Schedules and Stress by Konnie Enos

It’s Wednesday morning again and I haven’t written my post yet. I don’t have any ideas to write, and I can only blame it on my poor planning.

Some months ago, I learned about a writer’s conference in Idaho Falls, Idaho. At the time, being stressed at home, I felt this was the perfect excuse for me to get away.

I bought the ticket and booked my flight.

I told my sister so she could expect me and go to the conference with me.

I didn’t concern myself with how long I’d be gone or that it was over my daughter’s birthday. I didn’t even worry about the fact I’d be gone the last ten days of the month. (I wanted to see family too.)

I planned for my daughter’s birthday and made sure family members knew where I’d hidden her gift.

I figured I’d be home for the first of the month madness of getting bills and such taken care of.

I told my family, multiple times, how long I’d be gone.

Things didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped.

While I was gone, multiple family members were asking each other when I was due back. Apparently, they couldn’t remember I’d told them when I was returning. In addition, before I even got back several family members were asking me about the family schedules for this month. Information I did not have yet. Not one of them, all adults, had given me their personal schedules for October. Leaving me with no clue on who needed to be where when.

They’ve also asked me, more than once, how much money we have left and when am I going to the store. How am I supposed to know if I haven’t been home and haven’t done the grocery shopping for the last ten days? I still have to figure out how much money my daughter spent and if we have anything left. (I’m sure I do because said daughter is good with money.)

I also haven’t done this month’s budget yet, because you know, not home for ten days right at the end of the month.

So far, I’ve managed to get one daughter’s schedule, thus far, for the month. A schedule that included two appointments yesterday. So instead of sitting at home on my computer figuring out our budget or writing my post, I was driving her around.

I also found out I have multiple calls to make. I have to reschedule an appointment because of conflicts. I have to call one company about our service because of issues and I need to call at least one healthcare provider to make appointments. I’m also sure there’s something else needing done which I’m forgetting.

Then there is also the monthly issue of getting our bills paid and doing our monthly major shopping trips. All of which I still have to figure everything out. I haven’t even made a shopping list yet.

I’ve managed to go through the stack of mail that had piled up as I was gone which, apparently, my husband had gathered and just set aside without looking at anything beyond the two appointment reminder cards he’d received. This is when I learned he hadn’t even read who the mail was too. One of the articles received was for our neighbor (i.e.: miss-delivered). Two were for our youngest son. One of which was his new debit card which he needed because his old one expired.

He came into me rattled because he hadn’t received it yet and his old one was already expired. Luckily, I’d already gone through the mail by then and knew he had some, one of which could easily be his card. Yes, it was there, and my son had panicked over its absence for well over a week because nobody bothered to actually read the mail.

Now I have to spend the next few days updating our financial information, paying bills, and figuring out what we can and cannot cover this month.

On top of that, it’s already October. Leaving me with less than two months to get the rest of my Christmas shopping done. (I prefer to be done before Thanksgiving so I can relax for the holidays.) I’m behind because I simply can’t think of appropriate gifts for some family members. Men can be so hard to shop for. Yes, most of the gifts I still need to buy are for the males in my family including my son-in-law.

So, taking that trip to relieve some stress only made things at home well, more stressful. Are we having fun yet?

Smile. Make the day a brighter day.