Must...maintain...grip...

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I suddenly realized (after waking up in a state of tension at 2:00 a.m.) that coming up are:
  • My dad's 80th birthday party -- still trying to find a caterer who won't charge us a breathtakingly high amount
  • An exam in microbiology next Tuesday, and I've barely picked up the textbook since the last one, never mind started writing the take-home portion
  • Passover next week. We're definitely having a seder here, so much planning/shopping/cooking to do, though two segments of Ben's family are still seeing who wins the guilt-trip war over the location of the other seder (nephew's house in Mass. or brother's house in New Jersey). We are not going to Jersey. No way.
  • A weekend chock-full of kiddie activities that would be totally unmanageable were it not for Google's blessed invention of color-coded online calendars. I want to have Google's baby.
  • Saturday morning synagogue -- it's our turn to supply post-service food, and Ben and Sarah will be away on an overnight retreat, so somewhere before then I have to buy and make tabouli and fruit salad.
As I was musing on these knotty issues, I heard the sound of a snuffling child and discovered Becky had had an accident. While never pleasant, this is a bigger deal wetness-wise when the kid is 7, especially when you realize you finally got rid of that ratty old mattress cover that was waterproof on one side and replaced it with a nice new, big-girl, un-waterproof one. I grabbed some sheet or other and stuck it on her bed over a towel, but it soaked through (nice!), so I gave up and took her into our bed. And then Sarah whimpered in with a stomach ache. but fortunately, as she cheerfully explained a few minutes later after a trip to the bathroom, it was a "poop tummy ache" and not really a stomach ache per se, and she was fine now, thanks.

Today I'm at home because I was just too tired and stressed to go to work (AND! A parent-teacher conference this afternoon!). I wonder if I have time for a brief nap -- or some Pearl Jam at top volume.

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