Me Update

Really, nothing too exciting is going on. Here are the highlights:

• Allergies: I haven't been able to breathe clearly without the aid of drugs since September. It's miserable. I'm going to blame my poor running on it, but I'm not sure that's medically sound. I treated it with pills first, and then when that wasn't working, flonase. Finally I decided to see an allergist. Turns out I'm pretty much allergic to the outdoors (trees, mainly). Great. I'm also super allergic to cats (WAHOO!) and dust mites. I was given a prescription-strength drug to try, but I don't love it. So I think I'm going to try the shots. I really really just want to breathe through my nostrils again.
• Camp: It's definitely so much easier to do this a second time. It almost feels too easy, you know? But I have all of my materials from last year and as we're going to the same place, not much has changed. There really are many, many more callings that would be worse for me. Teenage girls crack me up.*
• PTA: What a mess. We started the year with a four-person executive board; I'm the treasurer. Our president nearly quit in December and was convinced to stay on. However, she does nothing, not even responding to emails or texts. Awesome. Our vice president just had baby number five, so she's out. And the secretary was ghosted by the president early in the year and I have no contact info for her. So it's me. Just me. And our parents really don't do anything. I take money, deposit money, write checks, design fifth grade t-shirts, and try to update our taxes so that we're in compliance. It's a lot. But I'm not sure how to do more on my own, so pretty much we're going to do nothing. Lame.
• Hiking Goal: With Rhett playing hockey on Saturdays and more rain (shocker), we haven't gotten out yet in March. I'm hoping to change that with a hike Sunday. We're doing okay, and have camping plans for spring break, so I think we're on track. I'm totally making us custom patches when we're done so commemorate it.

But this really is our slow time of year. Finally Monday was a bit warmer. I ran without a vest and gloves; it was lovely. I'm sure summer will be here in April. Sigh.

*Also, so do teenage boys. Chuck and I went out a couple weeks ago and had our neighbor watch the kids for the night. When Chuck texted him earlier in the day to make sure he was still planning on coming over, he replied, "Yeah, I'll show up." Hahaha. We now say this all the time. Yeah, I'll show up.

I Hate Summer

Ha. Apparently I have a post like this every year. Here's text from last year's "I hate summer" post with some added text in brackets for this year's commentary:

"I really dislike summer [YEP]. I dislike working every day [It's the worst]. I dislike making a lunch for work every day [Holy crap. I don't even know what to feed myself anymore]. I dislike missing out on adventures with my boys [Eh, take it or leave it]. I dislike coming home to a (most of the time) messy house [YEP]. I dislike feeling like I'm still mostly in charge of household duties while working full-time [YEP]. I dislike how many dishes we have to do with everyone (well, except for me) at home all the time [YEP]. I dislike the diets of all family members [YEP-except this year's dinners were awesome]. I dislike how expensive it is, just because doing stuff costs money (I know, not all stuff costs money, but a lot of it does) [YEP]." New complaint for 2018: I hate dressing for summer. I don't have enough summer clothes that I like and I just want to wear jeans without dying of heat.

"Buuuuut, I rather dislike not having any income in the summer [YEP]. So...

"Oh, while I'm being so negative, let me say how much I dislike feeding my children. I think it's the worst part of my life. (Which means I have a good life. I get it.) Next summer, I think it's all cereal, all the time. Just cereal and milk. It's all fortified, right?" [Wow. I really don't change at all. Except now I'm a woman who eats salads FOR dinner. You know this factoid is going on our Christmas card, right?]

"School starts on Tuesday! [It started last Tuesday!] Party!" [YEP]

Girls (and a little Scout) Camp

Oh man. How can you describe something that taxed you so much mentally? This program really did a number to my mental health. How was it different from last year? Well, obviously, this year I was in charge. I found out there's a BIG difference between being the assistant camp director and the camp director. I was just so emotionally and mentally drained each evening from making decision after decision. Last year, I went running three mornings. This year? I ended up driving between camp and the pavilions WAY more than I want to admit and I didn't even get to go on the hikes.

