One Thing at a Time (I Will Absolutely Ignore This Advice)

Monday was one of those days.

Work was busy. My house was not in order. And when work starts picking up, my brain decides that my house must come first.

Here’s the thing about me: I’m ADHD and OCD, and if there’s a dish in the sink, I genuinely cannot breathe. My mind spirals. My chest tightens. It’s like the house itself is screaming at me.

So naturally, instead of checking emails, I open a kitchen cabinet… and a glass falls out and hits me in the head.

That was it.

That was my sign.

Time to reorganize everything.

Because obviously.

The Vanity Incident (Same Day. Poor Choices.)

That same day the same day I was scheduled to show five houses an hour away I decided to empty an entire makeup vanity.

An entire one.

Full of makeup I will never wear.

Let’s be honest: I cannot apply eyeshadow. I don’t know why I keep trying to be the kind of person who owns contour palettes and eyeliner wings. I am not her. I will never be her.

And yet… I am also the “what if” girl.

What if one day I want to wear eyeshadow?
What if I suddenly become good at eyeliner?
What if this weird face tool from FabFitFun is actually life changing and I just don’t know how to use it yet?

So yes, I keep ordering the boxes.
Yes, my vanity is full of things I don’t understand.
No, I am not a minimalist despite constantly telling myself I should be.

Anyway. ADHD again.

I empty the entire vanity. Drag this heavy piece of furniture into the dining room. Decide I’m going to repaint it. Buy the paint. Buy the supplies. Fully commit.

All while knowing I still had:

• Five houses to show
• An hour drive each way
• Emails piling up
• A life that absolutely did not require a furniture project

What was I thinking?

By the time reality caught up with me, I had to put the entire vanity back together exactly how it was before heading out to show houses.

A complete waste of time.

Except it wasn’t because in my mind, I will get that done someday.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

The Christmas Check-In (AKA: My Sister Telling Me the Truth)

This behavior is not new.

At Christmas, my sister came over.

She walked into my house and just… looked around.

Quietly.

And if you grew up with siblings, you know that’s way worse than words

One room had a Christmas tree half up, another room was filled with furniture I had moved around because I had to stop everything and go thrifting with my two daughters. I came home with a 100-year-old piece of furniture that may or may not fit anywhere in my house but obviously it had to come home with me

The dining room table was completely covered in craft supplies for wreaths I decided to make this year… because I walked through Hobby Lobby and stayed too long.

She didn’t say anything while she was there.

But as she was leaving, she smiled and said joking, but also not joking at all:

“Kendra… one thing at a time. You have too many things you’re trying to start all at once.”

And listen.

She wasn’t wrong.

I am fully confident that she got in her car, drove away, and immediately called my mom to discuss my craziness.

Honestly? Fair.

Peak Chaos

Fast forward to Friday.

I load up the car with two kids and head to Orlando six hours away for a four-day volleyball tournament. And maybe Universal Studios in between. Because why not add that too?

As if this week needed anything else, I also took in Calvin my parents’ four-month-old Goldendoodle.

So now there’s a giant playpen in my dining room.
Three dogs running across the couch like wild animals.
Pure chaos.

What is wrong with me?

Nothing, I think.

I just love a full life.

The Quiet Part

Right now, I’m sitting in a hotel room at 6:30 a.m.

My kids are sound asleep.
The world is quiet.
And I’m thinking about how fast this all goes.

This is the last season.
No more volleyball tournaments (that I know of).
No more traveling weekends.
No more worrying about work while my phone blows up and I’m trying to focus on the game.

All of it done. And somehow, I already know I’ll miss it more than I can even begin to imagine