I Want to Sleep. I Want to Thank.

I am tired. I get this way sometimes so I'm not worried about it. When you do a lot like I do it's bound to happen. All I want to do at the moment is go to work, go home and do whatever homework the kids have that's not done (there is always undone homework no matter what time I get home), and then watch TV or play sudoku on Son's DS. That's it. I'm not in the mood for anything else at the moment. So my life is waiting on me. It's a puppy I tossed outside to do its business and now it's clawing at the door trying to get back in.

• It's the lesson I need to complete for my children's writing course.
• It's the bio I need to write for the woman who interviewed me for her book.
• It's the HUNDREDS of emails I need to go through in my business emailbox.
• It's the single page I need to write (and the other page I need to update) in order to be done with my book proposal.
• It's the email I need to send out to reconnect with people who took an interest in our puzzles.
• It's the ad I need to create to go in the newspaper some time next month.
• It's the catalog I need to review.
• It's the people I need to respond to about hopefully using/selling/advertising our puzzles.
• It's the printer I need to visit about some projects and a proposal my partner and I want to make.
• It's the greeting card copy I need to write. (This dog is getting bigger by the letter, right?)
• It's the labels I still need to print off for the last of the puzzles we repackaged.
• It's the 2 articles I need to review before passing them on to a friend to edit for me.
• It's the vending this month I need to start preparing for.

So what's in the way?

• My son has more work to do to complete his Bear Badge requirements. He can't do it alone. And then come the extra badges.
  
• My son has signed up for Little League and the first clinic to help him start getting ready is this Saturday. There's another in 2 weeks. Then maybe some training in March. LL starts in April.
  
• My daughter sings in the children's choir and though rehearsal is currently only once a month, it's still something else to do. (It's going to go 2x a month soon.)
• We're thinking about signing Daughter up for swimming lessons so she can finally do what she thinks she can do - swim. Son has enough on his plate right now. He can learn later.
  
• Every. Single. Weekday, there is homework I have to help finish or a project that is coming up - for either kid, sometimes both and sometimes this require library visits.
  
• You know, that refrigerator does NOT clean itself. Nor does the tub. Or the dishes. And the laundry, though full of pieces with perfectly good arms and legs, refuses to pick itself up and walk upstairs for me. I think I've told you in the past this is OK because the spouse tends to cook and clean the rest of the bathroom and vaccum and grocery shop so no, I can't put any of this off on him.
• Daughter wants me to read to her. I don't do it every night but she tries. After a certain hour, my reading skills are zapped, I keep telling her.
• I really need to do Daughter's hair. That means at least 4 hours out of any given day. Probably closer to 6 depending on how small I make her braids, if I braid it that same day. In the meanwhile, the puffs she loves so much taunt me. Daring me to wash them. (This is one of those times I thank God for our hair and the fact that we don't have to wash it every day.)
• I should probably factor in the myriad of other events that crop up - The graduation dinner I went to last night for people I know who graduated from the business workshop I took years ago; the PTA meeting tonight, the hair appointment Friday night.
  

And at work?

• There are columns to read and magically transform into whatever the focus du jour is at that time.
• There's a whole website to periodically go through and keep track of.
• New stuff to write.
• Old stuff to update.
• People to manage off site.
• Questions to answer.
• Info to research for various projects or quizzes or whatever needs to be created.
• Newsletters to write.
• And that's all just a bit of everything I do that I could easily do every day until at least 7 before going home to wrangle homework and force people to take their baths.

I should go to a couple of business networking meetings twice a month but I haven't the energy right now. I should go to my sorority meeting once a month, but I don't feel like tripping up to Hartford even that amount of time. Son's birthday is coming up. I really should start thinking. Daughter saw Dora on a billboard. I really should look into it or else cover up all the windows on the car except the front one. Valentine's Day is coming. I need to go order a cake from the one place I know will make it but it's a special trip, not a stop along any way I normally travel. I need to blog. Oh wait! I'm doing that now. Yay! I should visit my other online networking groups. Soon, I hope.

My fatigue, however, does not keep me or Bizzy Girl from thinking of ways to get the business to work itself while our children are taking over our lives. Her daughter's schedule is equal or greater than my two put together. We have a current idea that we are discussing and it's not a small step to make if we do it; if we can find the right person to do it with us and we have someone in mind but will he do it?

Now, in other news, Eve from Are We There Yet? graced me with an award almost 2 weeks ago! Finally I am able to mention it and thank her for it. She's cool people. A new friend I made in the webosphere. Here's my award. Cool, right?



Here are the rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award.

My ten won't be easy to compile because honestly, I don't really have time to follow 10! But the few I have - who actually update their blog that is - fit the bill so easily.
1 - YewNorkBabe
2 - LooneyMom
3 - SixUntilMe
4 - Hot Chocolate Caramel Mocha
5 - Nadine Thompson

All of these women are funny and/or engaging and/or inspiring and/or moms or a wonderful mix of some or all of these qualities. It will do your heart good to visit them all if you can find more time than I can to do it.

Break over. Thanks for helping me chill a bit. Back to work.

Have you voted for us today in the Start Up Nation Leading Moms in Business 2009 Competition? Check it out here. We'd REALLY appreciate it if you vote and you can do it every day until March 31, 2009 PT. There's even a new meter there now to show you how hot we are! Go ahead. Vote! We wanna be hot, hot, hot! Thanks for your support!