So Sunday is Mothers' Day. I thought it was this past Sunday, which was a concern for a few disoriented moments, not because I was worried or upset that everyone had apparently forgotten me, their poor, neglected mum, because I cannot stand those contrived Hallmark-generating holidays and prefer not to participate in the cards-flowers-dinner bit, but because I would be in big trouble with all those other mothers I'm related to that had gone unhonored.

These last few weeks have all been about catching up. Without Outlook to guide me, thanks to my recently deceased hard drive -- I've finally reached the final stage of mourning, acceptance -- and with only a barely legible list of activities scrawled on the back of an old envelope, I make my way through our daily doings. No more stacks of neatly folded school uniforms on Sunday evenings. Now I scramble to locate miscellaneous parts, usually just minutes before she is due to put them on. Matching socks? Forget it. I just bought some more.

There have been field trips, school performances, birthday parties, dental appointments, and homeschool functions, in addition to our usual schedule, all of which I have miraculously not missed, but it's been close.

Fortunately, I am not alone as other mothers have been saying similar things. It's either Spring Fever or Senior Slump. Either way, the end of the school year is right around the corner and I'll be glad for the break. Then comes figuring out how to include the littlest one, Elle, in our homeschooling.

Anyhow, back to Mothers' Day. My plans:

-- Sleep in.
-- Read a little more of Gods and Generals, a book I am thoroughly enjoying, the first book on the Civil War I've read that truly made me feel both sides of the conflict. Jeff Shaara did a remarkable job of making the heroes of both the North and South very believable and human. There were no easily defined sides. There was no winner. I had never given any thought to the difficult decision faced by career army officers prior to the war. I've always admired Lee and Jackson, but now I can add Hancock and Chamberlain to that list. Can't wait to finish and begin The Killer Angels.
-- Tear through my interlibrary loan, The Epidemic: The Rot of American Culture, Absentee and Permissive Parenting, and the Resultant Plague of Joyless, Selfish Children, to see what I'm doing right, or wrong. I think allowing children to share the parents' bed is one of his no-nos, and we are totally guilty of that, but he probably didn't have a child that never napped or stayed in bed one entire night for four solid years, so I may have to disagree with him on that, but otherwise, it sounds like he knows what he's talking about. If there's time, I'm going to have Jorge read this too, as this is a topic that freaks him out on a regular basis. He doesn't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg yet, in fact he believes the iceberg hasn't even broken off the glacier. He worries about the society his daughters must survive in when the tidal wave of sociopaths hits.
-- Enjoy a day with no bickering
-- Phone all the mothers in our family and wish them a happy day
-- Surprise my mother with an email sent to her cruise ship as it floats around somewhere down near the Panama Canal

Now, if I can just get through the rest of the week...