If you want to participate in this meme, please visit Carol at ThreeLittleLadies, and be sure to link your post to her Mr. Linky so that we can all see what life has in store for you.   From where I sat this past week,

As an individual, I…

am fighting feeling like a wet rag.   I love the annual dance recital—I love the nervous energy that surrounds it, I love all the beautiful costumes, I love seeing parents whose kids have moved to other classes and so I don’t see them as much, I love the feeling of accomplishment the kids feel as they successfully complete their dance numbers.   Yet, in truth, I normally have those feelings after the fact.   Before and during the recital, I’m exhausted and overwhelmed.   The recital consumes about a week or more of my time.   Nothing else gets done, including housework, and sadly, blogging.   The hair styles are not culturally-friendly (though I’m sure that’s not intentional), so each of our girls must have their hair flat-ironed.   With two thick heads to straighten, that process takes me several hours over three days.    There are always costume alterations; this year I was even given fabric to make a men’s tie and cuffs!   It’s a good thing I picked up sewing again!   I forgot about this particular project, so guess what I had to get up and do bright and early Friday morning?  I tell the kids that their dress rehearsal is also my dress rehearsal, when I time out where I need to be and when, who will need me to help with what, and how chaotic my life will be during the actual recital.   So, my wrap-up will be fairly short as little else got done in order to pull off the recital for three children without a hitch.

Having said that, I got the most exercise running around the high school where the recital took place.   I only worked out via the Wii 2 times this week.  One day I jogged, and another I completed 30 minutes of step aerobics.   Once my sister got here, I spent more time than I’d expected playing hostess, and when I looked up, she was leaving on Saturday morning.  Though I said this on last week, I really should settle down to a point of normalcy on this week.  

As a wife and homemaker, I…

am very proud of my marriage, and of a partnership that works.   It would be difficult to articulate, but I like the fact that our marriage is very practical.   We’re not one of those all-over-each-other-all-the-time couples; I don’t know that we ever were, although my husband would probably be well pleased with that.   The intimacy we have is wonderful, but one of the facets of our marriage that I love most is the teamsmanship.   Listening to my sister as she watched us in action, it occurred to me to never take for granted that I am blessed to be in a marriage where dreams and goals are aligned.  So many couples enter marriage with individual needs in mind, and the children, the home, the spouse, exist to complete an individual picture of success.   I am convinced that this is one of the reasons that so many marriages end in divorce: no one thinks in terms of, as the scripture says, ‘preferring you over me.’   

As a mom and homeschooling parent, I…

gave the kids a break on most of last week.   We are now in the early 1980’s.   It’s officially summer school for the oldest, who still needed one chapter to round out her science studies this year.   So, for the next 2 to 2-1/2 weeks, she’ll add science to math and the wrap-up of history.   I feel bad for her, but I know that as a parent, I have to stand my ground.    She accepted the penalty of not finishing up her year in a timely fashion with all the maturity I would have never had at that age.   I would have pouted every time I whipped out the book, feeling entitled to my summer.   Of course, I was also such an overachiever until I would have never gotten myself into that situation.   So now with at least 2 weeks of normalcy, we persevere.

As a business owner, I…

again, got nothing done, and it’s agonizing because there is so much to do.   I did want to remind anyone who might see this and be interested in the next few hours that the African-American Homeschool Cruise deposit is due on tomorrow, June 16, 2009.   The cruise, leaving next October, travels to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands via Carnival Cruise Lines.  

I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing what my blog buddies have been up to in the last week as well.