Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.

That John Lennon...pretty smart guy. I recently figured out, due to a very helpful and interesting website, that John Lennon was an Atheist. Yay!

I apologize to any readers who have Christian beliefs. I do not wish to offend!

Anyway, I never really paid attention to the lyrics in "Imagine." You could have knocked me over with a feather when I realized that song was about an Atheist world, where we all really, truly could get along! It's fairly obvious, even to the unlearned eye, that religion is what builds walls in this world. If religions were eliminated, or never existed in the first place...well, just imagine.

This was SOOO not where I intended tonight's post to go. What I really was driving at [raise your eyes to this post's title], is that I get so wrapped up in the minute little details of my day-to-day life that I miss out on some of the cutest, happiest moments of my children's days. This really saddens me.

I am, by nature - if you subscribe to astrological beliefs - a detail-oriented person. I'm a perfectionist and this often becomes the bane of my existence. I'll waste away an hour of my evening making sure my kitchen looks good enough to wake up to in the morning. Some nights, I can't stop cleaning up before bed. More often than not, I don't get to bed before midnight, and I'm always up at 5:30 a.m.

So by dinnertime, I'm coming unraveled. I'm barking at the older one (sometimes over nothing - she's just being a little too eager to "help" me at a time when it could be dangerous for her) and I hate hate HATE that. I should be embracing her want of helping mama in the kitchen, not screaming at her to get out of the kitchen all together!!

Equally as bad, my 7.5-month-old son is witnessing this. He must think that all mama does is yell!!! I still manage smiles and laughs for him, but I cringe when I think of the side of me he sees far too often.

I really need to relax. I need to quit worrying about the little shit...three dishes in the sink, fruit that isn't perfectly stacked on the counter, the soda cans strewn about the living room that could wait until morning...and spend time with them. They're only little once.

So can you all offer me some relaxation techniques that work for you? I mean, they need to work when you're at your boiling point. I draw the line at weed. ;-)