Calling into a radio advice show - desperate or inspired?

Should I start with why my last blog post was from January 2012, and the one before that was sometime in 2010?  Nah.  To use my daughter's saying (that she picked up at her first overnight camp this summer), "I ain't got time for that!"  Lovely, I know.

I was listening to Oprah radio on XM in my car on my way home from work today, and I decided to call in to the advice show that was on at the time.  It was the first time I'd heard this particular show, but Dr. Jenn Berman sounded pretty down to earth and was giving some good advice.  Plus, the topics for the show were all over the map, as am I.

I gave my "problem" to the call screener, and what do you know?  Dr. Berman put my on the air!

My situation was this:  Over the past year, we've had to move my Mom into assisted living and our family life has gone from crazy busy to insanely busy.  One stop gap that my husband and I are considering is paring down on the number of pets we have.  Currently that number = 1 dog, 1 cat, 6 rabbits and 1 fish.  When I began to socialize this idea with my kids, the result was - as you might imagine - not pretty.

My problem was this:  Am I making the right decision in going down the road of taking family pets away from my kids; and if so, how do I go about navigating this rough road?

Dr. Berman's advice was this:  Get the kids involved in the care of the animals.  This is an idea that I already thought of and had started implementing, although she did add some thoughts on creating a chart to help them take responsibility.  

Then she gave me another piece of advice.  Take time for myself. 

I've hear this before.  I know this all too well.  This is one of the reasons I am desperately trying to find things to cut back on!

However, she added a spin on the "me time" concept that I hadn't considered before.  She said that before she had kids, it would take an entire spa day or weekend away to feel re-charged; but after kids, it really only takes an hour or two to get that same re-charging benefit.

Now that seems more doable!

Does that mean that you will see me posting here more frequently?  Probably not.  I've still got a to-do list a mile long.  But as I write this, I'm realizing that it doesn't really matter how often I post or even if anyone is reading what I write.  I started this blog as a way to journal and capture stories about my kids that touched me in some way.  It's for me.  It's one of the things I can do occasionally, for a short period of time, that helps me re-charge.

Here's to new beginnings.  Again.