Spring has sprung and I'm exhausted already. It began ten days ago with a birthday party for my five year old son. We invited the entire nursery school class and had Macaroni the Clown for entertainment. The balloons and streamers were hung, twenty excited five year olds kids came with their moms, it was total chaos and lots of fun. We played pin the nose on the clown, the limbo and my sister-in-law, bless her soul, did face painting. The party was a success. The kids left with their goody bags and smiles on their faces. My son received a ridiculous amount of presents, more than he needs and more than he will ever play with. I'll hide a few and donate them to Toys for Tots at Christmas time. The best part of the day was when my daughter found out that she was accepted to the University of Vermont, her first college choice. We are all very excited for her. As a parent, I actually feel like I did something right.

The next day was the Mid Hudson St. Patrick's Day parade. In our house St. Patrick's Day is celebrated with homemade Irish soda bread, corned beef, music and shamrocks.  I forgot to buy the cabbage this year. No one really complained. On March 17^th, the real St. Patrick's Day, I drove to Utica, NY for a speaking engagement. I was speaking to 70 people about process improvement. It was my husband's day off so I dragged him along with me for company. It was great to spend some time with my husband, even if it was in a car driving to Utica, NY.   We left behind a house that was still decorated with streamers, balloons and shamrocks. Thank God the audience had no idea what my house looked like. I did sell a few books in Utica which was a pleasant surprise.

We barely recovered from our trip to Utica and it was time to get ready for Easter. Eggs had to be colored, the bunny cake had to be made, Easter baskets had to be assembled and I had to find the Easter decorations which were somewhere in the attic. This was the first year that I did not put together a basket for my oldest son. Instead I drove to NYC on Good Friday to have lunch with him. His Easter present was a set of mixing bowls which he picked out at Macy's after we had lunch in the cellar at Macy's Herald Square. His latest passion is cooking and he appreciated the bowls. I selfishly selected Macy's as our lunch destination because I wanted to see the Macy's flower show which is spectacular. I did remember to buy Easter cards this year but didn't get around to mailing them.

So the birthday, St. Patty's Day, and Easter are distant memories. I survived, ate too many jelly beans, neglected exercising for a few days, didn't make as many sales calls as I had hoped to but I did make some memories for my family. Life goes on,  next month, we'll take a trip to Vermont to attend accepted student day at UVM. I really need to spend more time focusing on my business and my clients, no wonder my cash flow isn't what I need it to be! I better get motivated soon, I have college tuition to pay in September.