Tuesday, June 23, 2009

no sleep for the already tired . . .

so today . . . i am so tired, my ears are ringing. that is what happens to me when i am about to hit the wall.

the last few weeks have been very busy, and i have been staying up later than i usually do. but the last several days have been especially hectic. and i am getting ready to go out of town, so there is a lot to do . . .

i don't know why, but i always feel like my house has to be cleaned and orderly before i can leave town. it always looks best just before i am ready to leave for a week or two, but this is never accomplished without staying up most of the night before i leave.

here is what happens--about a week before i know i am going to be gone, i make a list of all the things i "need" to do before i leave. it is quite an extensive list, including everything from doing the laundry to cleaning out the garage. when i make this list, some part of my brain knows that there is no way i will be able to complete the whole list. and yet, apparently a part of my brain thinks that i will, because i write it all down . . . and then i think about the list and plan how to complete the list for the next 3 or 4 days. notice that nothing has actually been done yet, but mentally, i am working on it . . .

about four days before we go, i start talking about all the things i have to do. then i start moving things around a bit, looking for the suitcases, maybe even making a small stack of things i want to be sure to remember to take.

and then, the day before we leave, all you-know-what breaks loose. i start the laundry, i go do the errands, i start cleaning, but then decide i should really pack first. so i pull things out of the closet, but don't really know what i will need, so i add some more stuff. i clean a little bit more, maybe go eat something, and then come back to the packing. i try to identify all the power cords that keep my electronics running, because where i go, so go my electronics. and without those power cords, they are all just hunks of black and silver plastic. i decide i probably don't need 12 pairs of shoes for a 1 week trip, so i put one pair back. i scrub the shower. i think about vacuuming, but then decide that since the dogs will just be walking on the floors while we are gone anyway, maybe that task could wait until we get back. i go to target to get m&m's. target is closed by now, so i come home and pack some leftover chocolate eggs i found when cleaning out the kitchen cabinets--which needed to be done before i could leave town--because, you know, they don't really feed you on airplanes anymore . . .

(perhaps i should mention that by this point, rollie is packed and ready to go, and in bed asleep.)

i start putting things in the suitcase, and realize that i have way too much stuff to take. but what to leave, what to take, decisions, decisions. this is when my brain explodes . . . then i just throw it all in the suitcase, pray the zipper doesn't break, throw my list away, and sleep for 2 or 3 hours in the recliner in the living room. (i do this is so that i can sleep in my clothes and makeup--it buys me another half hour of sleep in the morning.)

tonight, i am nearing the point where my brain explodes. rollie is nestled all snug in his bed, while visions of being first in the security line at lax dance in his head. my clothes have been thrown into the suitcase. i have every confidence that it will either weigh too much, or i will have forgotten something vitally important to my well-being.

did i mention we are going to orlando for 10 days? and while i am expecting lovely warm days in which to lay by the pool with my book while rollie attends business meetings, the forecast is actually predicting 90+ degree temperatures and thunder and lightening storms for the next 7 days. so my actual experience has the potential to be very different from what i am picturing . . . and what in the heck do you wear in weather like that? all my shoes are either sandals or suede. if it rains, i will have to wear my new boots. with my dresses. in california that is acceptable attire--in fact, it is "cool," but in the rest of the world . . . ? i am not so sure . . .

(shhh--don't tell diandra i used this picture. she hasn't edited it yet, but i wanted you to see my new boots. and they are already packed, so i can't take a picture. besides, when she blogs the pics of our "photo shoot" this picture will look much cooler--if she uses it.)

it is now well after midnight. i have dishes waiting to be washed, laundry to be folded, and bathroom stuff and electronics left to be packed. and here i am, blogging. that is how much i love you guys . . . i plan to blog while i am gone, if i have internet access. but just in case the lightening storms take out the power, right after i emit the "scream heard 'round the world" i will pick up a pencil and paper and start making notes. because i know that you will be anxiously waiting for my next blog . . .

4 comments:

Mom said...

This is a scary blog. I could have written it. I have cleaned house including closets and drawers at one time before leaving. It's that perfectist line that runs through this family except for your Dad. I even used to do it before going to the mountains. That's why Dad never understood why it was so much trouble and work for me to leave. The down side to all this is, eventually, I don't want to go anywhere because it's too much trouble. I have gotten much better over the years as I have come to realize noone cares but me and my caring is what matters. So the trick is to do the minimum I can live with.
The other thing that drives me crazy is the longer I am gone somewhere, my brain starts planning all the things that I'm going to do and that needs done when I get back home. We need therapy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diandra Ann said...

um... hi... im your daughter/photographer and i READ YOUR BLOG! duh. youve got to stop posting my less than best work!

Al said...

you really are the best for cramming in a blog for us loyal followers! hope you had a great flight over.

Jewelielyn said...

well, diandra, i did say it would look way cooler when you got finished with it, and i made it small . . .