I Don’t Do it All

What a Baby Shower-To-Go looks like

These types of posts pop up in my reader from time to time – I find other people’s stories fascinating and encouraging and I nod as I read.  I think about writing one often, but it’s a hard thing to put into words.  Answering the question that I’m sure so many blog writers and crafty people hear – “How do you do it all?”  The simple answer is this, “I don’t.” 

This weekend, I organized a baby shower for my dearest friend and cousin.  The whole thing came together beautifully, just as I envisioned – a day to celebrate how special my cousin is to all of us, and a day to celebrate the impending arrival of a long awaited baby girl.  Two weeks ago, I set up Halloween decorations for a large, school event – something I’ve never done before.  Two weeks before that, we threw Olivia her 7th birthday party.  In five days, I’m hosting a dinner party for my girlfriends at my home as it’s my turn in the rotation for our monthly get together.

Now, this particular order of events is beyond crazy and far beyond my “normal.”  But, it’s just the way things worked out and so I’ve been hearing a lot of “How do you do it all?”  And the blog has been much quieter than usual.  And so I thought we could talk about this. 

I’ll say it again, I don’t do it all.  First of all, what I do is what everyone sees.  They see the crafted this and that.  They see the pretty that I present.  And I absolutely LOVE doing that stuff.  It’s my passion, it’s what makes me tick, it gives me energy and motivation and the spark to do the next thing.  I make lists, I collect ideas, I experiment, I squeal when something turns out the way I hoped, I throw things in the trash that are absolute FAILS.  I need to do this crafty stuff.  It makes me feel like a complete person, with my own interests and hobbies and passions that are independent of my role as a wife and mother. 

But there is only so much time and there’s certainly not time to do everything.  I don’t exercise, I don’t read books, I rarely lie down in front of the television without something in my hands that I’m working on.  Sometimes, I don’t do the dishes.  Most of the time, I don’t clean.  I don’t respond to emails in a timely manner.  I miss friends’ birthdays.  My laundry pile is excessive, regularly, to put it mildly.  I don’t play Barbies with the girls as often as they’d like.  Sometimes, I serve pancakes for dinner.  In the last few weeks, I’ve asked my husband more days than not to bring something home for dinner if he wants to eat something other than buttered noodles.  My bathroom drawer has needed organizing for two years.  My garage is in desperate need of cleaning.  I have countless unfinished projects.  I just don’t do it all.  It’s a balancing act FOR SURE.  Something has to give.  We go through cycles.  When I’m gearing up for an event, the house suffers. 

And then the event is over, and I slow down in the craft room, and I try to reassemble the other things that have fallen apart.  It seems to work out okay.  I have an amazing AMAZING husband, who supports my crazy and doesn’t complain when he walks in the door to chaos during a “busy” time.  And I have the most generous and supportive mom and sister, who help me with the girls all the time, and who run my errands for me, and cook us dinner on babysitting days, and seem to always make the food for my parties.  And so much more.

So….I am super excited to start sharing all of the fun things we did for my cousin’s baby shower, which I haven’t been able to share in advance since she likes to visit here.  I’m unpacking my car and sorting my things, I’ll be back shortly with some pictures.  But when I show you the pretty, rest assured, there’s plenty of not so pretty that goes right along with it.  Because I most definitely do not do it all.