The Good:

• The women. I had a committee of 12 women who, except for the cooks, were doing this on a strictly volunteer basis. It was not their calling. They simply love YW and want to be involved with camp. In addition to them, working with the Stake YW Presidency is amazing. I like all of them so much.
• The girls. They're able to remain happy and upbeat in the face of a lot of crappy things.
• The service project. This year we worked with the state park to carry out an invasive species pull. It turned out really great and we learned a lot from doing it.
• The boating. Last year it was more random, but this year, we dedicated an entire day and were able to rent the boats for a great price.
• Going up early with YCLs. We took them up Monday and were able to do some training and have fun with them without the younger girls around. It worked out really well, and it's something we'll do next year.
• The guns. Holy crap. We took the girls shooting on a gun range. For reals. I was terrified of it, but it turned out great and we only had one girl ask to go back to main camp. I still hate guns SO VERY MUCH, but it was something we could do to give the girls a bit more "high adventure."
• The food. Our camp cooks are amazing. Food tastes delicious and watching them work is so fun. Such a machine!

The Bad:

• The rain. Omygosh the rain. It rained so much. The one day we needed it to not rained, however, it didn't! But the first night my tent got soaked and was out of commission for the rest of the week. I stayed in the cabin with the camp nurse and her baby, which wasn't ideal (did you read the part about the baby? although, to be honest, I barely heard her), but it was a million times better than a wet tent where all of my possessions were getting wet. But it also meant the wards didn't get great campfire time. We also had a ruined breakfast that was supposed to be cooked over the fire.
• My sleeping quarters. As mentioned, my tent got drenched the first night (I'm talking puddles inside). It was terrible. Next year, I'm considering bringing the Scamp. I just couldn't handle the anxiety of watching the rain, wondering how wet my tent was going to be. It really didn't help my mental ability to make camp decisions. However, if I had the Scamp, I could rest easy and not have that additional stress. We'll see.
• It's a long week. We started with YCLs on Monday, and everyone came up Tuesday. But we didn't get to go home until Saturday. It just seemed long.
• Issues with the girls. We had two major issues come up. One week, in the woods, with 75 girls...it shouldn't be a surprise. But it's hard. Yes, I was thrilled to have other smart women around to help me figure out what we should do, but you're always wondering if you did the right thing.

I got back Saturday afternoon. Twenty four hours later, Chuck left for six days of scout camp. Awesome. They did a 50-mile high adventure one this year. At mile 48, his shoes failed him and he got some blisters. But otherwise, he enjoyed the boys and was happy to have his hammock. I was super happy for the bishop's wife who offered to watch my boys for free (well, the cost of enrolling them in Vacation Bible School) so I wouldn't have to miss another week of work for a church camp. How grateful we are to this good woman!

And now, next year's camp is less than ten months away. Oy.

Mental Load

There are a lot of things that I say over and over in my house. "The house is not a playground!" or "Don't touch your brother's food!" But this one, "Why am I the only one who thinks in this house?" is one of my favorites. Ever since I saw this comic, it made me realize why I said it. Because I am the main one who thinks in the house. The idea of mental load was new to me. But it's really changed the way I look at the stuff that I do for the house.

Just for documentation, here are the things that take space in my head:

Extra-curriculars
Vacation plans
Meal planning
Homework
Adult chores
Kid chores
Finances
FHE
Car maintenance
House maintenance
Medical appointments
Gifts (birthday and Christmas)
Scouting
Family documentation (DVDs, scrapbooks)

Chuck and I have discussed this, but have really yet to figure out how it can be more even. It's a process, but I'm hopeful that someday we'll find a good balance.

Crafty Bastards

It's my favorite event of the year: Crafty Bastards! This time I took Rhett and Ollie (the latter not being my choice but he was conned by his older brother). Unfortunately we had a FREEZING day and Ollie whined and complained the entire time until we got to Shake Shack, where he miraculously recovered. Of course, as soon as we got home he said, "Well, Mom, I didn't hate it there." Thanks Ollie. His whining didn't stop us from seeing cool things, however. Below are some of my favorites.

Some super cute paper cut cards at Shipwreck Press.


Of course there was some arty taxidermy. This was wire taxidermy by Alison Brynn Ross.


These amazing prints from Brainstorm! I love love love the style.


A modern take on macrame from Savvie Studio.


Beautiful puzzles and hilarious coasters from Bright Beam Goods. Both boys loved playing with the tangrams.


Confession: I don't remember what specific things I liked at Cuddles and Rage. But I have their card. Oh, I remember: among other things, they took oil paintings and put some extra graphics on top that just did not match AT ALL but got the biggest giggle out of me and Rhett.


