Life is....well....crazy

All aboard the Crazy Train!

Seriously, I don't recall a time in recent history where my life has been so insanely crazy.  Crazy enough to knock me right off my rocker.  And I kid you not.  Between living in two places, but not really living anywhere, reconstruction of the "new" house (new flooring, painting, cleaning out, organizing, etc.), the children (all three of them, who at different times (and sometimes the same time) have given me a run for my money sanity-wise), losing my dad (which I admit has flipped me harder than I ever expected it too), losing yet another pet (almost 15 year old cat), and just the overall chaos and stress level, there were a couple days there were I was unable to cope.  As in completely unable to cope.

 There hasn't been time to breathe quietly let alone do things necessary in life such as get term life insurance quotes or new auto insurance quotes.  I completely neglected taking care of myself and certainly was getting nowhere near the amount of sleep and rest I need to keep my brain focused and my pain level tolerable.

I'm trying to change that.  It's a challenge because there are children and chores and, and, and...not to mention an adult relationship that needs to be tended to.  The relationship part is key and while we promised we would not let "us" slide to the back burner, we did and we paid a hefty price for that in the form of a mental collapse on my end.  I think one of the most difficult parts of this transition is going from a place where Stephanie and I had an adult relationship that was, for the most part, separate from our life with the kids.  We had time to just be together and talk and dream.  Once we started staying at the new house mostly full time, the kids took center stage (as they are known to do) and we had to readjust our view of "us".

Challenging does not begin to explain it.

Blending families is a difficult thing to do and unless you have first hand experience, there is no way you can understand it.  And I'm talking first hand experience in the exact situation: kids, in the same age group, on both side. 

But it's good, too.  In all the chaos there is laughter and fun and happy moments.

I just can't wait until we are more settled and there is more laughter, fun and happy moments than stressful ones.