Wisteria Lane = my neighborhood?

I think my neighborhood is turning into Wisteria Lane.

We have quite a few Lynette Scavos (the strong-willed, full-time working, Alpha moms).

We have a Gabrielle Solis (the fashionista, diva-type).

We have a Susan Mayer (the down-to-earth, cutsie single mom).

While there is no one who is fully a Bree Van De Camp Hodge, we all have a little Bree in all of us  (the ultra-proper, Martha-Stewart-esque, uber mom who on the surface is put together but under the covers is a complete, hot mess).

And we even have an Edie Britt (the single, bitchy, watch-your-husband-or-she-might-try-to-bang-him type...)

Our neighborhood's tendencies to be Wisteria Lane-like has been even more pronounced by a lot of recent drama that has taken place in the lives of the women who live here.  And drama, it is... 

With drama and very public knowledge of your neighbors' goings-on comes the gossip and unfair carousing and side-taking.

And I don't want any part of it.

But I find myself getting sucked in.  

Why?  Because I have grown to actually like some of these people (well, maybe not the Edie-type).   A few of them I consider to be good friends vs. only acquaintances.  And I care about them.

But some of the drama is making me sick...and sad.

Is this the inevitable nature of white-collar-class American suburbia?  Or is it just my 'hood?

(i will probably regret even writing this in the morning...but in the true spirit of blogging - which is journaling, really - i am writing this as a cathartic measure so i can vent and get it all out...i refuse for my voice to be dictated by who may or may not see it...Or, am I just plain stupid?!)

Oops, I did it again

I think I have a problem. I am a chronic over-committer.

Or so my husband says. And maybe he's right.

As I transition responsibilities from an extra-curricular activity I've been involved with the last two years, I find myself getting involved with yet another one -- with no breaks in between. And why?

Because I just can't say no? (no)

Because I don't feel as fulfilled if I don't have a few balls juggling in the air? (getting warmer)

Because having my hands in lots of different things of substance make me feel like I'm adding value in the world? (ding, ding, ding, as i put my finger on my nose to indicate "precisely!")

He says that I have a hard time setting boundaries for myself. I call it trying to "step up my life." But sometimes it's to my detriment.

Like when I wake up in the middle of the night remembering that e-mail for work I needed to send before the morning. Or when I feel guilty for not baking those cupcakes from scratch for the kids' pot-luck picnic at preschool, or have a hard time making it on time to their soccer practice. Or when that newsletter deadline for my non-profit is looming and I still haven't gotten the write-up ready for it.

And I get myself all worked up and worked out so that I get tired and am in a tizzy about everything. And then. I get paralyzed. And I end up doing everything and nothing because I don't know what to do next, or where to go. And wonder if I am really just a slacker...mom, wife, employee, non-profit volunteer, whatever. Ever feel like that when you get overwhelmed?

Not that I'm overwhelmed right now or anything. I'm just musing on this in my mellow, reflective state so that next time I get worked up and in a tizzy, I can point to what's driving it. And I can recognize and understand what my natural reaction is under duress and times of general busy-ness. And, of course, I can also be ok with it since I acknowledge, "Oh, ok, that's just how I get in these situations."

Self awareness is good like that, ain't it?