Sunshine and Roses

A lot of times I feel like Larry in one of my favorite Silly Songs.
Trying to sing the blues but unable, because he's so optimistic and happy.

And those are the times I'm always blogging.

Today I've been thinking more about my time in Turkey, as I watch from a distance about the earthquake in Virginia this afternoon. Remembering that difficult time, when I was thrown together with my new neighbors, with whom I shared nothing but a common, traumatic experience.

During my two years there, I wrote monthly updates to people back home (as well as daily emails to my mom) But I always made sure I wrote those updates when I was in a good mood, so no one ever saw any of the struggles I went through.

I guess I should take that lesson and learn from it, and share when I'm struggling, too.

Then I read this blog post, which says exactly that!

So here's me, on a less-than-perfect day.

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation last week. But getting back to routine, to put it bluntly, stinks.

Jasmine does best with routine and order in her life. Even at 6, messing up her schedule messes up her temperament. So whenever people would ask why we did school all through the summer and if we'd ever take breaks, I'd tell them how much happier she is when we keep things the same each day.

At this moment, I'm almost wishing we'd just plowed through last week, too. Done school in the morning and taken vacation outings in the afternoon, maybe.

I don't, really. these are the weeks I love to look back at.
But I'm so fried. I'm so frustrated and worn out. The house is a disaster. Jasmine wants nothing to do with the written parts of school, and at this moment is screeching at Bekah for changing the order of her matchbox cars.

So I'll show a very old layout that sums up today pretty perfectly:

Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll get back into editing pictures and telling you about last week. But it just takes a part of me that isn't functioning today, so it's not going to happen this afternoon.