The style here at Little Canoe was just adorable.


I'm still laughing about the merpug from Pickled Punks Plush.


I liked Studio 366 because it gave me some possibilities for a girls camp craft.


And of course, there's always some beautiful jewelry. This stuff was from Off on a Tangent. It's so intricate and gorgeous and wood!


Aren't people incredible?! Now, what can I recreate...

Update: Me

School is in full swing and I LOVE it. Walking away from school, knowing I have 6.5 hours of free time is the best. Of course, it's not really free, but kid-free is good enough. I haven't been as ambitious in filling my days as I was last year, but I'm okay with that.

I've been doing some biking, just trying to get used to a road bike is hard enough. I'm crazy slow (shocker). I'm still crazy slow at swimming. It's infuriating, but I just have to get over it. Swimming I get: my arms aren't strong and I've never really done lap swimming until last year. But biking? I thought I could do better given my legs are fairly strong and I've been riding a bike my whole life. But nope. I'm super slow. Still considering doing a tri in June, though. We'll see.

The boys finally decided what they want to be for Halloween: Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Easy. The ties and scarves are done; I'm just figuring out how to do the Hogwarts robes. Simplicity has a pattern, but it's expensive. And knowing they go on sale for $0.99 makes it really hard for me to spend $8--and that's after my 60% off coupon. Sadly, most of the tutorials aren't that great.

The biggest news is that I joined a clothing "challenge." What does that mean? It means that the blogger tells you the pieces you should have (either that you already own or that you should buy) and then she gives you 48 different outfits from those pieces. Because it's me, I didn't have much in my closet so I needed to get a lot of the things. But shopping with a list was AMAZING. You didn't have to buy the exact thing she recommends; in fact, she gave many options as examples. But it was so helpful for me because I just don't know how to shop. The best part, however, is obviously having her put together all the outfits because this is where I completely fall apart. I have no idea how to do this. So it's been awesome. I don't even have to think about what to wear: I just check the pdf and grab the clothes. So lovely. Plus, I actually like what I'm wearing. Sure, some things feel like a stretch for me. But that's okay. Also, I'm not sure I can pull off a lot of what I'm wearing, but I'm doing it any way.

My calling. Sigh. I knew the hardest thing about this calling (for me) would be finding people to work with me. I don't know that many women outside of my own ward, so am finding it difficult. Plus, asking someone to go to camp for a whole week?! That's so hard! I decided to let our YCLs vote on the theme, so data are being collected as I type. Of course, Chuck reminded me that I can override their decision should I choose. Ah, the beauty of being in charge.

What's next? I mean, it's October so it's just one holiday after another. My half marathon is in four weeks, so that'll be fun. Training has been fine. My Saturday runs are pretty long already, so it hasn't even really felt like I'm training yet. I've been trying to do an additional speed run so that's different. And of course, Thursday night runs with the girls. We have no family trips planned, so it's just hunkering down for the winter. At least Fall decided to finally show up. (Last Sunday was still in the 80s.)

That's it.

I Dislike Summer

I really dislike summer. I dislike working every day. I dislike making a lunch for work every day. I dislike missing out on adventures with my boys. I dislike coming home to a (most of the time) messy house. I dislike feeling like I'm still mostly in charge of household duties while working full-time. I dislike how many dishes we have to do with everyone (well, except for me) at home all the time. I dislike the diets of all family members. I dislike how expensive it is, just because doing stuff costs money (I know, not all stuff costs money, but a lot of it does).

Buuuuut, I rather dislike not having any income in the summer. So...

Oh, while I'm being so negative, let me say how much I dislike feeding my children. I think it's the worst part of my life. (Which means I have a good life. I get it.) Next summer, I think it's all cereal, all the time. Just cereal and milk. It's all fortified, right?

School starts on Tuesday! Party!

Birthday Trip to New York City

I recently celebrated a big birthday, so I wanted to do something big for it. Which meant I had to plan to do something big for it 'cause ain't no one going to do it if I don't. (Which is fine because i love planning--you should see the short trip I planned to Cape May!) We dropped the boys off with our friends Thursday morning after a short run and opening presents. Then Chuck and I headed to the bus. We chose the bus over driving because (1) no gas, (2) no tolls, (3) no traffic, (4) no parking in NYC, and (5) we could hang out and watch stuff together. It was the right call. We chose to watch "Annie Hall" because it came out the year I was born and it was filmed in New York. So obviously.

