By Amy Nielsen

Classes start next week. Ducks in a row? Not so much! Heck, at least they are all in the same pond. Crud, there goes the little one . . .

Somehow the month that I had set aside before school started has flown by in a constant parade of field trips, large expenditures, unexpected sickies and calendar shuffling.

As I look at the calendar going forward and plug in all of my classes, tests, and group sessions, I can see that I am walking a very fine line as I juggle a whole lot of colorful balls. I have a lot of stuff already planned for the summer and really for the remainder of the year.

Yesterday, I planned the school year out for my homeschool co-op for 2016/2017. Talk about advanced planning! But, that is what I have to do to make sure I don’t get myself overcommitted going forward. If this insane month has taught me anything it is that I have to be very careful to protect my school time and my kids' school time. Planning our time together will help mitigate this one, I think.

Also, advanced planning means budgeting time and money. I need to have the ability to throw money at a problem that becomes too big of a project to complete alone. We had a tree limb fall on our fence, which meant replacing a large portion of a 4-foot tall post and wire gate fence. We have been able to band-aid it so the animals are safe in the yard. But, now we have to come up with either the time and/or the money to fix it properly.

If we had a little extra savings I would be able to hire someone to fix it in a day rather than spend hours doing it myself. This means tightening our belt a bit so we have a little savings set aside on top of our regular saving plans.

And then comes the inevitable sickies. It’s the change of seasons, so everyone is getting sick and passing it around. I thought we might be safe since only our peripheral friends have had it, but then on her birthday, my little one got the sickies. We have had to postpone all of her birthday plans until next week, on the only day we had free.

On top of that, she has complained that her leg braces hurt and has refused to wear them. This can mean one thing, a growth spurt. Which means possible treatment is needed. Which means more doctor appointments and more travel.

Finally, we received an email from the in-laws in Florida. When are we finally going to visit them? Calendar shuffling, here we come, again. Quack.