Saturday, July 17, 2010

Never Enough Time

I'd like to paint my toenails tonight. I've been thinking about it, and adding it to my daily to-do list for weeks now. I even took the bottle of nail polish along on vacation last week. I still didn't get my toenails painted. But while my toenails may be ugly,  my life has definitely been beautiful.

I didn't get my nails painted (or my book read) I did have one of the best vacations ever last week. The kids and I spent a couple days at my parents house, then went to the Black Hills to camp. Yep. Me and four kids. In a tent. Sounds crazy, I know, but it was so much fun. Jake and I set up the tent while Lexi watched the little girls. After a quick trip to Wal-Mart to buy the camping supplies we didn't pack (really important things, like marshmallows and hotdogs) we went back to the campsite to do some cooking. It pained me to pay five dollars for a bundle of wood (knowing we have piles and piles of firewood at home) but we bought two bundles and did our very best to get the fire started. In fact, we burned up an entire notebook, a pizza box and a cardboard box, trying to get the fire going. That's when I realized Brad is always in charge of the fire at home... I just drink beer and rock babies. Jake did his Cub Scout best, but the firewood was a little damp, and the fire just wouldn't take off. Finally, my cousin and her family arrived and her husband was able to get the fire going. But by that time, everyone was too tired to enjoy any of our yummy campfire food. So while everyone went to bed, I sat up and enjoyed the most wonderful fire ever, all by myself. I should have painted my toenails by the light of the fire.

The rest of the weekend I kept thinking I'd find a few spare moments to paint my toenails, but between the family reunion, the sight seeing, the eating, and the visiting (so fun visiting with cousins I haven't seen for years, meeting their kids for the first time, and meeting other relatives I didn't know I had.... thanks to facebook, we won't have to wait until the next reunion to catch up!), I just never got it done.  I still haven't. You see, vacation takes a lot out of a mother. There's the lack of sleep, the unpacking, the laundry, the going back to work. All that together leaves absolutely no time for pampering, no matter how ugly the toenails.

Even as I type this, I can't help but glimpse at my ugly, unpainted toenails and think I really should be taking care of my feet. Maybe I will. The boys are at a movie, the little girls are sleeping... maybe I'll make Lexi paint my toenails for me....although, now I'm kind of used to the "natural" look. Maybe I don't need toenail polish afterall.

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