This Funky Thing I Call My Brain

I have this wonderful habit of making a to-do list of twenty things that.must.get.done.every.single.day.of.my.life.  And then I torture myself, my family, the cashier at the grocery store and random people driving in front of me on the road until that list is accomplished.  Sad thing is that it's never, ever completely done.  And I'm frazzled, exhausted and in general just plain mean to everyone.  But that's a story for another day.

This week has been a week where I haven't had to go searching for things to put on my second love, the to-do list.  No, things have been hopping on it without my bidding.  I've cajoled, fluttered my eyelashes, crazily waved my arms, pouted, fussed, and just plainly tried to detour anything else from getting onto that list.  It hasn't worked.  This week has been even more crazy-busy than usual (apparently that can happen) and my brain has been in overdrive with my body sadly lagging behind.  There have been points where I wanted to cry or I just let the kids work things out between themselves (meaning:  someone could possibly, may or may not, end up with a black eye at some point).  It's a sad day when mama just needs a timeout and can't get one.  The most depressing this is that when I look at my calendar, I realize that I will not have any opportunity to have a nap until next Wednesday.  Maybe.  And that makes me want to cry even more.

In this midst of all of this hullabaloo, I'm hit with an absolutely fantastic idea in the middle of the grocery store.  The beautiful strawberries are looking up at me with their absolutely gorgeous red-ness, saying "Take me, take me."  And I did.  10 pints of luscious strawberries.  10 pints because I decided that this would be the perfect time to make freezer jam.

Really, Jamie?  The perfect time to make freezer jam?

2 hours later, I'm crying in the kitchen because sometimes, I'm a stupid woman.  And it's not enough to know that I'm a stupid woman.  I actually have to text my husband in the middle of a meeting to tell him that I'm a stupid woman.

My kitchen looks like the fridge, the cupboards, the pantry and the dishwasher have simultaneously thrown-up their entire contents and my list is now even longer.  I have enough canning jars to get through one batch of jam.  Meaning I have eight pints of strawberries left.  And no jars.

Judah's potty-training, Jack's trying so very hard to cut some painful teeth, and that load in the washer?  Yeah, it's been in there for two days now and we still haven't finished school for the year.

But I have five jars of freezer jam tucked away, just waiting for me to make some toast to go with.

I think I'll make that #21 on my to-do list, just so I can cross it off.