Thursday 13: Reality Check

Bloggers (including me) tend not to write about or otherwise publicize the less than desirable events in their lives. Whether from fear of being harshly judged by others or protecting our privacy, we just don’t write about the things that make our lives appear less than rosy. Nor do we write about our own faults and shortcomings.

As a result, blog readers (also including me) may think that the woman whose blog they read has it all — the ideal life with perfectly behaved and charming children, a loving husband who cleans up after himself, home decor like something out of a magazine, etc.

But I have a hunch that none of us are truly like that. To that end, here’s a reality check about the Multitasking Mama:

1. I am an absolute dummy when it comes to Saran Wrap. I just can’t get it to cling like it’s supposed to, and I get frustrated whenever I try to use it (see #9 below). I almost always end up with a crumpled up ball of plastic wrap in the trash and a sheet of aluminum foil covering whatever it was that needed to be covered.
2. I am horrible about dusting. It just seems futile, so I don’t do it on a regular schedule, but rather whenever the need to do it gets to be so glaringly obvious that I can’t possibly ignore it any longer.
3. I cuss (or “curse,” depending on where you live). Not often, and not without a whole lotta provocation, and never in front of children… but every once in a while a colorful word or two will slip out. I’m working on turning the “rarely cusses” into “never cusses.”
4. I am well known among friends and family for my efficiency and organizational skills. However, I cannot keep my desk neat and clean for more than an hour or two. It almost always looks like a paper bomb exploded all over it.
5. I snore. Sometimes to the point where I wake myself up from doing it.
6. I read celebrity gossip.
7. I take Lexapro for anxiety. I didn’t want to, but my frustration level over the past two years or so has been so bad that I would have anxiety attacks almost daily, sometimes to the point of hyperventilation. I am embarrassed by this confession, because I feel like my faith should be enough to get me through any anxiety I experience (or eliminate it altogether). I may try to go off of the medication this summer.
8. Most of those anxiety attacks were caused by son-related stress.  The last two or three years (aka the middle school years) have been very difficult.  I’m praying that when he starts high school next year, things will start to become a little easier.  (At least until he starts learning how to drive! LOL)
9. I am impatient.  Most often with other drivers on the road, things that don’t work the way they are supposed to, and sometimes my children.
10. I have a “buffalo hump” (basically a fat spot at the base of my neck).  This is the number 1 reason why I’ll never have short hair.
11. I have a bad habit of not finishing the laundry.  The last load will be in the dryer, and I won’t go downstairs to get it out for days.  When I finally do go back to get it, there are 2 or 3 more loads to do, so I just keep doing laundry.
12. I consider myself thrifty, but the truth of the matter is that I will make impulse purchases as long as they are under $20.  I could easily fritter away $500 in individual $20 purchases, but spend $500 on one thing?  No way.
13. I use the back of my SUV as a recycling bin.  I pick up newspapers from my elderly neighbor and recyclables from church and haul it around until I find myself in the vicinity of the recycling center.

So, how about you?  Are you willing to post your own reality check?  If so, leave a link in the comments…