Am I The Busiest Person in Baltimore?

My friend Alicia posted this contest on my wall for the Busiest Person in Baltimore. It's hosted by a local radio station, Shine 95:1 FM.  Anyways, I decided to enter.  The winner gets a free cleaning service.  I'll take that.  Here's my submission.  What do you think?  Would you vote for me?

"Oh my, I could totally use a cleaning service.  My poor house is so neglected.  I'm a work at home mom who barely has a second to think, much less clean.  Not sure if I'm the busiest person in Baltimore, but I do get the question, "Hillary, how do you do it all?"

I have three kids.  My oldest is 5, starting Kindergarten tomorrow, and my youngest is 19 months.  They alone keep me pretty busy, but that's not the end of it.

I own my own business doing marketing and event planning for small businesses and political organizations, which I started a little over a month ago. I never expected it to take off so quickly.  Most of my work gets done during nap time and after the kids go to bed.

Last year, I started a mom's group called More than Moms on meetup.com.  It has over 100 members and we're about to go non-profit so we can work more with moms in need in the community.  I'm the president and chief organizer.  We do a couple outings a week, plus I spend several hours working on my responsibilities as president.

Wait, there's more.  I also serve at the Communications Director for a local county council campaign.  This takes up about 20 hours a week that I squeeze in when I can.  Can you tell I don't sleep much?

As well, I serve as VP of my neighborhood association, which doesn't require too much of my daily time, but fluctuates from week to week.

Lastly, my husband and I are extremely active in a starter church in our community.  We host a small group in our home once a week and I help plan the women's socials once a month.

As you can probably gather, I don't have a set schedule.  Instead it's dictated by the needs of that day.  Maybe it's playgroup at my house, or a heavy work load for my business, or a planning meeting for our neighborhood block party.  I don't have a nanny and my kids aren't in childcare, so when most people are working during the day, I'm being a mom.  Of course, I do try to sneak tasks and appointments in here and there, but my kids are my first priority.

I don't know how I do it all, but I know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.  God has made that very clear and He's always provided for my every need and the needs of my family.  Somehow all of these things connect, like a spaghetti junction of sorts.  It amazes me to see friends from church serving with me in the political realm, or women from my mom's group checking out our new church.  I might be busy, but I know I'm blessed to be right in the middle of God's amazing plan."

Kindergarten Zombie Mom

My little Owen starts school tomorrow.  I've been so caught up in the hustle and bustle of school supplies and doctor's visits that I hadn't thought about the fact that my little boy is going to be in Kindergarten.  As I walked the halls of Mini-ville (AKA the elementary school) yesterday shuffling from classroom to nurse's office to PTA meeting, I was very aware of how out of place I felt.  Was I the only one who had absolutely no idea what she was doing?  I must have looked like a complete zombie.

Owen, of course, was quiet and reserved, not sure he spoke a word from the time we entered the building until the time we left.  Oh and in typical Hillary fashion we were late.  Why?  Because there were a few items on the supply list that I hadn't gotten.  It helps to pay close attention to quantities.  So we get there, load everything into his locker (They have lockers in Kindergarten?), and sneak into the back of the classroom.  His teacher had all the kids sit on the big carpet at the front of the room as she oriented them to the layout of the room.  Then she came to talk to us, the big people, while the other kids played quietly with puzzles, books, and blocks.  Guess what I learned first?  Turns out the supply list I had was wrong, so I was late for nothing, and I still have to go back to the store.  Perfect.

Then there was more paperwork.  Back in the Spring, at registration, I filled out paperwork for over an hour. No joke.  Then they sent a packet with his teacher's name and information on orientation and such.  Guess what?  More paperwork.  And now I have 4 more pages to fill out. Once we were done, we could turn them in, sneak out of the back, and make our way to the PTA meeting.  As if I wasn't already feeling completely overwhelmed.   They held the meeting in this tiny room.  By the time I arrived, there wasn't even room to stand.  A bunch of us hovered out in the hallway waiting for what we thought was a second wave. The room slowly began to clear and this clueless mom slinked her way towards the front.  Yes, coffee.  And then a woman, asking if I'd filled out my form yet, and do I have my check ready.  Wait, what?  There's only one presentation, but I missed the first one...cause I apparently I wasn't lost enough.  It's a real good thing that my friend in the VP of the PTA.  At least she can fill me in.  Besides, I didn't have my check book on me and the PTA doesn't take Amex.

Defeated I made my way back to Owen's classroom to find him sitting alone on the floor.  His teacher must think I'm the worst mom ever.  First we're late then my kid's the last one there.  Perfect.  What a great way to make a first impression.

Amidst all this chaos, it still hadn't dawned on me that my little boy was going to kindergarten.  KINDERGARTEN.  Am I ready for this? Is his ready for this?  I feel a bit like we're peeking over the top of the hill on a roller coaster.  There's no turning back, but we're at that moment when I wish we could.