Upon arrival, we checked into our hotel which had the worst view ever but we didn't care. We dropped the bag and headed out. We did a little shopping (see the picture below of Swatch, the dog of Mood, the fabric store for "Project Runway"). I picked out a cool carafe and serving platter with Charley Harper artwork on it (and I love Charley Harper). We grabbed a quick dinner (we ran out of time to go to where I really wanted, but that's okay). After dinner we headed to the Upright Citizens Brigade where we laughed for hours, or at least, 90 minutes. After that it was to the top of the Rockefeller Building to see the city at night. Then it was bed. Remember, I had turned old, I was tired.

Because I am physically incapable of sleeping in, I woke early to go running only to find it lightning and thundering...in the morning. Weird. But after a quick trip back to the room, it stopped. So I was able to enjoy a lovely run on the High Line trail. I love the High Line very much. I may have listened to Hamilton while running and I may have cried some because everything was just perfect. But that's just a maybe. After getting cleaned up, Chuck and I went to brunch, which was right near the High Line so we walked on it together for a bit. Breakfast was delicious, although I was disappointed their housemade pop tarts weren't ready. Then we went to Trinity Church to see where Alexander Hamilton (and his wife and son) was buried, but even more exciting than that was walking right by Mikey (from "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") on the sidewalk! WHAT!? Then we headed to the Tenement Museum. Depressing, but interesting. After that we slowly made our way to the bus stop, stopping to grab a small bite before the bus. This time we went to Chipotle. Before you say, "Um, Erin, you went all the way to New York to eat at...Chipotle," let me explain: this was Chipotle's test kitchen which means they have stuff there that exists nowhere else. So we tried the queso (good) and cinnamon bunuelos (good too). Then back on the bus where we watched a bunch of Unbreakable Kimmy's because you know, we were now bff's with Mikey.

Our babysitters were amazing in that they kept the boys that night too (we had planned on picking them up when we got back), so that we got to sleep in our house...alone. It meant for a nice, quiet Saturday morning. It really was a great trip.

For documentation here are the things we saw not on purpose:
The Flatiron Building
Wall Street
Times Square (I loathe Times Square)
Statue of Liberty (from my run)

School Year Recap

Yesterday, finally, my boys had their last day of school. Obviously I wanted to make sure I spent it being productive: shopping, getting a pedicure, having lunch with Chuck, working on projects...you know, the important stuff.

Like I thought ten months ago, having both boys in school all day changed my life. And of course, I'm feeling things, but maybe different things from the start of school. I didn't feel guilty at all. I think I felt that because I thought it would feel like less work having the boys around while I got stuff done. But it didn't; it just felt nice. Nor did I feel embarrassed. I should have been scared, however. Ollie had a rough start but by February, things were better. Not perfect, but better. I don't think he'll ever be one who easily follows rules at school, but I am grateful that he started following some. Amazingly, he never once complained about going to school, even if at the end of the day he'd proclaim that he "HATES school." We're just hoping 1st grade will be a bit better. Ecstatic, yep, it was amazing. Running errands, relaxing, swimming (!), it was all amazing without the boys.

And here's my full disclosure of what I accomplished during the days:
Grocery shopping
Laundry
Volunteering at the boys' school
Prep meals
Clean the house (like really clean)
Lunch with friends
Service
Sewing
Church calling stuff
Exercising (run, bike, swim)
Strength train--I do that at night
Hike
Read
Work on "scrapbooks"
Plan next year's family reunion (I'm not really planning, just gathering details at this moment)
Shopping (I need new clothes and our craft area needs some re-thinking)
Walking Bruno
Organizing closets
Organizing freezers
Washing cars

But I still feel pretty good about what I got done during the day.

Now, how am I feeling about summer? All the usual feelings. Excited about eight-hour works days, nervous about the heat and humidity, and scared to death about girls camp next week. I went up for one day years ago when I was the ward YW president, but now, to spend a whole week?! So scared. But I'm also exhausted from all the work it takes to put it together. So I'll be one happy lady next Friday at noon as I'm heading home. Just 175 hours or so to go!

Hamilton Intervention

Dear Self,

Your addiction to Hamilton has affected me in the following ways:

1. Your reading habits were disrupted by your desire to read Hamilton's 730-page biography. (But when it was finally marked "Read" in goodreads, you got an email congratulating you on finishing the book, so that was nice.)

