Tuesday, January 02, 2007

“New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.” - James Agate

My children are sleep-deprived, punchy as hell, sugar-hyper, and the littlest one is constipated. The past week they have been averaging 930 pm bedtimes and 930 am wake-ups, easily two hours off their normal schedules.
My house is a disaster area, every surface seemingly covered with little bits of torn wrapping paper, plastic detritus from toy packaging, and Christmas tree ornaments the cats have tired of playing with. There is Silly Putty welded to Seg’s comforter, and crayons, books, and papers scattered throughout Primo’s bedclothes.
We have no fewer than three half-finished jigsaw puzzles on the dining room table, which has been stripped of its coverings for use as the work zone. The tablecloth and festive poinsettia runner are wadded up on the armchair which we moved from the entryway so we could fit the tree there.
My vacuum cleaner has stopped functioning, its hose clogged with pine needles and cat fur. The Baby thinks that poking a chopstick into the various hoses and attachments is a new game derived for his pleasure.
My refrigerator is full of leftovers like Oreo cheesecake, sauerkraut, and turkey wings; nary a fruit or veg to be seen cowering behind the pyramid of wine and beer.
Our recycling pile looks like we’ve been eating our breakfast Cheerios and washing down our pb&j sandwiches with liquor.
I have six baskets of clean laundry to fold and put away – and I hope to God one of them contains clean school uniforms; I have five beds’ worth of sheets to change and launder, and two bathrooms to swab down. I have pine boughs to remove from the mantel, strings of lights to remove from the outside bushes and porch railings, and about sixteen phone calls to return, not to mention the pile of mail to be opened, thrown away, or otherwise dealt with.
I still have one teacher present to ante up, and three Christmas-present-containing packages to mail.

I return to work tomorrow; Primo returns to school. H returns to work Wednesday, and Seg returns to preschool. I will heave an enormous sigh of relief, and set about my new year, satisfied with my New Year’s resolutions to 1) be more patient – letting go of instead of fixating on what irritates me - with H and my children (but mostly H, the squeaky wheel and whatnot...); and 2) to do something relatively physical at least every other day, whether it be ice skating, walking, swimming, running, or even a nice fast game of street hockey with the boys. I don’t necessarily want to lose a ton of weight, but I would like to fit back into that cute jean skirt I bought just before I found out I was pregnant with Terzo; I just want to be a little more comfortable in my own skin.

I want to read more, complete the Winter Classics Challenge, and keep working on my book.

Heck, 2007 might even be the year I try cottage cheese.
Or not.
I mean, let’s not get too crazy now!

Happy 2007, everyone!

10 comments:

KPB said...

Apart from the jigsaws and school going back sooner rather than later, I feel our lives, and state of our domestic abodes are mirroring each others to a point of scariness.

My new years resolution is to not let myself go completely during this pregnancy, considering I was at maximum density on discovering it's existence. My goal is that by the summer of 07-08, I too will fit the kicky little denim skirt I was wearing the summer before falling preggers with Jasper.

Good luck with the back to work-back to school juggle. I'm back to work next week and on the one hand looking forward to it, and on another dreading it to the core of my soul. I'm not sure how I'll go without my 10 minute power naps on the lounge.

Joke said...

Happy 2007, BabBab.

-J.

Suse said...

Step away from the cottage cheese NOW.

Maintain some self respect girl.

(PS. Read MORE?!)

Sarah Louise said...

Jigsaw puzzles? So jealous...

right, that's not what your point was.

So go onward, into the new year, working mother, reader and blog writer. YOU CAN DO IT!

and cottage cheese is not the enemy...

I totally approve of all the ice skating, provided I get to go along before it's summer again...

Oh, and I wouldn't worry about the lights just yet. It's only the ninth day of Christmas. Heck, some years I keep my wreath up til Valentine's Day...

and I'm really not sure how I got into using ellipsis so much...

Happy New Year, BB!

Peg said...

I'm very excited to be back to work today, where there is a functioning computer, enabling me to catch up with BTS. Missed you!

Happy New Year.

P.S. Your resolutions are very similar to mine.

Paula said...

Happy 2007 bb!

Anonymous said...

You can ice skate? I'm jealous. I only ice shuffle.

Amy A. said...

Oy. Your house sounds like mine, and here I sit blogging.

I admire your choice of resolutions. Very do-able, I think.

Happy New Year.

lazy cow said...

My house looked like your house last week. I felt terribly guilty taking down the tree early but oh the space I now have! Good luck with the resolutions.
(regarding your most recent post, I hardly ever see people reading on public and often feel like a freak. Seven is a good number!)

lazy cow said...

Oh, and a happy new year to Gina too, wherever she is. I miss her!