Stuff!!

So... I had my day with the Lord. It was nice. But can I just gripe a typical American gripe? I got nothing productive done! House, still a mess. Laundry, still in a basket in the family room. Projects that are due piling up like crazy.

Monday, I worked my tail off. Some Labor Day. I labored. For one of my many jobs, it was the first of the month, so I had to do all my updates that are due on the first, but in a lot of cases, I can't get them done until the first because content isn't available until then. I also got an email from the guy overseeing the textbook I'm writing to say I needed to add something to what I'd written rather than have a supplement. Okay... Then we had a family BBQ. Then we had to get kiddos ready for school. I finally threw in the towel at 9, took a bath, and read a not-very-satisfying-why-did-I-waste-an-hour-of-my-life-on-this book.

So today, I got up, raced to get folks ready for school, dropped small one off at the school, met the new teacher who freaked out because she didn't know us (and this is my problem, why? Read the roster!), and worried the entire way to WFTJ because I have so much to do and I have no idea how I'm going to get it done.

At WFTJ, I warned them I'd be multitasking. I finished the changes to the portion of the textbook that was urgent. I set some goals. I committed to checking in with my friend Karen to stay accountable with my writing. And of course, WFTJ was as informative and uplifting as always.

Then, we went to lunch. More good times. I've missed my weekly lunches with my writing buddies. We got ready to leave, and my friend Jan mentioned she was going to write. Which was also my plan. I've decided I can't let the stress of the to-do list and my overcommitment prevent me from writing. My writing time is my writing time. Period. So we went to write. You can read her blog to find out what happened. I would just like to point out that I did NOT play Crackrat, I actually wrote and got about ten pages done. So there.

I raced home to meet the eldest kiddo, we spent time together, worked on her homework, I cleaned the kitchen, threw in a load of laundry, finished some work leftover from yesterday (and I only have a few more things to catch up on, YAY!), searched for a library book that is still missing, and am getting ready to pick up youngest kiddo, drop off the library books due today, grab a bite to eat, then head to church.

And in the midst of this, I have to ask... is all this piling up because I took a day off? It sure looks like it. However, I'm going to make a bold assertion and say that I think taking that day to relax and be filled by the Lord has given me the strength to do all of this and more. I have so much stuff to do. And yes, part of my quest in the coming months is to cut out a lot of the stuff and focus on what's important.

Here's the thing, though... I can't keep waiting on the stuff to go away to make time for what's important. I have to do it now. Which means God has to come first. Family has to be a close second. Writing third. And the rest can fall into line after that. Someday is never going to come. Not in the way I think it will. So I have to learn to prioritize now and make it all fit in.