Inferno. Ok maybe that's an exaggeration.

My husband is traveling this week. (We have lots of guns, don't get any ideas.) I'm flying by the seat of my pants trying to manage the kids, the house, and all that nonsense all without my Super Cape. Of course - this is the week William's teacher decides to shake things up and assign 5 chapters of Charlotte's Web each day followed by 10 questions about said book to be answered each night. Which William is trying to do in cursive writing - which he hasn't been taught yet, but is trying to do on his own, by copying the letters out of his daily planner that the school is attempting to get the kids to use - even though he's forgotten to bring his math homework home two days in a row & I had to go get yesterday so he could do his math...... deep sigh.

So I'm drowning here. And yes - I'm fully aware - mostly - that my life doesn't really suck, we're all healthy and have food on the table and a roof over our head - but still, I'm overwhelmed by the things that overwhelm moms at Christmas when they have four young kids and nothing else to be REALLY overwhelmed about. I thought things would get easier as the kids got older, but I keep waiting for it to happen. What HAS happened is that I still have  two at home most of the time, and between the four of them. someone is always talking/fighting/arguing, or needing something from me right now. And WHY AM I NOT LISTENING???? At this very moment I'm choosing to ignore all the things not in my immediate field of view that need my attention, and am focusing instead on my glass of wine (ok, it was really half a bottle when I poured it, but who was I kidding, I was going to drink the whole thing and why get up to refill when it would all fit in the glass??)

Highlights of my week:

- William replaced the batteries in his 'Moon in my Room'. Which is great. Except that when he hung it back up, the nail had slipped into the wall a bit & it later fell off - knocking down the thing that was hanging below it, and also bending THAT nail and making a hole in the drywall that now needs to be filled/sanded/painted.

- Evie and I hauled all the deck cushions & rug into the shed on Monday before it started raining yesterday. After figuring out how to open the double door & hauling all the stuff it, I slammed the non-hinged door that was sticking and knocked a 2x2x36" piece of oak on my head. Which I didn't know was up there in the first place, because I don't go in the shed unless I have to. It still hurts.

- Evie thinks December - when she has window candles in her room - is the time of year to tear her room apart and clean it by candlelight. Not that it looks any neater in the morning, and there's always a pile of crap in the hallway for me to deal with later, she's just miserable the next day to get up for school....

- Spent the better part of an hour helping William with his homework.

- I don't even know at this point what I did on Tuesday, other than give the kids candlelit bubble baths, because that's what the Advent calendar said was on tap for Tuesday. Why I gave myself this added pressure, I don't know. William didn't get his bath because he didn't finish his homework - and "I don't know" is not an appropriate reading comprehension answer.

- Today I dragged the tree in the house - because the stand Matt ordered over a week ago finally arrived - and got it standing and decorated - not without marking up the ceiling because 1) oops! the tree is too tall! and 2) I didn't realize this because I'm here by myself.

I can't/don't even want to go on and complain anymore because it's nearly midnight already. Let's just say - I need a few hours here at the house ALL BY MYSELF to get caught up on things, and at this point that just seems like a pipe dream. I don't know how people who work manage to get everything done and still sleep/eat/be merry on top of it all.

I'm not even going to try to proof-read, this, it is what it is after half a bottle of wine - but allow me to leave you with some pics of my newly recovered chair. This was my great-grandmother's chair, that I inherited last year from my mother. Under the floral slipcover my mom had made was the original pink upholstery I remember from holidays past at MeMe's house. I took some steel wool & smoothed all the wood, stained & waxed it, and had it reupholstered in a chocolate velveteen. I'm really loving my new chair, and I think even Matt is surprised at how nice it turned out :) Of course it's a favorite of the little kids, Sarah in particular, but I'm hoping to keep it in decent shape for at least a few years - I love how it turned out :)