Do you ever want to run away screaming?

Sometimes I do. I just want to run right out the door screaming with my arms flailing in the air. I want to make a mad dash out of my house and away from all my responsibilities, and just bolt. Oh, to just run until I was out of breath.

Generally, I think that I'm a happy person -- as well adjusted as the next guy. I am very aware of the abundance of blessings that my Heavenly Father has seen fit to pour out upon me and my family. We are mostly healthy. A few surgeries needed here and there, a few allergic reactions, the occasional ear infection, but overall not too bad. While we have to work to make ends meet, they do seem to meet every month. We don't seem to be lacking any of the necessities of life, and for this I am quite grateful.

Yet, there are moments when the "to do" list seems to me, a bit much.

Here's the current list.
(Oh, by the way... I'm about to start whining. I'll forgive you if you chose not to keep reading.)

1. It is the 2nd and that means that I need to process the rent.

This involves way more than you would assume. Every check has to be scanned and emailed to the owner before they are recorded in spreadsheets and saved in files which also have to be sent.

2. I will need to make the bank deposit.

This one isn't too bad. Thanks to drive up banking, I can do this in my jammies if I want.

3. Then, I must call the people who didn't pay rent and remind them to pay it.

They usually love to hear from me.

4. Next, I must issue monthly statements to the three owners that I work for.

This is where I tell the owners about the people who won't be paying their rent on-time.

5. This past weekend a sewer backed up and flooded a tenant's garage. The mess will need to be cleaned up.

No way am I personally going to handle this one. I just have to schedule the professional cleaners to come out and then make sure that I'm available to let them into the unit.

6. We have a cracked pipe in that same unit and I need to have plumbers come out to give me an estimate on replacing it. The pipe is cracked right where it enters the cement in the garage floor, so they'll need to bring in a jack hammer to fix things. The owners love to hear news like that.

7. Another unit had a 2nd floor bathroom flood a week ago. Our maintenance guy did a less than adequate repair job on the ceiling, so I need to schedule a professional to redo a popcorn ceiling for us.

8. I need to schedule junk removal to remove damaged furniture, rugs, etc. from a unit where a cracked toilet tank flooded the basement for days before the tenant discovered the problem.

9. I have a few minor maintenance requests that were received over the weekend which need to be scheduled with our maintenance guy.

He is currently restoring a house for rent that was destroyed by the last tenants. So, who knows when he'll be available.

10. Daniel managed to step in a massive pile of dog poo when he was playing outside with James. The fun part is that he tracked it all through the house before anyone knew about it.

So, I'll be scheduling carpet cleaners to come sanitize my carpet.

11. I've got to get my house clean and thoroughly picked up so I can have the carpet cleaners come by and sanitize my carpet.

12. We have some tenants that moved-out mid-lease this weekend, chose not to keep their 9am appointment with me this morning, and left several truck loads of junk in their unit. This makes for another call to 1-800-GOT JUNK.

13. These same lovely tenants left their place less than clean, broke a mirrored closet door, and ripped down vertical blinds and smoke detectors before they left.

This will require calls to maintenance, cleaning crew, painters, carpet cleaners, and possibly carpet installers as well.

14. I have at least 6 loads of laundry to do.

15. My desk is littered with papers to be filed.

16. It is almost noon and 2 of my children are still in pjs.

17. Someone is going to have to feed them lunch.

18. Danny needs new shoes.

19. Darren is growing out of his clothes, so I desperately need to go through the bin of clothes in my hallway that I had James get out of storage.

20. I need to call the owners and inform them of these really expensive acts of destruction.

It's fun to be messenger of such news!

Now this may just sound like a lot of talking on the phone, but have you ever tried to have a phone conversation while children are home?

James has a lot of studying to do today. He should be home around 11:30 tonight.

So, if you see me dashing along the roadside somewhere with my arms in the air, screaming like a mad man. You may want to stop by my house and make sure the kids are ok.

Thanks in advance.

Love,
Emily