The Spin (updating the list)

Flights booked- check

and that's about it!  (though I have updated, below as of May 9th, then 10th)

I have awakened at 4am for the past - well, I don't even know how many mornings- with my thoughts/worries/confusions scrambling around in my brain.

Baby Sista's Court Date didn't seem to ever be coming, and now it's here June 1st. We leave May 27th and I just don't know how I am going to get it all done, all in order, in that time frame.

My parents leave for Portugal TODAY. Malia and I will see them off at 6:30 pm. They're my safety net and I love that they're going, but selfishly, I wish departure was AFTER ours, so that I could rely on  them as I try to:

*pack for 3 people 
*pack for an undetermined length of stay (and buy what I don't have that's a necessity to take)
*try to BOOK a stay (NO ONE has answered my emails-  no one!!)
*leave lesson packages for 4 weeks for 3 different classes (and one class has 3 gr levels in it)
*leave 5 exams complete
*meet with the incoming teacher and get him/her up to speed
* print out evaluation sheets etc for teacher coming in
*finish the units/projects we're currently working on
*arrange for proper care for 2 dogs (the Beast and my dad's doggy boy) And let's not forget worry about said dogs since both are "senior" animals and I don't know when we'll be back
*clean the car and change its oil (past due on both accounts!)
*clean this house-   and no, I don't just mean a tidy. I wish I did :(
*get funds for the trip (and the bills have to be in certain denominations, in certain condition)
*get checked out by the doctor
*get travel vaccines for Malia (still debating this one, actually)
*call various  remaining companies to temporarily suspend services / call others to advise them of travel and charges I may incur 
*arrange for lawn care (and someone to poop scoop weekly!)
*go get our tickets at the travel agent

I know there's more. Believe me there's more.  And, some of it is exciting,  so it's not really the "stuff" (except the house cleaning-  oy that is going to be rough!) , it's the time factor I have to DO it in!
We're out of the house by 7:10am every morning. We don't get home until 4pm, sometimes 5, most days, so you getting my sense of panic at the time factor thing?  I can write this blog, right now, b/c as I said- I got up at 4am!!! I guess I could use those 2 hours until Malia wakes to clean, but am trying to vent/clear my head/organize my thoughts/cry hey ho as Shakespeare would say, so i don't lose the little of the sleep-deprived mind I have left. I have to- even my body is rebelling: the sleep thing, yes, but also refusing to eliminate, bloating and weight gain to the tune of nearly 10 pounds in the last couple of weeks, acne (which is especially pretty after 50), having a period for 2 weeks and counting.

Malia has been sleep talking- a lot. I have been geting notes from Madame about her not listening, interrupting, having "bad" days...  her whole world is in upheaval with our Beastie vet-stay sick last week, with knowing she is leaving her home, with anticipation about meeting her sister (and knowing that the court process may slap us the first time), with her granparents, her very favourite people leaving for a looooong time. Of course, she's going to feel it. And so one more thing to the list that HAS to be priority in those hours after 4pm-  Malia.

I'm spinning.
But it's the weekend. Everyone is healthy. Baby Sista waits.
We'll make it.