Where to begin?

Today is the first day of school! I know my teacher friends are probably tossing and turning right now, dreading the unknown. In our field, you just never know who--or what--is going to show up the first day of school. So my heart's with you, girls. But today, what I'm feeling most is excited, and hopeful. Kayci is SO excited about first grade, and loves her teacher already. She has SIX friends in her class already :) and has her outfit all laid out and ready. Daddy and I left her a happy on the table this morning (thanks, Auntie Lynn, for the happy call last night!) and I can't wait for her to see the necklace we got for her. Her first day outfit is neon green and white, and of course Justice was nice enough to have a neon green K necklace. She's going to love it! So, we'll all take Kayci to school, then Daddy and I will take Noble to school, and then, hopefully, Daddy and I will go to Starbucks and celebrate a great first day. And as for me, well, I'll be celebrating my first kid-free work day in almost 3 months. It's been a wonderful summer, but I'm excited about this school year, too. I have a lot of work to do and a lot of opportunities...I was looking at the balance of our loan/debt yesterday and thinking, if we're gonna pay this off by March we're going to have to HUSTLE. So we will. It's a blessing to work so that if we need more money, we just say yes to more jobs. :) The downside is that we both work--a lot--but the upside is that again, there's HOPE. We can change our circumstances, and that's pretty exciting. Not that things are bad, but we know that living without debt has got to be better than this, right?

My mind kind of keeps walking right up to the door of "after"--after we drop off the kids, after James goes to work...I can't even, even imagine what my day will look like between 9:00 and 3:00 (or whenever I get in car line). I have this fantasy of getting a pedicure (my toes need it!). And I just might, just for me. I just might go buy a People magazine to read in car line today. But here's what I WON'T do...I won't spend 2 hours this morning cleaning house and putting away laundry. I won't spend an hour cooking and cleaning up lunch. I've got to learn to get my work-work done during the day while the kids are gone, and get the housework done in that hour before they get up and after they go down. It can be done, I've done it before. I've just really, really lived like a housewife in the past year...great for my home and family, horrible for the bottom line and my level of work stress. So, it's time to re-prioritize and put work BACK on the list. First things are still first...but the things I was spending my work day on last year weren't important things, just Kristi things that had a false feeling of importance. Back to "good enough" as far as the floors and the amount of dust on the piano. :)

So, I don't know what this day will bring. I know it will bring a happy 6 year old, possibly a tearful 1 year old when we leave Kayci and walk away, and as for me...well, it better bring a finished guest blog, a great start on another writing/building project and some e-mail time with my teachers. And hopefully a pedicure and a People. Ooh, and my first Starbucks in MONTHS! It's going to be a great day!!!