It's a Juggling Act

Ack.... my life has been crazy lately.

I started back to school a couple of weeks ago. I was going through the assignments last night, and between my 2 classes, here is my homework list:

104 chapters to read,

with a quiz and a homework assignment for each chapter,

9 exams,

4 news/internet articles to post,

5 concert reports,

1 composer biography,

1 music listening guide,

1 power point presentation,

1 class project,

and 2 final exams.

I have set up a schedule that I can follow so that I can have it all done by the end of July, and so far I'm sticking to it. But this juggling act is already starting to wear me down.

Last night I took my first astronomy exam. It was timed and an open book test, and you can betcha I used every single minute of the 90 that were allowed. I checked and re-checked every answer. Right in the middle of it, Andrew woke up crying, which started Micah on a crying jag, and here I was, tied to the computer trying to concentrate on the differences between emission lines and absorption lines. Tom had to deal with 2 sad little boys while I finished the test.

Three items that I was able to "drop" are speech, preschool, and dance for Janessa. We are all done with those for this year, and it's such a relief to not have to take her anywhere! I feel like I can breathe a little bit easier now, and I have already felt the stress lifting a bit.

How in the world did I think I could do this as easily as before? I was fooling myself. When I was in school BK (before kids), I was able to cruise through with hardly any effort. But that was when I could actually sit down to study and read, and not get interrupted a gazillion times by the kidlets. That has been the hardest thing, by far. The constant needs of the kids are never ending. The deeper I am in concentration, the more urgent their needs are, which then intensifies their screams of

"MAAAWWWMMMM!!!!"

Can I survive the next 2 months???