The mommy brain mush

So, I've already admitted this week that I forgot to order Evan's school pictures. I wish I could say that that kind of thing is an isolated incident, but I would be lying.

Monday night during dinner (while still wearing her j'nastics leotard), Pressley spilled what we call "red juice" in our house on the front of her light pink leotard. Despite her protests, we stripped it off of her immediately after dinner so I could put it in the wash. (She was so devastated about taking it off, that to head off any fit-pitching, I dug out a hand-me-down leotard of Abby's from a drawer and let her put that on.) Anyhoo, so I took the soiled leotard upstairs, sprayed it with Spray and Wash and then decided not to waste a wash cycle on one little thing. So I threw in the rest of the "lights". When that did not make a full load, I threw in a bunch of whites for good measure. Then, I proceeded to run the load. Later that evening, on a roll, I took those out of the wash, put them in the dryer and filled up a load of darks. As I was putting the detergent in the load of darks, it suddenly occurred to me that I had skipped that step with my prior load. Yep, I ran a full load of lights and whites with nothing in there but water and a couple of sprays of Spray and Wash. And there were undies in there. And you know if you have kids that sometimes the undies are not in any condition to go through the wash without the detergent, if you know what I mean. (When, oh when, will they learn to be more, ahem, thorough?) Do you know that despite all that knowledge, it took me over 24 hours to decide whether to fold that load or re-wash it? Shame on me. Ultimately, I did the right thing, of course. I shoveled all of those "clean" clothes right out onto the floor so I could put the darks in the dryer, but it just broke my heart to have to re-wash "clean" clothes. Why (oh why) do I continue to make more work for myself?? It certainly is not that I don't have enough chores to do without repeating some from time to time just for kicks.

On top of all that, there are the constant notes coming home from both schools:

• Pressley's immunization records are out of date! She is in danger of getting kicked out of the program if you do not update her immunization records. (Oh, you mean that thing I've had in the desk since her well visit in April? You need that??)
• Evan's library books are over-due. Don't you know that Wednesday is library day? (Evan says if he doesn't bring back last week's books, all he can check out is a magazine. Bummer. And shame on me that he knows that.)
• Pressley needs a family photo at school. She is the only kid without a photo of her [loving] family on the family photo wall. Oh, and bring an extra outfit while you're at it. You haven't brought back the extra outfit we had to use the last time she spilled an entire cup of water on her dress.
• Umm, did you realize you'd been writing the tuition check for the wrong amount for months? Five dollars a month adds up. Pay us or else!
• And on and on.

Is it just me, or are all mommies of pre-schoolers and early-schoolers this absent-minded? I used to have a pretty sharp little brain. I wish I knew what happened to it...