from store to store – perusing this, trying on that, rationalizing prices and feeling triumphant every time I used a coupon or got a great sale deal. I’d buy piecemeal – a little here, a little there. I obviously don’t have the free time I once did to do that kind of shopping.

Nowadays I vacillate between buying more expensive items because they are “just what I was looking for” and filling an entire shopping cart to the brim at stores like Old Navy (even Target sometimes) where once or twice a season I can shop for everyone in the family (including the dog) in one fell swoop and then later return whatever doesn’t fit or isn’t liked.
I recently had such a back-to-school spree at Old Navy. Fortunately, my kids and husband all liked what I bought. Even the dog gave an approving sniff to the bumble bee costume I had purchased for her (I know, I know, Halloween already you say? But, it’s never too early to snatch up the good canine ones!). The only “misfits” from my binge were 2 pairs of pajama pants for my 9 yr. old son. They simply weren’t as comfy as his LikeWear lounge pants – and I quote. Shameless plug, but totally true. But, I digress… as I was putting away in various closets all the new and approved purchases, I discarded all the plastic hangers that came with the clothes in an empty shopping bag to be thrown away as garbage, and left the 2 pants to be returned in another bag.
It was tough enough finding the time to go shopping in the first place. Now for the really hard part – carving out more time to go back and return the 2 PJ pants. The bag sat in my car for almost 2 weeks – at the ready in case my travels took me back past the store. Finally my Mom mentioned that she was going to Old Navy yesterday afternoon. Of course, she didn’t mind bringing something back for me.
She waited on a very long and slow moving line, walked up to the register and handed the saleswoman my bag and asked her to please apply the credit to her purchase. The saleswoman looked inside the bag and said, “What exactly are you returning?” “2 pajama pants”, my mother explained. “My daughter gave them to me to bring back. They are in the bag you are holding.” “Really?” the sales clerk questioned, “because this bag is just filled with old plastic hangers.”
How can I be so focused and “on” most of the time and so scatterbrained and “off” sometimes too? Must be the stress. I really should try shopping online. Think there is a site that sells brain upgrades?

My shopping style has changed dramatically in the past 18 months. I used to fill an entire afternoon wandering from store to store – perusing this, trying on that, rationalizing prices and feeling triumphant every time I used a coupon or got a great sale deal. I’d buy piecemeal – a little here, a little there. I obviously don’t have the free time I once did to do that kind of shopping.

Nowadays I vacillate between buying more expensive items because they are “just what I was looking for” and filling an entire shopping cart to the brim at stores like Old Navy (even Target sometimes) where once or twice a season I can shop for everyone in the family (including the dog) in one fell swoop and then later return whatever doesn’t fit or isn’t liked.
I recently had such a back-to-school spree at Old Navy. Fortunately, my kids and husband all liked what I bought. Even the dog gave an approving sniff to the bumble bee costume I had purchased for her (I know, I know, Halloween already you say? But, it’s never too early to snatch up the good canine ones!). The only “misfits” from my binge were 2 pairs of pajama pants for my 9 yr. old son. They simply weren’t as comfy as his LikeWear lounge pants – and I quote. Shameless plug, but totally true. But, I digress… as I was putting away in various closets all the new and approved purchases, I discarded all the plastic hangers that came with the clothes in an empty shopping bag to be thrown away as garbage, and left the 2 pants to be returned in another bag.
It was tough enough finding the time to go shopping in the first place. Now for the really hard part – carving out more time to go back and return the 2 PJ pants. The bag sat in my car for almost 2 weeks – at the ready in case my travels took me back past the store. Finally my Mom mentioned that she was going to Old Navy yesterday afternoon. Of course, she didn’t mind bringing something back for me.
She waited on a very long and slow moving line, walked up to the register and handed the saleswoman my bag and asked her to please apply the credit to her purchase. The saleswoman looked inside the bag and said, “What exactly are you returning?” “2 pajama pants”, my mother explained. “My daughter gave them to me to bring back. They are in the bag you are holding.” “Really?” the sales clerk questioned, “because this bag is just filled with old plastic hangers.”
How can I be so focused and “on” most of the time and so scatterbrained and “off” sometimes too? Must be the stress. I really should try shopping online. Think there is a site that sells brain upgrades?

On this, the eve of back-to-school for my kids, I offer up few words. I’d like to simply share one of my favorite commercials which sums up my feelings tonight. Please click on the link below, laugh and enjoy!

My first born has reached a modern milestone in her adolescence. She has been waiting for this event to happen for over a year now ever since the first of her friends got it. She hasn’t wiped the smile off of her face (despite the solid attempts by her brother!). Her day has finally come… she got a cell phone!

Who’s going to break the news to the “lovie lamb” she’s been inseparable from since birth that she’s been replaced by a new ringing, beeping, bleeping metal security object? My baby is all grown up. She was furiously texting friends and family alerting them of the breaking news in her new tongue: “BTW, I got a phone. LOL. G2G. TTYL.” I always hoped she would be bilingual – this isn’t what I had in mind.

Morally, I’ve been reluctant to the idea of kids (particularly mine) with cell phones. Then again, our kids today are exposed and vulnerable to many scary and potentially dangerous situations and events that simply didn’t exist years ago. The world is a different place. It makes my daughter feel mature and important to have a cell phone. And it makes my husband and I feel a bit more comfortable and secure knowing that when she is not with us, if she needs us, we are only a speed dial away.

Maybe if I post it out loud I’ll actually listen…

Just because you CAN do it yourself, doesn’t mean you SHOULD do it yourself.

My two older kids returned from sleep-away camp on Friday and it was my 5-year olds last day of day camp. Since then my house has been filled with family, friends, neighbors and several other children besides the 3 that belong to me. Every toy we own has been pulled out and its pieces scattered across the basement floor. Beds are rumpled, dirty clothes are on the floor adjacent to the hampers - not quite making it in, and toilet seats (thanks to my son) have all been left in their full upright and locked position. The house is never quiet as someone seems to always be talking, singing or screaming and my mudroom is once again filled with well, um – mud! My household is officially… back to normal!!

I am a little sorry to say good-bye to the lazy days of my summer; however, with its end I am feeling the return of the energy that is my lifeblood. I suppose I am happiest teetering on the edge of organized chaos when it’s too noisy to really hear myself think.

Last night, I snuggled in bed with my 5 year old and read ‘Purplicious’ to her for the bazillionth time. As we neared the end of the book I let out a huge sneeze and my daughter looked me straight in the eye and said, “Mom, sneezes are like farts out of your nose, right?” Her question obviously did not require any response as neither one of us could catch our breath to give or even hear an answer. Is there any better way to end a day than with an all out giggle-fest with your kids?