The days Logan isn’t in school, he follows me pretty much everywhere, all day, and never stops talking. If I’m working in my office, he’s right there next to me, hauling in his toys or digging in my desk for miscellaneous odds and ends he can play with. His latest project, which so far has lasted this entire week, is to take paper clips, rubber bands, pencils and binder clips and attach them to the little kid chairs I have in here to “build a dinosaur.” I’m pleased that he has such a vivid imagination.

It’s not that his jabbering isn’t utterly precious or that I don’t love hearing the sound of his sweet, helium-infused voice. The expanse of his imagination sometimes blows my mind as I listen to his musings and watch him play with simple household objects as if they’re the world’s greatest creation. I just sometimes wish he had a mute button.

Perhaps my biggest beef with living here is the legal driving age, which is 14. The license is restricted, but if they pass the tests, kids this age can drive by themselves between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. While I get that kids this young sometimes need to be able to drive farm equipment, I see no good reason for the typical 14- or 15-year-old to be driving. Let’s face it — most teenagers are stupid. They think they’re invincible, they often like speed and they’re inexperienced. Bad combination of factors.

I realize each kid is different and parents have their own reasons for letting their young teenagers drive, including being able to drive themselves to and from school and sports practices. I can definitely see the appeal there, especially in a place where many of us have to drive a fair amount of miles to get to school.

Maybe I’ll change my mind when my daughters turn 14, but for now I’ve told them that there’s no way in this life that they’re getting a driver’s license until they’re 16. I know there are mature, responsible 14- and 15-year-olds out there, but in my opinion, and obviously it’s colored by not having grown up around here, driving is way too heavy of a burden and responsibility for someone that young. My kids definitely won’t be driving or riding in cars full of other teenagers either.

What do you think? Is 14 or 15 too young to drive? Why or why not?

So imagine my shock, disgust, and the length of my backward jump when I ran across this:

Eeeeekkkkk!!!!!!

OK, so admittedly it doesn’t look nearly as realistic in a close-up picture, but trust me, from five feet and four inches up, it looks pretty dang real.

This little beauty is from my sons’ cheap plastic animal collection and for some reason, it seems to keep turning up. Everywhere. The plastic giraffe and elephant that were in the same bag? Haven’t seen hide nor hair of them for months. But the mouse … it just keeps appearing, like an annoying/scary neighbor who won’t stop knocking at the door.

The dumb thing has even been vacuumed up with my Rainbow, causing my heart to leap into my mouth as I dumped the creature out of the water, thinking for a nano-second that it was a drowned rodent. I shudder at the memory.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that my sons are leaving it out in places I’m sure to find it as they secretly watch my panicked discovery. However, as there is no way they’d be able to contain their giggling without me hearing them, I know that’s not the case. It’s just purely coincidence.

So why don’t I just toss the dumb thing? Good question. I thought when I threw the Rainbow water outside and saw it fall onto the ground (as mentioned above) that it would be enough out of the way that I’d never see it again.

But no.

Somehow the creepy little thing found its way back into the house, no doubt rescued by Logan, who is fascinated with toads and all other stereotypical little-boy creatures. When I found it this last time, I decided to let it live, at least as long as I could get a picture out of it for my blog.

The problem? Now I can’t find it anymore.

Next time that sucker gives me a near-stroke, it’s going deep in the trash can where not even Logan can find it again.

Good riddance.

Have you ever been startled by any of your kids’ freakishly realistic toys?

Renee Thielen

on winning last week’s giveaway of a LeapFrog Tag Reading System bundle.

I hope your child loves the Tag as much as my kids do.

Keep checking back in for more giveaways, discussions and fun!

More importantly, why do we constantly beat ourselves up for not being able to do it all? I know there are countless times a week when I mentally berate myself for not getting X, Y and Z done. Am I alone here or is this pretty typical?

It seems like guilt is just second nature for many of us, particularly females. For me personally though, I think guilt is, sadly, one of my closest companions. Am I taking on more than I can handle? Trying to do so many things that none of them gets done very well?

Probably.

So what, if anything, can I do about this? Cut some stuff out? Start saying “no” more often? Set alarms for myself?

I haven’t figured out the solution yet.

In the meantime, I would love to find just one woman who is happy with the way she balances her life and feels relatively no guilt or regret and learn her secret. Does such a person exist? Everyone I know is over-taxed, over-scheduled, over-worked and on their way to a slow burnout.

Juggling work, family, friends, leisure time and other commitments is exhausting. I realize it’s just part of life, but there’s got to be an easier way to balance everything. My life feels very out of balance right now.

I am responsible for four school-age children during the week, making sure that everyone gets on the bus in the morning, has their homework done, takes a shower, eats good food, gets to bed at a decent time, possesses clean clothing, gets delivered and picked up from their activities and receives some semblance of personal attention in the few hours we have between school and bed time. I’m also trying to grow a business during an extremely slow economic time, which sucks up most of my extra hours with all the marketing, writing and researching.