2. Your vacations are driven by a desire to see the play, even going so far as taking advantage of your parents so that you can see it in Utah next year.

3. Your five-year-old (who, admittedly, is weird) draws himself dead. When asked how he died, he responded, "In a duel."


But, seeing as these three things are not terrible, carry on. It's totally worth it.

Sincerely,
Self

My New Hobby

A couple of weeks ago, I learned that our county's library systems offers a free subscription to a music and art instruction site. And seeing as I hadn't quite spent all the money my parents gave me for Christmas, I thought, I'm doing it. I'm buying a ukulele. So I did.

I have taken guitar lessons in the past, but struggled because I have the world's smallest adult hands (just like my feet). I thought the ukulele would just be a better fit. Also, at the most-recent Mothers and Kids campout, my friend Shannon brought her guitar, and let me tell you: there's just something amazing about sitting around the campfire singing (nevermind that my boys HATE my singing voice).

So the past couple of weeks I've been doing my lessons. I haven't made it past drills and stretches, but I'm a busy mom. I'm enjoying it and hoping that my boys will come around to my voice.

Working from Home

Metro's Red Line, the one I take to work, was hit with a major surge of track work starting around Halloween. Not only are a few stations closed, but trains aren't even going through the stations. For me to get to work using Metro would require a train, a shuttle around the affected stations, and then back on the train. UGH. It would likely take two hours each way. So um no thanks. I was given permission to work from home the entire time (through Thanksgiving). SWEET.

Or not.

I thought I would love working from home. And there are parts I love. I love waking up and just going upstairs to turn on the computer and start working. I love not having to pack a lunch for myself. I love being able to listen to music a little bit more loudly than I would at work. (I've been listening to Hamilton a lot.) I love signing off and joining my family for the rest of my evening.

So what's the problem? I don't love that I snack all day. I don't love that I forget to brush my teeth. I don't love how grubby I feel at the end of the day. I don't love not having access to a printer. I don't love how little I move during the day.

Now that I'm in week three, I am learning my strengths (getting up early), and weaknesses (see above). So I had to make a conscious effort to brush my teeth. And instead of spending my lunch hour perusing the paper, I sped-read and then took Bruno on a walk. So maybe it'll be okay after all.

P.S. This tree. I love this tree. It's a gingko tree and we found it in Jellystone. The yellow was stunning and I walked by it about 40 times and took about that many pictures of it.

Halloween Candy Data

Every year I ask myself, "How much candy do we need for Halloween?" And every year I can never remember. But this year, I resolved to collect data. Because what's more fun than tabulating data while answering the door for trick-or-treaters? Nothing.

You can see our rush came in the 7:00 hour, but really, the trick-or-treating only lasted for 1.5 hours. I like it! Nice and compact. A total of 58 trick or treaters came to our house (not including my own cute boys).


Average group size of trick-or-treaters was 3.4.


And look at me! I ate only two pieces of the stuff we gave out. (Ahem. This graph does not include the number of pieces I ate once my boys came home. The boys were taxed all Almond Joys they received and one Butterfinger.)


Finally, the total candy received. These data combine candy collected on Halloween as well as at Friday's trunk or treat. Because I worked from home the day after Halloween, Chuck was required to take the bags of candy with him to work (to be kept in his car) because I am not to be trusted with nine pounds of candy in the house.


P.S. The candy we gave out was stuff that we bought last year. That's right. We bought close-out candy and kept it in the basement freezer for 365 days. And I didn't touch it once. I knew that once the bag was opened, it'd be over in a couple of ugly days. But as long as it stayed unopened, it was safe. Amazing, no?

Random Things

This post is less "random thoughts" and more just things that are happening to me. It's all very boring; I promise.

For the fourth time since June, I found adult shoes that fit my feet. This is definitely some kind of miracle. These I found at DSW for only $18, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. Except that it finally decided to become fall here, so sandal season is going to be over pretty soon. Like in December. (Or never, if you're my sister.)

