Slow Down

(Seriously.  Don't you just love this sign?  Kills me.)

This summer has been as busy as ever.  

We have been bouncing around from one reunion to the next.  All involving camping.  And in the in between time, we've had some dear friends stay at our house for a week...the ones that left us and moved clear across the country (boo).  And while they visited, I made my friend help me paint my kitchen cupboards (I will show you soon, they are so pretty), all while trying to entertain our eight combined children in sweltering weather.  We found a very fine new pool...and had some adventures...but more on that later.  Also, I managed to squeeze in a photo shoot and some school shopping while we were out of town.

Now home, I am trying to sort through the sleeping bags, tents, mud-encrusted laundry, and get everything back to where it once belonged before our next adventure.  Plus I have this huge urge to go through every child's clothes and get rid of everything.  I am so sick of JUNK.  It seems it's seeping and oozing out of every corner and crevice.  But I still need to finish my cupboards and work on about 53 more house projects I have stored in my brain....not to mention the photography ones that I have been dreaming about and have yet to get to.  I need to schedule in de-junking I guess.

Also, yesterday I had an Esophageal Motility test for my GERD problem (heartburn).  The test involves putting a tube down your nose and into your esophagus.  It was 15 minutes of cruel and unusual punishment that cost a lot.  I am pretty sure I set a new record of gagging for the poor lady administering the test.  She told me that if I breathed deeply that I wouldn't gag, as you can't gag and breathe at the same time.  Guess what?  Apparently I can.  Which figures because I can't wear a turtleneck when I'm pregnant...it makes me gag.  What a weirdie.  I was so embarrassed.  Gagging is not pretty... but luckily I hadn't eaten or this would be a very different story.  Oh well.  She patted me on the shoulder.  I apologized profusely, with gagging tears running down my cheeks and I am sure she has a new story of the wimpy lady who gags like no other.  Plus I had to refrain from swallowing for 30 seconds at varying intervals during the test.  But my throat had different ideas.  It would swallow of its very own accord right at about the 23 second mark.  Grrr.  I swear I was not doing it.  I was focusing every ounce of my do-not-swallow efforts...and finally I made it after about 15 tries, my eyes shut tight, chants of  "Don't Swallow", and many heart-felt and urgent prayers that went something like this, "Please help me not swallow for 30 seconds.  Please, please, please.  Just 30 seconds." 

And that is what's going on in our world.  Excuse me whilst I go make sure the kids are hard at work on their chores, get some lunch made, and start a new batch of laundry.  Toodles.