October 2018. It's been such a convergence of challenging things that I've nearly lost count and so I'm documenting it here lest I ever forget how strong I can be. If I can survive the past month, I can do anything!
Our Octobers are typically extra busy--we have two birthdays 5 days apart which means lots of invitations, present buying/wrapping, and back-to-back weekend party coordinating, and there's Halloween at the end which means costume planning/buying and any of the other fall/Halloween things at church, school, or otherwise. I mean, I don't want to miss doing things like carving pumpkins and decorating the house or watching football just because we have two birthdays this month. And yet. This year this month was too much.
At our regular dental appointments in early September, our dentist mentioned Austin probably need an orthodontist consult. So I made three appointments over the course of the next 6 weeks. 2/3 said one thing and 1/3 said something else, so I'm glad we had three opinions to entertain. I don't know why I didn't wait until the new year except it seems like life is always full, so might as well be a little fuller right now. That hindsight...
The PPC (my biggest PTA commitment) had our biggest event of the year the last week of September and then hosted a tour mid-October. Nothing out of the ordinary for these, just that they were happening and adding to my already full plate. Then it's the week of the book fair and I volunteered for multiple spots during the days Seth was home (you're not allowed to bring a little sibling with you when you're working the book fair register and this would be my first time having a chance to work it which is why I signed up for multiple--finally getting a chance to give back in this way).
And then there was a couple appointments about the new windows we're buying for the house... A couple appointments with the contractor about the renovation we hope to do in 2019... A couple of hours spent at the furniture store buying new front room furniture (because I want new stuff before Thanksgiving and the current stuff had just fallen apart so quickly)... A couple of hours spent at the school delivering UBAM books I'd bought for the teachers and having Parent Teacher Conferences... A couple of hours meeting with the DISD board trustee for our district over some long range plans that had recently hit the news.
Several hours spent helping my recently-widowed friend clear out her garage of Ebay Selling Business Things her husband left behind. (Think: 10,000 DVDs as just a start to the quantity of things.)
My car was having issues, so we coordinate a rental from the dealership and I've got a car I hate for a week (of course the week they have a van rental available is the week between the birthdays). During which my phone finally causes enough issues that I make an appointment at Apple to see what they can do in person that they can't do over the phone. They give me a new phone which is awesome except the 3 hours I spend in the Apple store while my old stuff goes onto the new phone. (And I was still missing a few things.) And then my voicemail gets turned off somehow and for a week people are leaving me voicemails that I get zero notification about and which are gone forever. (The positive here is that the new phone has none of the old issues, so praise Jesus!)
Then it's two well visits back-to-back and flu shots x4. (Still trying to get Seth to get his.) And it's two weeks of dress up days at DeGolyer (yes, two weeks!), school pictures on the same day as family pictures (and a family of outfits to find/figure). Seth takes the boys camping overnight with some other dads and sons from church and comes home from it with a sprained ankle. Then we're carving pumpkins (finally!) three days before Halloween.
Oh, and did I mention that GA began peeing on the floor every day? She's on her 4th medication right now and the peeing seems to have stopped, but now she won't stop itching! Add to my month's plate 4 vet visits, 3 vet phone calls, a grooming appointment, and daily mental efforts to remember to give her the medication. Plus having to deal with her emotional needs through this whole thing! Cleaning the carpet every day is one thing (it's toast, honestly), but her acting different, attempting to bite me (something she's never ever done) because she hated the one medicine she was being given, and now she's hyper and acting like a puppy. I cannot handle my own roller coaster emotions, let alone hers!
It's not been BAD things, just COMPLICATED things. The parade permission slips come home from school and when I'm finally sitting down to sign them, I can't find them! I dig and look and search... And then I finally print them out from the email and sign them. As soon as I get them in the backpacks, I find the printed ones that came home from school! I mean, I am not the person who can't keep track of forms or who forgets to sign and send the test back to school and yet this month, I'm like a chicken without it's head! I've been ready to quit every single commitment and stay in bed all day every day. (I haven't, I've just wanted to.)
And to cap it all off, Austin wakes up at 5am on Halloween vomiting. I didn't expect to end on a high note, but vomit!? And yet... November lays ahead of me full of promise (and empty of vomit, I hope) and I look forward to a month spent focusing on our gratefulness and blessings. I plan to be my best "Amish" self. Fingers crossed!
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