Tunnel of Chaos

To be blunt, I must admit that I feel like I am living in a tunnel of chaos. This is clearly not how I am supposed to live, and I feel somewhat helpless to stop it. It happens almost every year at some point and seems that it will never end. However, this year, I believe it started in August, and I may not see the clearing until June.
Guilty!!!
I have only made one attempt to return a phone call to a friend who wanted to get together today. Our families have so much in common, and we have fun together, but I just did not make that connection this week. Yesterday, I ran from one place to another until 7:00 last night.

Right now even as I type, I am plagued by the bathrooms that need to be cleaned and the dining room that really needs to be cleaned as well as the laundry which is an issue.

How did I get here?

I am still adjusting to being Mom to four children. Adjusting to one more person who needs me generally takes a year, so I am getting close to finding the routine that will work.

This tunnel of chaos really started when Zachary was hospitalized in August. We had just established our new normal when damaging winds cost us power for eight days. Then we were dealing with school issues for Wyatt and then the holidays. We barely got back into the school routine before an ice storm took our power again. We are not fully back into a routine from that and are dealing with laundry issues. Last week I went to put clothes into the dryer only to find them dripping wet. I jokingly asked Andy if he would like to take me to a boutique to spend about $500.00 - an inside joke from a Sunday school lesson. His response - are you saying what I think you are saying? I hoped not. I figured the washer would run the next load just fine. Wrong. The next load had suds in it when it finished. So... what to do? The washer is 13 and a half years old. I could call in a repair, but that seemed like gambling. I took the plunge and bought a new washer which will arrive on Friday. It was a scratch and dent model from a local bargain shop. However, today I had a scary thought. You see our washer has leaked from the pipe that takes the water away for two years now. Three plumbers could not find a problem in the line. I was hoping that maybe the new washer would solve the problem. Maybe it was the washer all along. What if it isn't? What if the washer is not draining now because there is a problem with the plumbing outside of the house? What if I spent all this money on a new washer for nothing? Oh, what to do. - It is a done deal, so if the problem is outside, we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

We are heading into several weeks with totally overwhelming schedules. I can't even think through what needs to be done to make overlapping events work. The cat was due to see the vet in September, and we still haven't made that happen. The van needs an oil change, so I need to get that done, and soon, because I will be driving it out of town this weekend and possibly next weekend as well. I need to get a dryer hose clamp and clean up all of the dryer lint from the basement. Oh yeah, I do still need to work at my full time job.

So the problem with chaos is that I feel completely removed from God. I am not investing the time I need with Him, and I am missing it. Yet, here I am typing on a blog instead of doing something about it. sigh

Okay, don't be surprised if you come back and find this post missing - I think I just shared too much information for my own comfort.