Wanna laugh? Read through the boring post to the bottom. Believe me.

Today I was on vacation (get used to that sentence - I have approximately a bazillion vacation days that I need to use before the end of the year) and had just ONE ambition.

To clean out the printer cabinet (aka where-hubby-hides-stuff).  That was it.  It wasn't a huge ambition but it was an ambition.  Something I've sorely been lacking lately.

When I went to bed last night, I told Man-Child that he would need to get himself up in the morning.  Because I planned to sleep in and then get to work on that little-bitty goal.

And then my eyes popped open at 5:00 am (yeah, I KNOW!).  After determining that more sleep was futile, I stumbled downstairs to start the coffee.

After drinking coffee, catching up on what you all had been doing while I was sleeping, and slowly coming to life I looked at the printer cabinet.

And then decided it would be cruel of me to open it and begin going through all the stuff that Hubby had squirreled away in there - because I was sure that the commotion of me exclaiming loudly, "SO THAT'S WHERE THOSE PICTURES HAVE BEEN!" would wake my slumbering giants far too early.

So I looked around, drumming my fingers.  What to do?  Quietly.  It was still too early for the paper to have come (and if it WAS down at the end of my VERY long driveway, I wasn't about to go tripping around in the dark looking for it) when it dawned on me....

College stuff!  Man-Child had FINALLY completed most (notice, not all) of the essays that one particular school required.  I decided to get a head start on that.  You can imagine my dismay when I opened up the application to begin pasting in the work he had slaved over only to discover that what they were looking for was a bit different than what he had produced. *sigh*

So, I put that one aside, and pulled out another application - this one he had written out, but never got around to sending.  Well, apparently, that worked in our favor.  The school had called the other night and gave us a special "code" so that when we applied we wouldn't have to pay the application fee.  So I proceeded to fill in the online application using exactly what he'd written (I know, I know - I SHOULD be making him do this stuff - but seriously?  If I nag him any more over anything else - one of our heads is going to explode - and it would probably be mine) and, let me tell you, hitting that send button?  It was amazing!

That load on my shoulders felt just a tad lighter.

Giddy with a sense of accomplishment (something I haven't felt in quite some time), I moved on.  We still needed to send SAT scores to schools.  So I forwarded the information for the two schools we've already applied for.

(Here's the lowdown for those of you with rising Seniors - when your child takes the SAT, you are given the opportunity to send the scores to four schools for free...but only IF you send them immediately.  Mine took the SAT twice at the end of his Junior Year, before even knowing WHERE he wanted to apply.  Plus I didn't know this next bit of info.  If you wait to send the scores when you are ready - you will be charged $10.50 per school.  You're welcome.)

Now, on a near high, I moved on to the NCAA eligibility website.  If your child wants to play sports in college you have to do this part (at least here on the East Coast.  I don't know what the requirements are elsewhere).  We had partially completed this - but got stuck on the ordering transcript part.  So, I tackled it.  And finished it.  The only problem?  Somehow they seem to have messed up my order - instead of asking the school for MC's transcript - they are asking them for mine!  Which will be damn near impossible to get since I didn't go to school there.  I then fired off an email to the help desk and am anxiously awaiting a response.

(Also?  FYI.  If your child wants to play sports in college - most schools have a Recruiting page that you are required to fill out.  Find it.)

Then the boys got up and the hustle-bustle of the morning began.  Eventually, I got MC out the door and on his way.  Hubby, I worked around.  Now it was time to tackle that printing cabinet.

Which I did, in short order.  Finding, among other things, the football team photos that I had ordered EONS ago.

Hubby, bless him.  When he "cleans" the house for me that means he hides everything.  Apparently, these photos (that I had JUST sent an email to the coach about) got "put away" during a cleaning spree, before I was able to register their existence*.

Sometime during my foray into the printer cabinet, Hubby decided it was best to make himself scarce.  Which turned out to be a blessing.  Because once I conquered the printer cabinet, I moved on to cleaning out other drawers into which he has been known to "hide" things.  I was totally on an organizing HIGH.

Instead of boring you (even more) with the details, suffice it to say that I went on and cleaned out a total of SIX drawers today and completed a load (can you say 6 months or more) of filing.  Including stops to run to the bank, have some papers notarized, eat lunch and pick up some essentials.

My sense of accomplishment today is at an ALL TIME HIGH.

I cannot lay the blame for all of this chaos at Hubby's feet (though I REALLY want to!).  I have been VERY slack in this past year or so.  I know that I have been hiding from everything....paperwork, the house, friends, and everything else.  There's really no excuse.

Hubby may hide/hoard things - but if I had been on top of things - it never would have reached the level of chaos that it had.  Bless him, he did what he thought best while trying to help me.

But that load that has been weighing me down - it feels SO much lighter now!  I feel like I can breathe again.

In the past year or so, I've even quit penning my "lists."  You know, those things that used to keep me semi-sane?  But even without the lists, the number to "to-do's" and "need to-do's" have been piling up in my head; adding to the stress that I already have.

Eliminating some of those things has eased my mind much more than I would have thought possible.  I think I need to start penning some more lists.  Just to get them out of my mind, onto to paper, done and crossed out. So that I can let my brain worry about other things.

So what is on my agenda for the next vacation day?  THAT closet.  The one where Hubby hides the BIGGER stuff.



*A very funny side-note.  Those pictures that I thought I found?  They were from last year.  How do I know? Man-Child JUST walked in the door with this year's pictures.  Even funnier? I've got one of those old photos sitting on my desk at work - staring at me ALL day, EVERY day.  Even better?  A new guy just asked me about that picture last week.  And I told him it was a year old... yeah.....so NOW you have a VERY clear picture of how chaotic my life and my brain has been.  Feel better about yourself?  You should.

You're welcome.