It's back to school time around here, Busy Girl and Busy Dad started today, as a matter of fact.
Busy Girl also reported having not one but, two Chemistry quizzes today. It's going to be that kind of year for her, I'm afraid.
She's also taking Busy Dad's class this year.
No, not this Busy Dad, though I can say for sure that he has class and no one has taken it, since I met him at BlogHer, but my daughter is taking her father's class this year.
Did I tell you we (Busy Dad not Busy Dad) met thanks to BrightKite?
I didn't?
Well, we did.
I signed into P.J. Clarke's when Mommy Needs Coffee and I went in the middle of the night in search of food.
I saw that other folks were in there, too, so I left one of them a random comment, and a few minutes later, someone stood up and screamed, "Busy Mom!!"
Since "Busy Mom" is apparently a popular name lately, I hesitated to make sure it was for me, and I walked over to their table, where I interrupted his group's dinner and bonding with squeals and photos.
At any rate, I love my iPhone, and am contributing this BrightKite success story for posterity and still pondering BlogHer. I may write more on that later, just when you thought you'd escape it.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
When you are married to a teacher, and said teacher is also your summer child care, it is a bit of a dilemma when the teacher has to go back to work before the kids start school.
So, my MIL is here to stay with the boys while Busy Girl and Busy Dad are at school and I'm at that pesky job thing I do.
It's very nice of her to do so, especially coming from out of town at the age of 83. But, even though we need her, it's still someone else in the house and I feel like I need to keep it somewhat clean, serve something for dinner besides Subway and wear pants and that just kind of adds to things.
There's summer reading to finish up, school supplies to procure, doctors appointments that never quite made it to the summer schedule along with the basic organization that is needed to get back in the school routine.
And, don't forget the generalized anxiety from things undone that we were going to take care of "this summer". Poor Busy Girl doesn't even have closet shelves. They fell down many moons ago and we were "going to get to them."
Then there's the laundry.
I'm afraid of the laundry.
No, it's not because I have two teenagers, it's the uniforms.
My kids wear uniforms to school and they are also each playing a sport that practices anywhere from 2-5 times a week.
In addition to the school uniforms, I have to keep clean and be able to locate a soccer jersey, cleats, shin guards, uniform socks and shorts. Then, there's 3 football jerseys, helmet, chin strap, shoulder pads, mouth guard, 2 sets of pads and pants, cleats, special socks, arm guards and Under Armor.
But, volleyball?
Volleyball may do me in.
I can handle the all day tournaments, as in the one this Saturday where she has a game every two hours from 8a - 6p, it's the uniforms that might hasten my demise.
Busy Girl has practice 5 days a week, and they have to have certain practice uniforms each day, so that's 4-5 (can't remember) shirts, 3 colors of spandex and various undergarments and shoes and socks.
They got their uniforms today.
We now have an additional: 6 jerseys, 3 warm-up jackets, 2 pairs of warm-up pants, 3 pairs of spandex, 2 more practice jerseys, new shoes and 2 travel bags.
Not only do we have to keep up with these things, you don't really know which combinations you need until the day before they're needed.
I can keep the clothes around here washed and dried for the most part. But, I'm not exactly famous for the folding and putting away part of the laundry process, so this will be interesting.
Yes, I can hear you saying, "But, she should just do her own laundry!' That would be all well and good if I had a spare laundry room, but if she was in and out of there to just do her stuff, I'd never get the rest of our laundry done,
While I'm quite confident that there are worse problems in the world, if you need me, I'll be the one with my head stuck in the dryer, or I'll be under an avalanche of clean laundry on the bed looking for that elusive shirt that is always the last item in the pile.
Recent Entries on Busymom.net:
- On conference content
- What the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Google Buzz Can Teach Us About Social Media
- Blissdom 2010 and some introspection
- Like yesterday, only moresnow.
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The end of summer always spells chaos in my household too. Isn't it funny how kids remember tests or assignments just the night before they are due?
End of summer is a bit stressful for everyone. New schoole year, new assigments, new worries...