Along with that, I do book keeping for the family business, advertising and proofreading for a scholarly journal, blog most week days, and try to maintain a humongous old farm house with 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, as well as a several-acre yard. Between those things, my church activities, a bit of down time here and a couple tax-return activities, including an audit, I’m having a hard time pulling it all off. It seems like I’m working almost all the time, if I’m not making meals for the kids, helping them with their homework, going to volleyball games or running errands. Even on weekends, when the kids are often at their dad’s house, I am crazy-busy.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this as I’m sure the guilt-ridden juggling act is standard for many of us. How do you cope? Do you have any special tools (Merry Maids, a planner, a weekly baby-sitter)? When you feel your life becoming unbalanced, how do you take inventory and decide what has to go?

Discuss!

So today I did that, finally, using Random.org. I haven’t heard back from the lucky winner yet, but as soon as I do, I will post her name.

A big thank you to everyone who signed up for the giveaway. I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Thanks for your patience during this time!

Blog Salad — Ron S. Doyle is one of the wittiest writers I know and his blog showcases those skills terrifically. From his serious discussion of The Potty Problem (what’s a dad to do when his little girls need to use the public restroom?) to his hilarious post “Nine Signs You Might Be Twitter Trash,” (you have to read it just for the picture) and his variety of “How to Ignore a Recipe” posts, Ron’s views on life are a must-read.

Click here to sign up for Ron’s Tag Reading System giveaway. Hurry — it ends today, September 25.

My Semblance of Sanity — Michelle Brownlow is another humorous writer with guffaw-inducing posts on a phone conversation we can all relate to, her cross-dressing preschooler and the top 10 things she never thought she’d have to say as a mom.

Click here to sign up for Michelle’s Tag Reading System giveaway, which also ends today!

World of Weasels — WeaselMomma is the mom of 5 kids and apparently has a devoted following, judging by the number of people she referred over to my Tag review. Check out “The Birds and the Bees — Weasel Style” and “Back to the Funny,” as well as all the other interesting slew of posts. Prepare to be there for awhile.

Click here to sign up for WeaselMomma’s giveaway, which ends today as well.

Blogging ‘Bout Boys — Jennifer Fink is a writer and the mom of four boys. She invites discussions on topic such as boxers or briefs, single-sex classes and coping with crisis and always has something thought-provoking to say.

Click here to sign up for Jennifer’s giveaway, which ends Monday, September 28.

What are you waiting for? Go sign up before it’s too late! And while you’re at it, if you haven’t signed up for my LeapFrog Tag Reading System giveaway, click here.

He smells so good, makes the cutest noises and he just started responsively smiling this morning. Even better, I get to take care of him during the night so I can keep him pacified for awhile while my sister catches a few extra zzzzs. It’s bliss.

The best part? As much as I adore babies and have been dying for another one of late, I can see just how ill-equipped I am for a baby at this stage. I have too much other stuff to do, too many other kids and way too many other time sucks.

So this is good for everyone — I get some of my baby lust officially out of the way, my sister gets some sleep, my kids get to play with their cousins… Isn’t family the greatest?

How do you get a baby fix when you need one?

Confessions of a Mean Mommy — The name alone makes you want to read it, doesn’t it? Denise Schipani, Mean Mommy extraordinaire, blogs about everything from baby lust to why she didn’t childproof. On her “Why ‘Mean Mommy?’” page, Denise explains, “I didn’t set out to be ‘mean,’ but as the years have passed in this adventure we call motherhood, I realized that my relentlessly practical nature, combined with my inborn stubborn streak, make me ill-suited to the loosey-goosey parenting style currently in vogue. I’m just doing my bit to nudge the pendulum back to somewhere between 60s commune (too far in one direction!) and kids should be seen and not heard (too far in the other!).”

Click here to sign up for Denise’s Tag Reading System giveaway. Hurry — it ends Wednesday, September 23.

3 Carnations — Some of her posts are thoughtful, such as this one about a man she has never met who died in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and all of them are totally relate-able (poo on a stick, anyone?). 3C is also a favorite of mine because she comments on  my posts once in awhile. Thanks, 3C!

Click here to sign up for 3C’s Tag Reading System giveaway, which ends Thursday, September 24.

ReadyMom — Kristen is a fellow writer and mom who is working hard on her recently-birthed blog. Her latest post asks which book got your kid into reading and another recent one gives a great tip on how to help kids be better readers. I’m totally inspired!

Click here to sign up for Kristen’s giveaway, which also ends Thursday, September 24.

What are you waiting for? Go sign up before it’s too late! And while you’re at it, if you haven’t signed up for my LeapFrog Tag Reading System giveaway, click here.