I’ve suddenly realized just how hectic my next two weeks really are. Can I just skip to January 1, please?

Today, I have a to-do list a mile long, that includes all the usual work projects and an additional two pages of holiday stuff. Tonight I need to finish my Christmas cards (and maybe buy more stamps?), wrap a few presents (and maybe go get extra wrapping stuff?) bake a pie for an event tomorrow (again with the shopping?), clean my house and finish decorating because I have guests tomorrow evening (tomorrow’s going to be really busy) and about a half dozen other tasks, all of which seem to require at least one additional errand. Plus I’m pretty sure my car is out of gas.

Sounds like a normal holiday hustle so far, right? But get this. Just to make things really annoying, I am attempting all of this solo (hubby’s out of town) and on a newly re-broken ankle. I broke it the first time in October, the second time (same break, just pushed it too far before it healed) was last Sunday. I don’t remember breaking a mirror, or walking under a ladder, but I have definitely been on the bad luck side of the street lately. So you see, these endless errands take three times longer and are ten times more frustrating when you add in the crutches, the cast, and the pain factor involved. A simple trip up the stairs has become an obstacle; grocery shopping is a pain — I have to use the little electric cart and I feel like a total geek — and carrying those groceries back up the steps into the house is hell. And no, I’m not walking the poor dog to the park, no matter how many times he looks at the leash, at me, and then at the door.

Of course I do realize it could be worse, in many thousands of ways. But my Christmas-tree-cutting expedition is shot, my holiday travel plans just became much more daunting, and my entire schedule of New Year’s Eve party-hopping needs to be redone to accomodate my hobble.

Thanks for joining my little pity party. Think I’m going to add a four-leaf clover and a horseshoe to my wish list this year.