Well, open houses are behind me.  They were a success and I've now cleared the Christmas retail transformation hurdle.....but not without working many 11 and 12 hour days, which is way more than I prefer. Carson's basketball season has started. Concession stand duty, tomorrow night.  I can't go to bed until the uniform is finished washing and I can throw it in the dryer. I've missed a thousand Christmas choir practices, which will certainly doom me to chime in during a rest, at some point during the program, if I even attempt to participate. It's Carson's senior year and I'm helping with a lot of the senior class activities. Missed the last one. I've started helping Blair and John Samuel pack for another move on the day after Thanksgiving. I know what you're thinking....yes, we just moved her three months ago, but a new job means a relocation to another state. I've not visited my mother-in-law at her personal care home or helped my father-in-law out with meals in a while. I haven't talked much to my own Mama lately. She'd call but I didn't have a long time to talk or to get together with her. I need to check in with several of my friends. I've also got a growing list of sick and bereaved sitting next to my chair.....people who I need to reach out to since I've been chained to work for the last little while. I've missed some funerals that I really should have attended. I'm ashamed to say I've had to slip out of church after Sunday school for the last two weeks....not staying for the church service. I'll start helping a few customers with their Christmas decorations, this week. Because of Davis' mom's health, I've got a Thanksgiving dinner to get together for the weekend. I can't remember the last meal I cooked at home for my little family. We've been eating out of Styrofoam and paper wrappers for about three weeks now. And, everyday, Facebook reminds me of how my Muffin Top followers haven't heard from me in a while.     

I'm not trying to feed you a sob story because I'm sure your list looks something like mine, too. Maybe it has different names or different activities but the same amount of graffiti probably marks up your calendars. We always hear how we need to learn to say no but, that's just not an option with 90% of what we do as women.    

This time of year, especially, I start feeling like a piece of cheap sandwich meat. You know the kind that comes in the package with the red price sticker in the corner.....usually going for under a dollar a pack. Sure, the meat covers all corners of the bread, barely, but it's so thin that it really doesn't get the job done in making the sandwich.  Everybody gets a little bit but it's not enough for anybody. 

That's how I feel right now. I'm pressed out so thin that I'm feeling pretty skimpy and ineffective like a piece of transparent, processed turkey.    

I wish I had some deep and meaningful words to help us all feel more substantial and meatier to face our long lists of obligations and responsibilities. I wish I could come up with a solution for meeting these busy times of life with more effective coverage, but I'm honestly too tired to think of anything too profound right now. I just thought it might help you to know that, if you're feeling like you're barely covering all of your bread, you're not alone. I'm right there with you. We're just all trying to reach end to end and make it work for everybody because that's what mamas, daughters, wives, and girlfriends try to do.

Maybe if we allow God to fill us first, then we'll be better able to serve those around us and everyone will be more satisfied. 

Chew on that sandwich as you get back at it tomorrow!


Have a happy Tuesday!