Q: Who has taken more ornaments off the bottom 2 feet of the Christmas tree?

a) Toddlers

b) Cats

Possible solution.

My oldest son is pretty methodical. And very curious. So he found the hammer, and gently tapped the ornaments until they broke so he could find out what was inside.

Of them all.

So now we have plastic ornaments.

Cute ornament, or Glitter Grenade?

Our totally awesome real estate agent, who helped us get this house, will be here in half an hour to go over the details of selling said house.

She already has “spreadsheets” she wants to go over with us.

She is optimistic.

I am totally okay, and not freaking out.

I have so many Thanksgiving memories under my belt…I remember being in my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Ruby’s house down in Hemet, CA and just being dumbfounded that they had rocks in their front yard instead of a lawn.  Rocks.  Who does this? They are allowed to have a rock garden, and I get in trouble for putting rocks in the lawn?  Where is the justice in this?

I remember the football games, I remember my eyes being way bigger than the turkey leg, and I remember starting my own Thanksgivings in my home.

Good times.

But my favorite Thanksgiving memory is from a few years ago.

I am a sucker for parades, so we were watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade while I was puttering in the kitchen that morning.

I love parades. I watch the Rose Parade every.single.year without missing a beat.  I love the flowers and the creativity and the amazing community they bring together to celebrate the new year.  I broke down in tears the first time I watched the Disney parade with my kids, so naturally I was going nuts over the balloons and bands while I was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

But as soon as the Rockettes came out…my daughters lost it.

Good heavens, they are coordinated. 

They ran upstairs and got a couple pairs of Mom’s heels, then ran downstairs and were dancing with the Rockettes.

There is nothing sweeter than watching your daughters dream, and every clumsy kick in oversized gold heels was one more dream they believed in.  They made me rewind the DVR quite a few times so they could practice, and I had no problem indulging in their request.

That was absolutely my favorite Thanksgiving memory, and I am recording today’s parade to let the kids dream a little more.

What was your favorite Thanksgiving memory?

There is so much going on in my head these days, I don’t even know where to begin.

I am usually a little better at being in control of things, but right now I feel like I am slowly being swallowed up by lists.  Lists and lists and lists of things to get done.

WonderWoman never had this problem.

Turn from classy suburban woman to Wonder Woman in 4 easy steps!

We are moving…at some point.  I have to start the process of calling realtors.

We need to sell our house…soon. So we need to fix our yards and get the house in order.

I have laundry to do and trim back…there is no way I am taking all this laundry with us into our new house.

We have to do stuff around the house, I’m sure. There are always 10,000 things I can fiddle with, and even finish, on any given day.

But with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, it puts a lot of these things on hold.  Kind of. I mean, it’s not so much of a rush, but we should get started. On something. In some manner…except that we’re moving, so how many of those projects are important anymore?  And we only have two more days this week, since Thursday is Thanksgiving, so should I even begin anything, or…

My stomach is suddenly in knots just thinking about abandoning the projects.  Or not abandoning them.  Or giving up and starting again on this process next week, except that it is only Tuesday today and I can’t picture myself wasting this entire week when I could use the time to accomplish something.  Somewhere.

I am completely unable to move right now.  

The paralysis of being overwhelmed sucks, and I can’t cuddle with my toddler in bed watching Doc McStuffins all day.  (right?)  I’m trying to get one load of laundry done today, and considering it a huge victory.  Today.

But I don’t want tomorrow to be like today…I don’t want to be stuck in “Overwhelmed Paralysis” all week.

It is okay to be overwhelmed when you feel overwhelmed, but you aren’t going to get out of this hole unless you pull yourself out of it.

 1. Do what you can do, but don’t do everything.

I am not going to deep clean this house before we leave. I am going to hire someone to take care of that after we get our stuff out.

I need to thin the laundry. I need to cook the meals. I need to take care of people in my house.

I don’t need to re-sod the yard.  So I’m just not going to think about that at all. Or about painting the walls white and never seeing the vibrant pink I put in the girls’ room, or the rolling green hills we painted in the boys’ room…or my beloved purple kitchen and living room.

I am totally not thinking about any of this.  Totally.

2. TTOG – Topic, Time, Owner, Goal.

“That is, What are we talking about? How long are we going to spend on it? Who’s responsible for it? (that is, who’s ‘on point’ for moving it forward), and – this one’s important – Why are we discussing it?  If you make a habit of clarifying these things (or asking others to clarify it for meetings they own)  everyone’s time will be much better spent.” (credit)

Found this on Forbes.com, and it is a really good idea for Moms, especially during holiday season.

3. Stop Working in the Evenings.

Make it a point to stop working after 6.  I know that sounds like the most absurd idea on earth…but this was actually something I implemented on myself when I first started my SAHM gig.

When I worked, I left my work at work.  Once I started working at home, I never left work and there is always something else to work on.  My burnout levels were incinerating, and I needed to make a big change.  When I worked, I came home in the evening and stopped working; why wasn’t I relaxing now?

If your burnout levels are critical, make it a point to stop working in the evenings.

Relax with your family, watch some TV, make some amazing tea: do something to relax.  But working around the clock is going to kill your energy levels the next day, and you will be so mentally exhausted you won’t be able to think straight.  This isn’t a good place to be, so don’t go there.

Don’t even go there, girlfriend.

4. If You Are Overwhelmed, You Aren’t Smiling. Find A Way To Smile, Everyday.

This is crucial to remember.  Watch a very funny movie at night with someone.  Figure out how to make popcorn on the stove.

Have a beer.

Yes, I am advocating having a beer at night because you are a responsible adult who needs to relax.  Go to a liquor store and find your craft beer section.  Anything by Stone or Heretic is fantastic.

But if you don’t smile, you’ll forget how.  And then you’ll look like this.

5. Sync Your Breaths With This. It’s Nice.

No.

Sleep.

Till California.

Straight from Seattle.

It was totally worth the effort, but we are burnt out.  I am burnt out.

That was a long drive.

I’ll get back to writing tomorrow.

I’m toast.

Okay, well maybe a little.

We took a walk through downtown Seattle this morning and hit some big touristy things.

We got doughnuts at Top Pot (they looked pretty sensational).  We went to the Public Market and watched guys throw fish and yell at people.  I ended up giving my phone to Glenn to take pictures, which is always interesting.  Not in a “what was that” kind of interesting…but my focus is mostly on seeing stuff, and making sure the kids don’t get lost.  So he saw things I didn’t know were there!  It was fun going through the pictures when we got back.