National Panic Day

My husband sent me an email reminder to celebrate this "holiday" of sorts - I think it was created in my honor. I may look like I can deal with it on the surface, but underneath I am dying to get rid of the stress and just flat out PANIC!

"GET ready to celebrate. March 9th marks the holiday.... National Panic Day!
Panic Day, the day when you're encouraged to run around and tell everybody you can't take it anymore. We love this holiday, because it gives us permission to freak out and express the panic that lurks under the facade of calm self-control that we present to the world."

It's good to know that there's a reason for the anxiety I can feel building up. Not that grad school classes, final projects and end of quarter report cards and grading to do at school have anything to do with it! No nothing like that. I am relieved to have the college class wrapped up and finished. I actually submitted the final project a day early. Yippee! I know I need to get going and register for the next one but I think I may wait until we get back from our cruise. That will keep me from missing any assignments in the 10 days that we will be gone. Report cards are another matter. I feel for these little first graders. We have been testing our little brains out. I know that they will be ready for Spring Break!

The cruise is proving to be a little complicated as well. This is our first venture onto the waters of cruisingness and I thought it was just pay and go. Oh no, there are many decisions to be made and it seems I may have missed deadlines to do so. Argh! At this point it feels like one more mountain to climb. I sure hope that we love it!

The family is all getting together this Thursday to celebrate the guys birthdays! I look forward to having all of the family! Gifts were easy this year. Drew wanted Triple AAA membership and Paul wanted $$ for eye surgery!! Throw in a few books and things get real simple. Jenn is bringing the great Peanut Butter/chocolate cake. I'll pull all the rest together. I'll put Rich in charge of getting another group photo!

We went to a fun cooking class this week at a local kitchen accessory store. It featured Hearty Soups and Bread bowls and wow (!) was the food scrumptious! This week they are featuring an Easter dinner and we will learn how to use a pressure cooker to make it all! It's fun to do together - wish that we could get the instructor to come to our home and cook it all for us! Well, one can dream.

I went to the library this weekend and got several books that look promising. This month is March Mystery Madness at Book Group and I am on the hunt for the perfect mystery. Susan, at bloggin'aboutbooks suggested one that she likes but my branch didn't have it in so I "branched" out with a few other titles. The nightstand is now on the verge of teetering over and injuring a small child!!

I am laughing at The Year of Living Biblically by A.J.Jacobs! It is a real conversation starter too. I am also reading The Secret of the Monarchs by Allison DuBois. (Not really much to it but it's fast and I am always looking for something to pass on to my brother and sister in law since they lost their son almost 4 years ago.) Allison DuBois is the woman who the character the TV show "Medium" is based on. Book choices continue and the downstairs book is still Playing for Pizza by John Grisham. I have got to be able to multi-task better or at least use my 2 eyes to read two different books! So much for getting any needlework done! I did find a few recommended titles too, Keturah and Lord Death, Blind Submission, and the Bread Machine Cookbook! That last one will go straight to my hips! I'm excited that it Spring Break is coming up. I think I'll lock the computer and just fall into a book!

I saw an idea on a blog recently that suggested un-plugging yourself for a day each week. In other words, anything that plugs in is off limits. We used to have "cold turkey week" the first week of every month when the boys were young. It was great. We turned off the TV and read, played games, and entertained ourselves in other ways. It went on for years but somewhere along the line we stopped doing it. I am thinking that it might be something we could tweak and try again around here. So many people with intriguing ideas, goals and desires for growth out in the blogosphere. I am so impressed with the quality of people I discover! I am humbled!

There now, the panic has subsided. I can breath again. Whew! But I'm sure that I'll be ready to celebrate again next year!