your daughter's going to need a rabies shot

this is going to be quick because i'm late for bed.

as i've added activities and projects onto my proverbial plate, i've noticed a startling trend in my daily life.  lots of photos to edit?  then don't do the laundry.  need to play catch-up on some of abby's schoolwork?  then the dishes can wait.  and it's not just the house that's been suffering.  i'm sad to admit that there have been many a day when i didn't make reading my bible or playing outside with the kids a priority.

momma needed a schedule.

i work much better within the confines of accountability and structure, so i set out to create a workable daily routine that would allow me (or force me, perhaps) to accomplish all the necessary activities of the day.  after a couple of feeble attempts at designing said schedule, though, i was confused, overwhelmed, and feeling less in control of my day than ever (due to the fact that i got even less done around here than what i had been doing because i spent all day with my nose in an excel file).

then came coffee with the girls.

several moms and i got together a couple of weeks ago to chat about mommyhood, homeschooling, and curriculum.  well lo and behold, if the topic of a family schedule didn't come up!  i gleaned lots of brilliant ideas that night, and i came home with a plan.  i worked and typed and thought and planned, and in the end, i had a schedule that i thought was ideal for our family of little people.  as i showed it to josh last night to get his input, he studied it carefully and then looked at me with love in his eyes and said, "you're really, really OCD".  he cautioned me to not get too wrapped up in the schedule but to simply allow it to be a tool that helped guide our day...not ruin it if things didn't go as planned.  i assured him that i would go with the flow, and then i went to bed confident in how perfectly smooth my day would run today as we moved down through the boxes of that fantastic little spreadsheet.

HA!

i'm too tired to go into the full detail, but after a months-long-spree of no doctor visits, i had to take jack into the pediatrician just before lunch for what we thought was a broken finger and i had to take izzy into the children's after-hours clinic just before dinner for a cat bite that left four puncture wounds in her arm.

results:

• jack's finger isn't broken (just severely bruised and nastyfied)
• the receptionist was incorrect when she told me izzy would need a rabies shot (although i did have to fill in an "animal bite/rabies form" for the health department)
• and we in no way, not even close, absolutely did not stick to the schedule today

and i'm just fine with that.

oh, and at some point in the day, this happened.  don't ask.