on today's to-do list...

we're starting {home}school today. {year seven.  wow.  yikes.}
we don't usually begin until the day after Labor Day, but we are leaving for our family vacation later that week, and i'd like to squeeze in several productive school days before then.

and last night?
last night it all hit me.

the fact that today school starts.

and i'm not ready for it.
i'm just not.
not mentally, not emotionally...not.  at.  all.

and the mental to-do list, always running at a low hum {or dull roar} in the background, 
threatened to overwhelm.
all those wonderful balance posts we've read over the past few weeks?  
those?  oh.  those went flying out the window.

because today, school starts.
and today, i have a little boy to take care of. {i babysit our neighbor's 5-month-old, mondays through thursdays, every week.}
and today, i have over 10 pounds of peaches to can.  before they go bad.
and today, i need to cram in every possible moment of reading By the Shores of Silver Lake out-loud to my kiddos.  since the Ingalls homestead in DeSmet, SD, is one of our road trip stops.  the road trip that starts next week.  and really, i would have read this book to them a whole lot sooner if i would have just thought about it sooner.  but i didn't.  and i can't really see taking them to the Ingalls homestead without them having any earthly idea whointheeeeeworld the Ingalls are!  so now....yes.  cramming 290+ pages in over the next week or so.
and today, i need to eat right.  or just not eat at all.  that's a definite possibility.  because, eating right has been relegated to too low of a position on the totem pole for the past week or two.  and i'm feeling it.  and not liking the feeling.  not even a little bit.  and i definitely don't want to go into a vacation feeling this way.  because everyone knows, vacation and healthy food don't usually walk hand in hand {although i'm vowing to myself to give it my darndest}.
and today, i need to exercise.  maybe a run.  or a walk.  or Jillian.  or all three.   because.  well, yah.  see previous paragraph. 

i also have an eBay shipment to send out...
a few remaining curriculum items to order...
vacation details to iron out...
along with the usual daily tasks of keeping my family fed and clothed and somewhat sane.

i read here that if you want to be especially productive, you should make yourself a daily to-do list and put only three items on it.
only three.
seriously.  how?

then again, they {whoever they are} are the experts, right?
not me.
they must be on to something.

so, i'm going to assume that personal hygiene doesn't have to go on the list.
although, heaven knows that if this was an actual, physical, written-out list, brush teeth, do hair, do make-up would for sure be scrawled out on that paper, because check marks make me happy.  yes.
i'm not going to include my devotions, either.  those are part of my daily routine, every bit as essential as tooth-brushing.

my three items for today, then...
1. school.  we are easing in to it, and it won't be a full day, but it still demands priority on the to-do list.  and i'm going to count oral reading as part of school.  because otherwise, i'd have to break the rule and add a fourth item.  
2. can those peaches.  because i'll cry if they go bad.  especially because these look just.so.good.
3. eat right and exercise.  those can totally go together.  
yes they can.  don't argue with me.
it's been hot as you-know-where around here lately,  but i'm determined to get out and get moving, even if it's just a short run right after the sun goes down.

there we go.
i feel a tiny bit better already.

i think i may need to make a practice of getting my priorities for the week written out on sunday nights.
i'm extremely efficient with my time, but tend to stress out because i try to cram too many tasks into too little time.
the fact that i can truly only do so much is not one i like to admit.

if you made it all the way to the here, you deserve a thank-you.

thanks.
xo

{i'll be back tomorrow with the august edition of "what we're reading."  if you'd like to check out july's post, you can find it here.}