Not a Moment to Breathe

Interlochen has officially been over for two and a half weeks now, and yet my Interlochen uniforms still sit, untouched, on the floor of my closet.  Life hit me in the face the moment I got home from Interlochen, and I still haven't recovered.

Here are a "couple" of things we've had to deal with since we returned home:

• No computer.  There was a massive storm while we were gone, and our computer got fried (even though it was plugged into a surge protector).  John got our homeowner's insurance to cover a new one, but we still needed to order it, and once we got it, there's so much to set up.
• No router.  The router was fried too which means we haven't had Wi-Fi in the house.
• No landline.  Yep, the storm took out all of our phones too.  Since these were scattered around our house, they were not plugged into surge protectors.  The only phone that survived was the old-fashioned phone that is simply plugged into the wall through a phone cord.  We're debating whether or not we will keep the it, since this phone doesn't have caller ID, and we can't tell if a telemarketer is calling us, or not.  A Kennedy landline may be a thing of the past.
• No oven.  One of the few things that we look forward to upon returning home is a home-cooked meal.  Well guess what?  The oven control panel got fried also.  It took John several days to even take it into the repair shop, and almost a week for them to get a new one in.  So, it was only two days ago that we finally were able to bake anything.  To our credit, we went a bit crazy, making four dozen chocolate chip cookies, two loaves of zucchini/squash bread and stuffed peppers.  Yes, we've missed our oven.
• On call ad nauseum.  John has had to make up for the three weeks of vacation that he took.  He has literally been on call every other night.  Too, the phone calls never stop, not at night, nor during the day.  Yesterday, while out for ice cream, John snuck away to do a temple recommend interview.  Next to the ice cream shop on the Penn State campus.  Yes John, welcome home.
• A broken mower blade.  When we return home from three weeks of being away, our grass is about two feet high (no joke).  With company coming the morning after we got home, John hopped on the tractor and got about half the property mowed before the blade broke.  Usually when things like this happen, he takes care of them quickly, calling on neighbors to help him.  No time this month with so much call, so the grass that still hasn't been mowed (because the blade broke)?  Yeah, I'm taking out my measuring stick today just for kicks.
• Grocery shopping.  I have been doing "maintenance" shopping for the past few weeks.  We've had a lot of company, and I pretty much just buy what I need for their visit (because I don't have time to shop for more).  A pattern is developing--pull into the driveway, drop off stuff, head to the store.  Of course, I'm not buying regular food because I have no oven in which to cook it.
• Wasps.  We came home to a lot of wasps.  This is a first for us.  We first noticed them when we
  
  were grilling dinner for Meg and her family.  They had a nest underneath our deck.  John grabbed a bottle of bug killer (not sure where it came from) and sat on the deck and just sprayed. We all got a good laugh, watching him leisurely killing wasps from his deck chair.  Unfortunately, the wasps weren't deterred.  A few nights later (when Ethan and I returned home), we found a new hive under the grill.  John sprayed that hive, Ethan got stung on the neck, and we thought we were done with it.  Oh no.  Yet another hive under the grill again the next night.  And when I took my shower upstairs the next day, there was a wasp making a nest in the crook of the window.
• "Spring" cleaning.  Because August is usually our slowest month, we plan to do all of our cleaning of closets, dressers and such during this month.  Thankfully, I took advantage of two days that the girls and I were home (with no company visiting).  We cleaned out every stitch of clothing that they have outgrown, or don't want anymore.  We filled two HUGE bags (60 gallon lawn trash bags) of gorgeous, hardly-worn clothes from this past year.  Beautiful stuff--Gymboree, Hannah Andersen, GAP, Banana Republic, Lands' End.  I told John to take them to Goodwill, but instead he took them to his office.  A couple of days later, he was sent to pick up a tiny box of t-shirts--the only things left from those ginormous bags.  Yes, we are a thrift store shopper's dream :-)
• Company.  I like it when people visit us and so do my kids.  It's a lot of effort, but it's always worth it.  However, the timing has been tricky for us.  Meg came with her family just hours after we pulled into State College, and Rebecca is staying with us for a week.  We have wonderful friends who want to see Ethan before he leaves, so what do we do?  Invite them over for s'mores!  It's great fun to go to baseball games, and visit, and go out to eat, and go to movies, but the worries of everything that needs to be done are ever present in a back corner of my mind, keeping me from really enjoying the moment. 
• Playing catch-up with doctors' appointments.  Whenever Ethan comes home, we schedule appointments with the dentist, the orthodontist and the optometrist.  He needed to have a filling replaced too.
• Wedding Plans.  With Ethan here for only 10 days, we have done a lot of wedding stuff.  I was asked to take their engagement photos, and so far we have over 300 of them.  Granted, we delete a lot, but it takes some effort to get ready for the photos, drive to where we are taking them, and then edit them.  I sent out "Save the Date" cards, and Ethan and Rebecca just finished designing their actual invitations last night.  They have spent several hours registering at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond, and I think they have finalized their wedding colors.  Today, we are "buying" their honeymoon, and they are headed somewhere to try on tuxedos.  Tomorrow, Rebecca is headed to the temple for the first time, so we're excited to spend the day in Washington DC.
• Friends.  Glo is, by far, our most social child.  She and her friends have managed to squeeze in several group dates before school begins.  Movies, going to the fair, meeting up for school orientation.  Add to this, church social activities for the girls and trying to get ready for school.  I'm all for friends, but friends aren't exactly convenient at the moment ;-)
• Trying to relax.  Amid all of this busyness, the girls and I have been trying to find relaxation time.  Seriously, at the beginning of the day, we will insist that we will find an hour to play Mario.  Right....

What have I failed to do during all of this craziness?  I haven't had one moment to write my poor forgotten son in Russia.  He's the one doing the most important work, and we're stressing over wasps.

So, over the next few days, we will travel to Washington DC, Rebecca will leave for BYU, Ethan will leave for Brussels (I'm driving him to Philadelphia that day, and because it's the first day of school for the girls, they will not be having lessons...), the girls will start school, and I might finally find a moment to regroup.  Or a couple of moments.  Or a couple of weeks.