Better than anticipated!

The cocktail party was a huge success! The food was great, the drinks flowed, our best friends were here! I went to bed at 2am (J stayed up and cleaned up until 4am - what a prince!) and woke up at 7:30 to high tail it down to work by 8am. Tired, but oh so worth it!

What is busy?

I haven't posted in a long time - life is out of control. My "jobette" has turned into more than a full-time job, I'm coaching volleyball for A's 7th grade team, kids have Christmas programs and I decided it would be a good idea to have a cocktail party this Saturday. And I am glad I'm having it but getting ready for it is a mad scramble.

Hoping to still enjoy the season, but the pressures are mounting....

MEN!

Can men let us have NOTHING???
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/10/13/hm.dads.postpartum.depression/index.html

Organization? Who me?

So, with five kids (who am I kidding - even when I just had two), the barage of mail, bills, art projects, school notes, lunch forms, study guides, etc. abound at our house. I used to try to tackle it the minute it came in the door, and I still attempt that with the mail. (If I even let it sit on the counter for one day, it's a week.) SO, I have devised a new system this year, and it seems to be off to a good start. I have one file folder that I cram everything into and ignore it.

Just kidding - I do cram everything into a file folder, but every Wed. morning, when I have my two delicious hours to myself, I go through it and address everything. I pay bills, fill out lunch forms, secretly throw away the art projects I deem unworthy of hanging (don't criticize - I'm talking the computer generated Word Art crap they do in computers), respond to notes, and make phone calls. It has been working swimmingly. And I am patting myself on the back over it.

I also recently read a brilliant idea for Christmas organization in a magazine and have to share. A woman said that she wraps each family's gift (e.g. inlaws vs. her parents) in different paper. That is, when she goes to pick out their gifts, she doesn't have to look at the tags - she knows what gifts are for them by the paper, grabs and goes (or hands out if at her house). Isn't that smart? I'm totally going to try it this year.

So, how do you handle all the paperwork?

Happy 17th Anniversary, Honey

It was actually yesterday, but here is my public acknowledgment (totally stolen from another blog)

Love does not consist of gazing at each other,

but in looking together in the same direction.

~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Remembrance

Yesterday was my birthday. And it was seven years ago as well. I've read a few blog posts yesterday and today about 9/11. So many people experienced the day in similar fashion, but everyone has their own story. Here's mine:

I was at home, and due in about three weeks with my fourth child. I was making beds and the phone rang. I saw by the caller id that it was my mom calling (about 8:15am or so). I answered expecting a "Happy Birthday" and instead heard, "What's going on?" Then she told me a plane had hit the WTC. I didn't think too much of it at first - I assumed a small aircraft had lost control and hit one of the towers. I got off the phone and went and turned the tv on. And then I knew. There is really no way to express how we were all feeling that day: it was horrible, tragic, unbelievable. I remember my sister calling to tell me she was being evacuated from her building and coming to my house so she wouldn't be alone. I called my husband and was on the phone with him when the second tower fell. I wept and begged him to come home. It seemed like it took them both forever to arrive. (The train stations were packed and trains were leaving with no schedule - just leaving when they were full and making all stops.) We watched CNN for the remainder of the day, into early evening. And then, my husband remembered it was my birthday. We went out for dinner, but it seemed almost selfish to be doing something other than praying and watching. I will never forget the eerie silence of the skies those days following 9/11. It felt like the whole world had changed - and it did.

Seven years later, I still have people tell me that it's too bad my birthday falls on 9/11. One of my brothers in particular is obsessed with this fact, and never fails to initiate an in-depth discussion of the entire event (and of course, the conspiracy theory) when he calls to wish me a happy birthday. He says he remembers me saying on 9/11/01 that I wished it wasn't my birthday, but I find that hard to believe. I have never felt that way. My birthday was September 11 long before it turned into the day of the worst terrorist attack ever. I feel a complete disconnect between the two events.

We will always remember 9/11 and what we were doing when we heard. I will aways get a lump in my throat and the sting of tears in my eyes when I remember the horror. And I will always pray for those we lost and those who remain.

Random Observations

A few things I saw on my commute to the office today:

1. A woman wearing white pants with flowered underwear. BIG flowers. BIG mistake.
2. A woman with her iPod nano tucked into her bra. Not only did it seem a little wierd, but isn't that uncomfortable?