I can collapse after

Ah yes, today is the 7th anniversary of my blog, which in blogland easily equates to 70 years since it's rare for people to keep their blogs going for a year much less seven of them. As I've said time and time again though, I write this blog for me, not for anyone else, which is why I've kept it going so long. If I wasn't typing here, I'd be writing all these thoughts down on paper. It's just so much easier to do it here.

I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to post. It's the crazy kind of busy where you don't know if you're coming or going, or if you got everything done that needed to be done because there's always something else being added to the list. From the looks of things, this isn't even going to let up until August 3rd, at the earliest. The only reason I'm posting now is because I chose not to attend a benefit concert that I feel guilty for not attending (it's a fundraiser to benefit my daughter's friend with leukemia and the American Cancer Society) and I'm taking a break from working on wedding invitations.

No, not my wedding, there won't ever be another one of those in my future. My best friend's daughter, or the closest thing I have to a best friend, is getting married and when my daughter heard that they were just going to buy blank invites at Walmart and have them printed at Kinkos, she said we should make them instead because she's a crafting maven. Unfortunately, when my mood is not stable, I also have quite a bit of crafting skill, so I've taken the lead. It's not something I really wanted to do because I know how much my daughter loves designing things, but I really couldn't stop myself from doing it.

We've got five different invitation designs that we're going to print with five different fonts and then let her pick which one she likes, or if she prefers, she can pick different elements from each and we can combine them into one. We were able to get swatches of the color palette she's chosen for her dress and the bridesmaid's dresses, so the elements we have are almost a spot-on match. Just have to print them, glue the pieces together and get them mailed out to her so she can make her choice. We then have to get an assembly line together and make about 60-70 of the final product. Hopefully all by August 1st.

The kiddie and I are participating in National Dance Day on July 30 and need to learn the routines. We're planning on learning the easy and intermediate routines, and hopefully the master routine or at least part of it. If I were 20 years younger and still a dancer, I'd be doing all three for sure, but I'm old and out of shape, so we'll see what happens. They've teamed up with Six Flags to hold dance events at those theme parks across the country, but I don't want to pay some $40 per ticket to get into the nearest Six Flags. I'm hoping they'll just hold a free event in Millennium Park like they did last year.

Tuesday we're going to see West Side Story, Wednesday the kiddie registers for classes at her new college, Thursday I must drop my car off to have the brakes replaced and I have to clean the house. Friday my oldest brother, and one of the two siblings that is still talking to me, comes in from California for a visit.

Saturday is my niece's birthday party and since half the family still won't talk to me, I'm not invited. The other events that have passed had me a bit depressed and angry, but this one is going to be especially hard to get through because this is one of the nieces that I am/was extremely close to and this will be the first time I've ever missed her birthday since she was born. I'm sure I'll be crying any time I have a minute where I'm not busy.

So yeah, there's a lot going on right now and at times, I have to force myself to keep going. Today is the one rare moment I took for myself and I'm trying not to let the guilt get to me (and as I wrote that I just received a text from my daughter about the show that's going on right now). Ugh! I just keep telling myself I can collapse after August 3rd, as soon as I get home from seeing my pdoc.