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Thursday, November 29, 2012

The Best Laid Plans...

...Are often laid to waste by croupy babies, shrieking toddlers, and a house so filthy it can barely be recognized as 'indoors' as opposed to, I don't know, the back alley behind a dry cleaner's and a deli.
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There are boxes of c-r-a-p everywhere. Someone came by and bought all our dressers on Monday night, so there are piles of clothes all over the place, too. I meant to do something about it during naptime yesterday, but instead I crouched in my disheveled bed amidst a pile of (clean? dirty?) laundry and watched the latest episode of Parenthood.

And it was good. Dammit, Grace, it was good. You were spot on. And I don't have time for that right now. 

I have like a million billion pages of lists for world domination that are scattered about the shanty, but most days all I manage to do is keep the children alive, (yesterday, just barely though. Never, ever take a toddler to have their blood drawn. Insist upon leeches or some other more civilized means of extraction.) get dinner made ordered, and whale around on the treadmill or rowing machine while I sweat bullets over the looming specter of no gym (read: no kid's club.)

We need visas. We need a plane ticket for my little sister, aka our temporary nanny for the first two months. We need longer term housing in Rome. We need like, 7 large suitcases and many, many more Tide To Go pens to fill them with. We need 6 months worth of prescriptions, another suit for Dave, piles of linens and towels to be vacuum sealed and magically shrunken down for easy transport. We need to sell the entire rest of our house and then, somehow, still live in it for another 5 weeks.

And my in-laws are coming for Christmas. And bringing the college kids. Indoor family camping trip, anyone?

I know this sounds like the worst kind of entitled whining, and I don't mean for it to. I am just fricking freaking out a teeny bit, and wondering how this is all going to come together. Plus, I normally garner a lot of peace and confidence from having an orderly, comfortable home to dwell in. When the outside of my world looks like chaos, the inside feels about the same.

So I guess the lesson in all this is, drink more wine, watch more reality tv, spend more time in prayer. Because while I feel completely out of control these days, the only thing that has really changed is the illusion of control. I no longer gotz it.

Game on, Advent. We're ready for you.

And as an added bonus, this year we will be celebrating Christmas in an actual stable.

9 comments:

  1. "Because while feel completely out of control these days, the only thing that has really changed is the illusion of control. I no longer gotz it."

    Wow. Spot on.

    Best of luck and lots of prayers from us to St. Christopher on your behalf.

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  2. Oh dear. I wish I could help you! Moving overseas is such an enormooouuuuuuussssss pain in the you-know-what. Been there, done that, twice, although without kids... so whine all you want. it's ok!

    ginormous army surplus duffle bags are your friend. don't forget to pack the nyquil alongside the tide to go pens. remember that you can order lots of american stuff from amazon and british grocery stores with no import duties and semi decent shipping to italy. do yourself a favor and find space to pack a good set of tupperware. buy a VPN service (you won't regret it).

    love on your laundry facilities while you can. get whatsapp on your phone (and make all your friends/family) get it too.

    it's hard not to freak, and it will be for a while....but think of how tiny you'll be with all of that godforsaken walking! just kidding...kind of, not really. it will be ok. it really will! adventure time!

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  3. Oh my goodness, you have a lot on your plate and will be really living your Advent this year. Even the Mother of God had to make plans for a terrible journey around this time :)

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  4. Don't worry I thrive in chaotic situations...no space to sleep, no furniture--bring it on! We got games and mad entertainment skills for things that cost no money. Call me if you need me to babysit!

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  5. Good luck with it all! My apartment looks like a Hurricane Katrina hit it...oh wait, that's me. I know how you feel! And don't worry about all the people while amidst stable like conditions. Everyone one will understand and just be happy to celebrate in true throwback style.

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  6. I think you should come for dinner, a play date, drop the kiddos off so you can pack/sleep/whatever- text me and we'll do it. I'm home all month.

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  7. Praying for you, Jenny! This post last year by Simcha has been on my mind a lot and came to mind again when I read your post:
    http://www.ncregister.com/blog/simcha-fisher/making-room

    And that was totally not whining!

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  8. You are totally in my prayers. You can do it, though!! Let it go, give it up in prayer, take a deep breath and have faith.

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  9. Jenny, not sure if you saw my post on focus wives group, but I would DEFINITELY WITHOUT A DOUBT purchase something of this nature for Rome with kids. No joke. I lived there for my junior year of college, and it could take a half second to lose a kiddo in a subway or park or big square... (and I'd be esp. fearful for the kids since they don't speak Italian). At least you could keep track of them this way. Anyways. Not to add to your worries, I thought this might help relieve them, actually. Good luck!! :)

    http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/product/toddler+tag+child+locator.do?sortby=bestSellers

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