Regarding laundry, have you ever tried to teach her how to wash it herself? It's not that hard, at the beginning she can just watch and later she can do it herslef. It is a bit of extra work now, but wouldn't it be cool to have extra free time for yourself late on?
I have a friend whose kids fence. If you think you've got volleyball problems--think about those smelly masks that get sweated on, but that you cannot wash.
She keeps spray stink remover in her van.
Your laundry issues sound like mine. Four martial arts uniforms, four soccer uniforms, one cross country, and everyone has practice clothes. Cleats, shin guards, mouthpieces, 16 ounce gloves,sparring gloves, chest protectors - gah.
I rock at the washing/drying dance, but the folding/putting away slaps me in the face EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Good lord, hire a laundry woman already! Or a man. Whatever, just hire someone and consider it money well spent. Hell, have him/her prepare dinner as well. I'm tellin' ya... well spent!
haha yeah i agree wuth the mother my sons fence too and man those masks do dtart to stink! I have the worse part though, as my daughter does volleyball too haha.
Busy Mom, you always make me laugh!! I have back to school envy. Our governor here in MI decided that we have to wait until after Labor Day to go back to school. I'm waiting patiently.
That sounds really stressful! The last couple weeks are always bittersweet for us, too, because I want to squeeze the last bit of summer for family time--just when my husband goes into overdrive at work.
You'll make it! You always do!
don't worry, it'll all get done :)
I had the same thing with HG's cheer uniforms. I made her keep track of what she had to wear and keep them clean. If not? She wore them dirty.
She learned pretty quick that she had to wash everything right after it was worn.
(Also, as a requirement, she had to do it all at once so the washer and dryer were available. No stinky stuff left in the washer. Luckily for her most had to hang dry anyway, so it was usually a quick process.)
I soooo feel your pain!
Sure she needs to know HOW to do laundry, but it's clear she's busy being a teenaged girl. Just as it should be! I don't see how she'd have time to mess with laundry given her studies and sports obligations anyway. So long as you can train her to get the dirty stuff in the hamper, I know you'll manage. Though I'm sure there'll be plenty of laundry basket diving going on. You've got to give those kids some kind of challenge, right?? :) This is why my parents made us wear our school uniforms twice before washing and why my dad learned how to do the laundry, too.
GAWD A'MIGHTY! With two incomes, I say hire a housekeeper, woman!
Ugh. The putting away is my downfall,too. I swear I'd hire someone to do just that. As it is now, the older one (aka Lost Cause) works out of laundry baskets--sometimes there are 4 of 'em in there! He only puts stuff away when I beg for my baskets back. The younger one (aka Pipe DreamChild) will occasionally put things away. Thank goodness neither one of them has Extra Clothing Related Activities--except band. 2-3 concerts a year? Easy Peasy.....I hope.
I don't feel so bad about the week's worth of laundry I've been doing today for my family of three (plus towels and linens from out of town company). But if you don't want Busy Girl tying up the washer with her own laundry, let her (and Busy Boy) help out with the family laundry. I was one of 6 kids, and we all took our turns at it.
As I type this, it is 11:15pm and my son's first day of school is tomorrow. Is he in bed early as planned? Nope, at the computer writing a paper on the book he had to read this summer, i.e. yesterday. And we've been having printer problems. Off to a great start! And I know what you mean about the doctor appts! Where did the summer get off to?? Also? We operate out of laundry baskets. You are not alone.
I hear you. I also hate it when the ONE thing they want to wear is the ONLY thing you can't find!
I was part of that late night group :-) and yes, it was fun and BusyDad has tons of class ;-) That was a good night with good food and good friends. It was great meeting you and I'll see you in Chicago on Wednesday!
~ Rachel
End of summer is indeed stressful. Wish I had an extra pair of hands for my kids. I have hired a laundry man for help. This is Sarah from Israeli Uncensored News.
The worst is when they just ware it for like 20 minutes and throw it back in the laundry hamper after you just finished washing it the day before ! ... ahh the trials and tribulations of parenting :)