I hate September (aka my current stress list)

1. Dvorah's anxiety over returning to school and entering 2nd grade. Oh, how I remember that feeling. (Fortunately, she had a great first day and was practically jumping out of her skin at the bus stop this morning...in sharp contrast to yesterday's subdued anxious tone.)

2. Trying to sort out the HUGE horrible mess the township has handed me by awarding me a mornings-only spot in the highly coveted Grant-funded pre-K program with fantabulous curriculum and no options for after-care.

3. My anxiety over returning to work and organizing a large conference, which I have no experience doing, for the end of October.

4. I have to learn a torah portion, to be chanted this Saturday morning at my cousin's Bat Mitzvah. It's really slow going and I'm afraid I won't have it, even though I have had plenty of time to learn it.

5. Helping my sister move and getting some new-to-us furniture moved into this house which is a complete shithole and I'm not even really sure we want the stuff.

6. In all my spare moments I'm just furious at various government agencies and people over - well, this big fucking mess. Completely disgusted and embarrassed for our country.

7. Many other minor, day-to-day stresses: Doing the big season-switch clothing sort and figuring out what I need to keep my kids clothed this year. Sending healthy lunches that they'll eat. Who is going to watch the kids for back-to-school parent night, when my husband goes to that because I have a board meeting I have to attend and all our babysitters are always too busy? How am I going to resume work and do laundry, shop, cook and provide moral support for my husband who is also working full-time as well as taking demanding graduate school classes?

8. Dealing with dropping off a crying 4-year old at her new school who howls in pain as I park the car that her tummy hurts. Picking up a smiling, happy kid at the end of the day and knowing we're going to have the exact same scene every morning for quite a while. And now doing that twice a day, as I pick her up from morning pre-school and drive her to afternoon pre-school. Man, kids can cut deep.

The month of September for me is the one that always makes me want to sit and cry and bury my head in the sand. It's overwhelming.

But Laura's birthday is in September, so I can't completely hate it.

By request, I will be adding info and impressions of fragrances at the end of my blogspots (when I remember). I give full credit to mireille of c'est chic for a wonderful model of how to include fragrances in my blog without necessarily making it all about fragrances.

So on that note, I give you today's fragrance: Susanne Lang Yellow Blossom. Ylang-Ylang and other florals mixed in here. I get a bit of Linden, maybe some Jasmine and Tuberose...all that stuff so often used to approximate Gardenia. This is lovely on first application, with a big burst of the Linden note. As it dries down, it's mellowing, but I get just the faintest hint of rotting flower. Perhaps the indoles from the Jasmine, but I normally wear Jasmine well. As it continues to evolve on my skin, the rotting flower note fades and I'm left with a very nice floral. This is a very nice white floral, even a hint of tea in the drydown, but it just doesn't move me. And now the rotten smell is back...there must be musk in the base composition of this fragrance - just a tad too much for it to work for me. Musk hates me. I don't think I'll be needing a full bottle of this one.