The boys used to eat only cereal for breakfast on the days that I'm home. But because it's only cereal, they were hungry about an hour later. This was terribly inconvenient. So at the beginning of the school year, I instituted a new rule that says they have to eat something else before the cereal. The something else is either some sausage, yogurt with granola, oatmeal, or eggs. THEN they can have that bowl of cereal. I think it's been working. Related: because my boys eat breakfast around 6:30 and don't eat lunch until after 1, they're hungry at school. So right as we're leaving for the bus, I give them one of these energy bites. They LOVE them. Ollie asks me every day if it's a bus day. Thanks Emily! Oh, our most-recent batch was made with butterscotch chips instead of chocolate. Delicious.

Speaking of food, I made this salsa Saturday. Well, mostly the boys made it. But man, this stuff is so just good. I had to buy more chips so it wouldn't go to waste. I prefer this kind of salsa over the chunky, corn-y one preferred by others (cough, cough, my MOM). My boys also love it so score.

Speaking of my mom, my parents got their release date! They'll be home at the end of November. They're excited.

Finally, I'm swimming! Every Friday morning after I watch the boys go to school on the bus, I hope in the car and go to the pool. I had a little routine that I like doing and can feel myself getting better at it already. I still can't swim longer than 200 meters at a time (swimming is freakin' hard!), but it's coming. I'm happy with it. And so happy the boys are in school all day, making this possible.

Oh, and I got another calling, but we'll discuss that after I'm sustained.

My Life is Hard

About a month ago, something weird happened in our shower: we had more water pressure than we'd ever had before coming from the shower head. Chuck and I separately noticed and later confirmed each other's findings. What's weird about it is that nothing in the house changed. We didn't get a new hot water heater. We didn't do anything to our pipes. So we're just not sure what caused this, other than a poltergeist (my theory).

Sure, increased pressure is rarely a bad thing in a shower, right? Most of the time, yes! The new pressure isn't crazy hard and is, in fact, pleasurable. However, apparently increased pressure seems to cause increased shower curtain billowing. Surely you know what I'm talking about: the tendency of the shower curtain to billow inward during a shower?

This wouldn't be so terrible if our bathroom was a full, 1.0-sized bathroom (you know, one with a tub). But it's not; it's a 0.75-sized bathroom. We have a shower (no tub). It's teeny. So when the shower curtain takes away 20% of the square feet (which it does; I calculated it), well, it causes problems. Mostly in the form of me yelling at it to "STOP TOUCHING ME!" I promise you that you'd be just as yell-y if you were living this right now.

P.S. Also causing me woe is the new lateness of my newspaper delivery. We're talking WAY past the time it's guaranteed to be delivered to my house. This could be a deal breaker, Washington Post.

P.P.S. Also, Maryland's Mother Nature still thinks it's August here. Monday morning I felt like I was running in a sauna. Was it tears or just condensed humidity on my face? I'll let you decide.

How We Spend Our Days Now

Today is my third kid-free day and the boys' fifth day of school. How are they doing? Great! Ollie actually de-bussed on Monday with both fists in the air and a big smile on his face. It was a big relief to this mom and dad. Of course by bedtime he was telling us that "actually it was the worst day of my life." Ah, there's my Ollie! Too bad I don't believe him. Rhett is also doing well. He's so good at this school thing that I wasn't worried. I'm sure he'll have a great year. The surprising thing is our afternoons. On Monday and Tuesday the boys came home from school and just played so well together! It was almost as if they hadn't spent all day fighting. Oh wait, it was just like it. We almost didn't have books-on-couch-time because they were so wrapped up in what they were doing. It was lovely.

But I'm sure you're wondering how I'm doing. Pretty well! I think I need to slow down and learn how to sit, but that has to wait for now. This week I've been doing tons of cooking. Breakfast prep (two batches of taquitos), lunch prep (pizza buns), dinner prep (hot dog pretzels, enchiladas), and even some snack prep (energy balls). So it's been a lot of kitchen time (which means a lot of dishes time--ugh), but once I get stuff in the freezer I should be good for awhile. We had to overhaul our breakfast routine and menu, but I think we got it.

I've also done laundry, started my lesson outline for Sunday, worked on our "scrapbook" for Germany (I have a 50% off coupon from Shutterfly but I have to use it by September 6th so I'm really trying to get it done), and vacuumed. But all of that has happened during "me" time. I'm really trying to push all my chores to when the boys are gone so that in the morning and evenings I can really be present, you know? Instead of always thinking about everything else I should/could be doing. And hey, for the first two days--I did it! We'll see how I'm doing come June.

