Totally swamped and trying to come up for air

Well this is the time of year that always does it to me. I will continue the writing your first paper series soon, but right now I am trying to stay afloat in a raging torrent of work and home responsibilities. I just got back from a conference, for which I was gone 9 days, and am trying to catch up. I have another conference in about three weeks, not to mention a book chapter due last week that I am rushing to finish, and a new paper to write.

It is the times like these that really make me crazy. Because I was gone for over a week, I have laundry, bills, straightening, and clingy children. I desperately wish that I could drop everything and spend a couple of days with them, but unfortunately when I got home I was so out of clean underwear that it wasn't even funny. At work, we are reaching a critical stage. Fortunately, everything is working beautifully, but that opens up new possibilities, the need to publish what we have, and pressure to keep up the great work!

A few years ago I might have been over a bridge by now, but fortunately, I have learned to manage. I am taking things slowly, making lists of everything I need to do, organizing my priorities, and not apologizing. I still go home at 5, even though every bone in my body says to stay all night, because I know that I couldn't possibly finish everything in a single night. If I worked all the time, I would be a less effective employee, parent, and wife. I can do everything, but only in moderation, and everyone will just have to settle for pieces of me. And in the midst of all this chaos, I am even taking time for myself. Last night, while my husband was at night school, I watched Sherlock Holmes while knitting a sweater. I have balance, precarious as it is.