Might Be Time To Say No

I spent the time between midnight and 1am last night writing out 5 pages of "To Do" list for the next 4 weeks. Yes, I'm back to my special brand of crazy. I was on a nice stretch of letting things go, not worrying too much about all the things piling up, enjoying more time with the family such as movie nights, game nights, etc. But I'm back into full-fledged Type A mode. And it's all my fault!

The kids have their ongoing activities and some new ones, too (tap, POM, basketball for both, baseball for J, etc.) The winter schedules are almost over and the spring schedules have yet to be distributed, so the calendar only showed a few committed dates.

I was feeling really good about passing the President baton to a new person on the South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce. He was already well his way to making great things happen without my daily input or need to sit in on executive committee meetings, Seattle City Council meetings, Neighborhood Council meetings, King County Council member walking tours of South Lake Union, meet & greets, figuring out what in the world upzoning was all about, untangling transportation and parking issues, discussing the merits of open space versus retail space, trying to mediate developers and retailers and arts organizations, etc. etc.

Things were kinda quiet at work, everyone on pace for a busy but steady event season. RFP's were written and deals solidified for one of the best years we've had in a long while. The team seemed solid with no one giving any indication that they'd be moving on. I was actually managing to work no more than 40 hours a week, too.

With all of this relative calm, I figured it would be OK to apply to be on the City Of Shoreline Financial Advisory Committee. After all, it didn't really mean I'd be on the Committee - I'd just throw my hat in the ring to make myself feel like I was concerned and contributing to my community without having to do the hard work. Could I have forgotten the deadly boring meetings I endured being on the Aurora Business Corridor committee last year talking about storm water management, all the crazy ways we could think of to mitigate business losses due to construction (can you say Christmas lights pointing to open businesses from the road?!?!), learning more about the red brick road and why we need to preserve it, etc, etc.?

Apparently, yes!

Because I was actually chosen to be on this Committee (I had a 50/50 chance of not being on it - why can't I have those odds for my lottery tickets?!?!?) We had our first 2-hour meeting tonight during which we all had to introduce ourselves, announce what made us think we actually had skills that would benefit said committee, tell why we thought this would be a good idea to meet with 17 other strangers who live in your community each with some special interest ... libraries, parks, transportation, more business, etc! It was all I could do to hold my tongue and tell everyone that we should put the entire City budget into hiring and training halfway intelligent police officers. So this "priviliege" will likely go on through June, possibly July and maybe we'll be "chosen" again to reconvene in the Fall, if the City Council would like this to continue (oh joy!)

Oh, and email messages today now indicate that the kid's sports practice and game schedules will be sent to us this week. Somehow my mind just didn't fill in the blank holes on the calendar to accommodate for all of that stuff! What have I gotten myself into?

Work has exploded - one person has quit, one is going on maternity leave soon, one is getting married and is taking 4 weeks off to honeymoon in Italy and I have one on panic attack watch to make sure that she stays sane after a crazy busy schedule of travel and kissing client's butts. I'm pulled into all HR functions, working out a multi-year deal with our biggest client, supervising a few projects and trying to keep balls in the air, fixing service issues with clients, prep for a few trips across country and the list goes on.

The new President of South Lake Union Chamber of Commerce had a family emergency and in one day quit his job as Vice President of a bank, moved to Virginia and left me a cryptic voice mail telling me to follow up on the chamber's line of credit. Nothing else. No "Sorry I have to resign" or even better "I'll be back. Can you fill in for me for a week or two?" Nooooo. As immediate Past President, I get to step back into the President's shoes ... again:( Letters to city council and city staff, credit lines, prep for and facilitate the board retreat, re-join the political battles I so don't get.

Did I mention that I decided to have my brothers and their families over in a couple of weeks? And the house is a disaster because we are remodeling the office and the kid's bedrooms? Oh yes, tearing out walls and pocket doors, painting, the whole thing. Julian is still sleeping in a race car bed with a crib mattress. His head touches the top and his feet almost stick out of the bottom. I cleaned out Mac's stuff and will be giving it to my youngest brother and sister in law who are having their first baby in May. In the meantime, bags and bags of hand-me-downs are on the dining room table, a pile so high that it really almost touches the chandelier. We have friends coming over for dinner on Friday - do you think they'll notice the stuff on the table?

My mother turned me onto this great healing massage therapist who does Altas Profilax (clicks the first vertebra back into place) and he's so specialized he's only in town this Thursday and I can't miss him and I'm taking Mac because she's complaining of headaches and it's supposed to make you feel so much better. And it'll cost a bunch.

I can't miss GNO!

Gotta keep up with Oprah's New Earth class I signed up for - every Monday from 6p-8p online and I have to read 1 chapter per week. Right ... need to read chapter 3. Oh and missed both classes so need to download week 2 and listen to both weeks - because I signed up for it and got the book and it's for my own good and could make me happier. If only I had the time!

Other things that made the to do list:
- get dog sitter for Easter (next weekend) and spring break (long weekend in Semiahmoo)
- shop for Easter (still next weekend)
- pack for Easter and Semiahmoo and pack Mac for spring break in Chelan with grandparents
- drive back and forth to/from Chelan for Easter and again taking Mac over for part of spring brak and again to bring Mac back from spring break - all in two weeks time
- clean house for guests on Friday and for cleaners coming next week and again for family
- figure out summer camp stuff for Mac, make sure I don't mess up the swimming lessons again this year like I did last year
- pick up even more hand me downs from friend on Friday and figure out where to put all this stuff (garage not an option and office barely walkable with Mac's stuff boxed up)
- pick out paint for kid's walls
- remodel entire house and fully landscape front and back yard, installing super fabulous fire/water feature never before attempted because brothers haven't been over to the house since we bought it (10 years) and oldest built a custom home near Enumclaw with unbelievable view of Mt Rainier, next to youngest is building/remodeling their house right now doing most of the work himself adding a second floor with views of the Olmpics and youngest runs a farm and built a huge barn and office/house next to their main house and remodeled their basement for their new baby last month and all of their homes are gorgeous
- Type Writer's Workshop Stories for Mac's teacher (and trying to decipher 2nd grader phonetic writings that tend to make no sense sometimes!)
- Get snacks for J's basketball
- Get birthday gifts for kid's friends because everyone is having a birthday party these days!
- Recover the headbaord we got from Craigslist last weekend because I just had to have it now

There's lots more, but I'll spare you. I'm officially going nuts and can't stop myself. And this darned time change is messing me up - I'm awake at 1am but can't get out of bed at 7:30a.

Next on my to do list: call someone and have them stop this Daylight Savings Time madness!