Busy-ness

So I'm trying to decide how busy is too busy. We've had exactly four piano practices in two weeks (among four kids...do the math), and I don't know how to pack it in. Matching socks are nonexistent in my house, and the last three days at least four pieces of clothing from the kids have come directly from the dryer. My husband and I are trying to carve out time to just talk to each other without my falling asleep right there. That's not a commentary on him--I'm just exhausted. We get up at 5:45 to get moving, have a cup of coffee before the kids are up and trying to find their clothes.

We have a pony 20 minutes away who needs to be ridden at least four times a week. We have three lunches that must be made. Two loads of laundry a day to keep up. (Where do those clothes come from?) One business that needs to be run well. You can't keep great employees running a shop half-way! That doesn't count my husband's business which is actually how we eat, sleep, swim, vacation, school, everything our children and our life. So my shop is only for me. And possibly my shoes...the shoe money.

I feel like I'm not running my true calling, my home, to its best. But I stayed home for eight years with no outside occupation. And when I did that, I went NUTS. Literally. I have the doctor bills to prove it.

So now I'm wondering...what price sanity? What about the balance between my sanity and my home's? Maybe this is just the same boring old balance blah blah blah. But it is weighing on me. The shop may be coming out of the slump of summer. But will it be enough?