what is so hard about this

This is not meant to be whining. But I must say that I am feeling an overwhelming amount of frustration. Not so much the kind of frustration that is laced with anger, but more the type that is infused with sadness.

The things I dreamed of accomplishing this summer just aren't coming about. It's not like they're big dreams. Just many small, simple things. For my small, simple life. (And I mean that in the most positive way.)

It seems like no matter how much I plan, no matter how hard I try to keep things organized, everything just comes apart at the seams anyway. Nearly three weeks into summer and the house is nowhere near where I'd dreamed it would be at this time. Our summer education plans have been haphazard at best. I've barely made a dent in next year's school work. And I've done no crafting at all. Truly, this just leaves me feeling depressed.

I feel like I need to regroup. But really, I'm not sure how. I'm not sure where exactly it is that things are falling apart. No, it *definitely* didn't help that I was dreadfully sick for the past five days. No, it didn't help that we had to attend a family reunion for three days. And the kids' activities--track camp, book club, soccer four nights a week--yeah, that kind of stuff takes up time, too. I don't know, maybe now's not the time to worry about it. I'm still not really functioning right because of this damn virus...and maybe when I'm really feeling better, my brain and body will be raring to go and things won't look so pathetic.

You know, in fact, I'm not going to hit that publish button tonight. I'm going to wait until morning, when hopefully I will be able to look a little more clearly at what has gone right so far. And maybe I'll even have some fresh ideas for getting back on track.

Goodnight self. Sleep well, would you?

*****
Okay. Well, I wrote the above two days ago. I'm still feeling like somewhat of a failure...but I've decided that letting that get me down will get me nowhere. Instead, I'm just going to hop back on board with my original plans. Tweaking here and there. No, this entire house will not have been through its thorough cleaning before mid-August. This was my goal, because this is when my dear friend Chris arrives. But I've got to stop stressing about deadlines. And I know for a fact that Chris is not coming to see our house, he's coming to see our home--and that is always in business, tidy or messy. :D

If things had gone according to plan, Max's, Gray's, and Annie's bedrooms, as well as the library, would have been through their super-weedings/super-cleanings. While progress has been made in every one of these rooms, Max's is the only one that is actually finished.

His before photo:

His after photos:

--finish sorting through every little thing in room (to trash? to recycle? to give away? to keep?)
--decide what kind of containers we still need for organizing and put everything away "in its place!" (and I didn't even need to buy any new containers--found a way to make everything work with what we had :D)
--build bookcase
--get lamp
--wash all bedding
--wipe down walls
--wash window
--dust
--vacuum


By next weekend, I do hope that I'll have "after shots" of the other rooms. Gray's room really is close to completion. (Well, the "completion" I envisioned for this summer anyway.) And both Annie's room and the library have dents made in them, but both still have a ways to go.

Heather at Capricious Reader has started a new feature--Saturday Farmer's Market! So fun--a look at what everyone's growing in their gardens, buying at their Farmer's Markets, cooking up with all their fresh produce. Mmmmmm...

(Thank you, Heather! And thank you, Chris, for telling me about it!)

And if I'm looking at the bright side, I should mention that the garden is growing like crazy!!! We've munched down all the radishes, we've been eating lettuce like crazy, we've had raspberries to munch, and Rich ate his first jalapeno last evening. And soon we'll be eating Annie's cherry tomatoes, and green peppers, and kohlrabi, too! :D

And here's Annie standing in front of the garden...finally wearing the dress I made her! (And now that she's finally put it on, she's decided she absolutely loves it. Thank goodness! And Kara, she loves the socks, too!)