Frazzled

I used to be able to handle frazzledom much more easily when I was younger. In fact, I thrived on it. Juggling 10 things at once was one of the things I did best. Of course I probably wasn't the most pleasant person to be around at that time, but I don't remember it throwing me for a loop the way this week is.

(Once again, I am SO grateful that my mother doesn't know how to use the internet and relies on me for getting links to journal entries...she will not get this link!)

On the surface it doesn't look all that bad, but I feel like there is a flock of butterflies flitting around in my head at the moment, trying to keep it all straight. I don't know how I could manage without a calendar.

The week started out looking just fine. Walt is going to his sister's Sacramento condo on Tuesday to let guys in with a new refrigerator for her new tenant, who is moving in, and he has tickets to the symphony on Wednesday. This worked out just fine because I'm working on a feature article and will be spending those days at home writing and won't need the car.

I had a show to review on Saturday, but Bri's birthday is Sunday so I did a work-around for that and we figured we'd drive to Santa Barbara on Thursday, I could go shopping for cake supplies with Laurel on Friday, and would be there to work on cake fixings on Saturday. Piece o' (literally) cake.

But then Peach called. She is at my mother's this weekend and apparently my mother got all of her instructions for her surgery next week. She's having to have 2 screws in her ankle removed because it is preventing the skin from healing over the incision. From all the information my mother had given to me, it sounded like a simple in-and-out surgery and I rearranged things to be there with her for the surgery.

But first, Peach had information about a certain type of screw that had been banned in the U.K. because it caused exactly the kind of problems my mother is having and she was wondering if my mother should sue the hospital (I discouraged that since (a) her discomfort has been minor and it has not caused any life-altering problems and (b) a lawsuit is entirely too complicated (and expensive) to contemplate, especially since this is not costing her anything out of pocket anyway.)

But it turns out she has blood work and an EKG on Wednesday. Based on my last trip to the doctor with her, we both realized that she has passed the point where she can go unaccompanied. She just can't remember things and can't find her way around the hospital, so I said I would definitely go with her to that.

BUT, Walt has tickets to the symphony. He can take the train to San Francisco, but there is no train back after the symphony, so I will have to hang around my mother's until 10 or so when I can drive to SF and pick him up. And I have a feature article to turn in the next morning, so I'll have to take my computer with me and work on it while I'm at my mother's (no marathon Canasta sessions, or puzzles to work).

Then her pre-op appointments are on Friday morning and there is no way I can be in Santa Barbara and San Rafael (400 miles apart) at the same time, so I had to let Laurel know that I would not be able to go with her to the store. Walt and I will drive to San Rafael, I'll do the pre-op appointments so I can figure out what's going on (the way Peach reads it, it's much more complicated than my mother has expected it was going to be), and then we will leave from there to go to Santa Barbara, getting there late Friday night, but there in time to do the cake on Saturday (fortunately, the party is Sunday).

If my mother read this, she's be upset because she would feel she was putting me out, but really, I do this because I love her and want to make sure that everything goes right. It's a minor inconvenience and I would not rest if I went off to Santa Barbara leaving her in the hands of someone else, or, worse, by herself, even though she will pish and tush and say she's perfectly capable of doing it alone. She may be, but I just don't want to take any chances. It's too important.

I'm also waiting for calls from two people about the feature article. I only have e-mail addresses for them (they are in high school) and have written twice, but have had no response.

And tomorrow we are going to a memorial service for our friend Alan Harvey, who died a few months ago. I volunteered to bring cookies and didn't make them today because I was doing puppy baths and medication and cuddling. I figured I'd make them tonight. I got the dough started and realized that I have no eggs, so I have to go to the store before I can finish them.

In the middle of it all, I'm trying to put the laundry room back together again. Walt was so terrific and got it all cleaned out, and clean for the water heater guy, but now everything he took out has to be put back in again and I'm trying to go through things piece by piece and get rid of a lot of stuff I will never use again and wash all the things that are going back on the shelves again. Perfect timing, since the SPCA thrift shop is in need of more stuff.

Maybe it's the disorganization of the laundry room that is making me feel so frazzled. I used to be able to juggle Scouts, 4-H, diving team, children's theatre, La Leche League, PTA stuff, and work all at once without going nuts. At least that's the way I remember it. (Perhaps it's like childbirth--we only remember the positive parts), but this all has me just feeling at 6s and 7s. Kind of like this.

I know it's all going to work out all right but I hate it when I can't see it all clearly and know how it's going to work. I just hope that the following week, with the arrangements I'm making for how to be with my mother for her surgery and afterwards...and still get the shows reviewed that I have to review...will be a little less stressful.

(Walt says he never should have retired. It was so easy when he was at the office all day long and came home and was too tired to do anything!)

The one thing that is making this all somewhat easier to deal with is knowing that Ashley is around so at least I don't have to worry about Sheila, Lizzie or the puppies.

In the meantime, I have to go to the store to get an egg.

OOooo. No I don't! Walt was out at the store and came home with eggs. Bless him! The evening is looking up!