I MISS MY SISTER !!!

This is a picture of Kelly and I at ages 4 and 8. Kelly is my one and only sister, my one and only sibling. She lives across the Atlantic! She is living there PERMANENTLY! This makes it impossible to stop by for lunch or to invite her over for coffee, or to help one another with mounds of laundry!

Kelly and I are different in many ways, yet we have similar lives filled with children, noise, and at times, chaos! I guess it goes without saying that the noise and chaos come along with the children part. We both love our families and love our vocations - motherhood. We both tend to be "yellers" and eat junk when depressed or stressed (preferably something chocolate) We try to carry our little "crosses" with quiet humilty, but we've been known to have a "total meltdown" complete with cursing and crying from time to time as well!

This is why I miss my sister so much. She is one of the few (very few) people in my life that I can be totally REAL with. I don't have to pretend I've got it so together. I don't have to shine my kid's imaginary homeschool halos, or pretend that I'm a Martha Stewart meets Mother Teresa. I can just be me - Kris - imperfect, unorganized, emotional, hot-tempered, yet lovable - Kris.

This has been an excruciatingly BAD week! It's the kind of week that makes me long to have my sister (within driving distance) to call on for a big S.O.S. !! Ah, where do I begin? Let me set the stage by describing my physical conditions. I am in a constant state of nausea (due to the pregnancy for those of you who missed that post...I'm about 9 weeks...) Always drooling, occasionally heaving and gagging, but alas, never going all the way. No puking here, just a lot of drooling into the kitchen sink, and choking back a gag while browning ground beef for taco meat.

Currently these foods induce a gag reflex - ground beef, chicken, salad, any fresh vegetable, cooked broccoli or cauliflower, and any luch meat or cheese. This leaves the "going right to my butt" foods like bread, potatoes, rice, any kind of sweets and fruits. There goes the "I'm not gonna gain any weight 'til the second trimester" resolution I make with every pregnancy!!!

Then there's the sudden drowsiness. A math lesson on the couch with Mary Grace turns into a spontaneous nap for mom and an excuse for the kids to sneak off and avoid school "until she wakes up..." I am SOOOOOO tired.

Then there's the mental issues. These tend to "run in my family" as Tim likes to joke. I'm stressed to put it simply. It's cold, it's dark, it's winter. I hate winter. Even if I did bundle the kids up and kick them outside for a ten minute "burn off" period, I'd have to remove the approxiamately 50 piles of dog poop which cover the entire front half of our backyard as of now!! Why do I have a dog again? Sigh.

Then there's the laundry. There's the usual - stained shirts and and stinky towels etc. But on top of that this week we had an unusual number of nightime accidents and a lot of rotating sleeping arrangements which ended up in 4 beds having to be stripped down and ALL of that bedding to be washed as well! This led to a giant log jam of sorts in our small 8 x 8 laundry room which could move me to tears just looking at it!

Of course all of this mess is compounded by heaps of homeschool books, papers, math manipulatives, crayons, pencils, spilt glue all over the table, glitter on the floor, legos stuck in couch cushions, sippy cups left here and there, and a general dusting of crumbs, dried up rice from dinners past, and black dog hair to boot!

Now, on the to education of my beautiful children, created in the image and likeness of God. "Do we have to do school today?" "Mom, she's looking at me with an ugly face." "I hate math...crying wimpering etc. ...I can't do it mom" "I hate my brother...Collin runs off with the pencil bag, the girls are in hot pursuit, Collin is shoved from behind, the bag goes flying, the pencils cover the entire kitchen/family room floor...why did God give us him?" his sisters ask me. All of this and more with spelling, phonics, science, religion, math and reading sandwiched in between.

School's out on to clean up and then start dinner. Still haven't stepped foot outside and most likely I'm still in my pajama bottoms. Did I shower in the last 3 days? Better do that tonight. 6pm dinner time. No dad. He's at work. Workin' late. Tax season. I hate tax season!

Four kids around the table spilling half their food and complaining about the other half. The sight of it all makes me heave and gag and feeling woosy I sit on the swivel chair at the island and sip tea and eat another black licorice whip. (black licorice seems to curb my nausea, too bad it's enhancing my hips as well) Dinner's over. Time for cleanup - again.

6:30 to 7:30 pm - I've had it! No more Mrs. Nice Mom. Things always seem to get ugly at about this time and this is when I'm most suceptable to meltdowns. Everybody gets their p.j.'s on and brushes their teeth. (or so they say) and I start watching the clock and counting down the minutes 'til Tim will be getting home...

around 8pm I hear the glorious rumbling of the garage door as it moves up its track. My heart leaps for joy - Ah, sweet relief! I can finally tag my partner and exit the ring.

Kelly "gets" this scenario and she knows just what to say and NOT to say when I call her to vent about it. It is good to say things like "That sucks" or "I hate it when that happens" or "me too"

Things NOT to say are "you know what you should do..." or "I just read a book on household organization and it says..." or especially NOT "well, that's not so bad..."

My sister always, and I mean ALWAYS says how much she'd love to be here with me so she could help me out. And 'cause it's Kelly, that's not just hot air. She really MEANS it. Too bad she's an ocean away. I MISS MY SISTER !!!