I guess the main idea is, so far so good! Of course we have the next two Mondays off, reducing my "me time" by one-third. Sigh.

P.S. Holy crap. On Wednesday, Maryland's governor decreed that next year, school will start after Labor Day. I'm livid. Fuming. I hate this so, so very much. If it's declared legal (that's debatable, apparently), what will I do? This is terrible. Worst news of the entire month and it's only the 2nd.

P.P.S. While working on my Germany book, I watched the movie "Room." Another holy crap. I read the book, but man, seeing it? A totally different experience. I cried. A lot.

My Own Personal Terrible-Horrible

Shopping for clothes pretty much sucks, right? Of course right. Unless you're super thin, it's the worst. And even then, things still probably don't fit you well. My body never fits right in clothes and so the experience is completely ignored.

Shoes, however, now that should be fun, right? WRONG. At least wrong when you wear the size of a preteen. Not only are shoes not often made in my size (most companies start at size 6), the ones that are are kids' shoes. And kid shoes, for a woman nearing 40, are not okay. BUT. The other day whilst perusing Amazon, I found some I really liked. Like a lot. In my size. So of course I ordered them immediately. Guess what happened? The next day I got an email from the company telling me they were actually out of stock. I literally started crying.

So what did I do? Buy five pairs on Zappos.

I'm So Done With Bugs

Remember when we went camping and I got some terrible spider bites? And then we went camping again and had these issues with ticks? That was nothing. NOTHING compared to the terrible, horrible thing that happened last week.

NOTE: Please know that I am not letting my emotions run completely away with myself. When I tell you about the terrible-horrible that happened to us, I have not lost perspective. This terrible-horrible was only terrible and horrible among the truly non-terrible and non-horrible things. I am obviously aware that truly terrible and horrible events (e.g., death of a child/parent/spouse, major illness, loss of a house to a fire) happen to people every day. And I realize how fortunate I am that as of now, I am relatively free of these things.

Sunday morning we're all getting ready for church when Rhett tells us that his head is itching. Crap. Because we know what it means. LICE. While I'm fanning myself so as to not faint, Chuck is fingertips deep in Rhett's hair. He's immediately convinced it's lice. Me? Not so sure. Every google image of lice (a google search I don't recommend, along with "blood filled tick"; just a friendly PSA) shows little white things. What we find in Rhett's hair is tiny black things. Still. We're scared enough to keep him home from church that day.

But of course at church I am unable to focus on anything else. I am also unable to stop scratching because I'm just so creeped out. (I'm also infected with one louse, but we didn't know that then.) I remembered a woman who made a career of lice removal and told Chuck that if/when this ever happens to us, we'd call her ASAP. So we did. At our appointment later that day, we found Rhett was a total mess (probably had them for 2-3 weeks) and I had one louse with a couple of nits. Miracle of miracles: Chuck and Ollie were clear. She gave us instructions (and hairnets!) and we went home.

Let me tell you what lice cleansing entails. Laundry. Loads and loads of laundry. Sheets. Comforters. Clothes. Towels. Slipcovers. Not just once, but twice and thrice. So much laundry. Vacuuming. Also, daily combing with a special lice comb. This is not like a plastic pick. No. It's metal with super close teeth, and being combed with it hurts. And having to comb an eight-year-old who cries and whines the entire time is pretty terrible. (Although you'll have to ask Chuck to verify this. I didn't do it.) Then of course there are the psychological disorders you develop. Paranoia ("I'm sure there's just one louse waiting to stage a comeback!"). PTSD ("That was terrible and horrible and terrible-horrible!"). Exhaustion ("If I have to remake that bed one more time, I'm just going to collapse on top and stay there the rest of the day."). Phantom itching ("Why is my head/arm/foot/eyeball itching? Is there a louse there?!"). And finally, dread ("What if we didn't get them all and they come back????"). The last one is the killer. We've been doing the daily combings for eight days and haven't had any lice nor nits for five or six of them. But still. STILL. What if?!

See. Told you. Terrible. Horrible.

But it's over...for now. We had our follow-up appointment earlier this week and Rhett and I were cleared! Hallelujah.

P.S. I have now added "lice killing" to the list of things I'd like to see a politician put on his/her platform (along with cancelling daylight saving time and requiring swim meets to be at most two hours). I'd totally vote for that person.

Q: Why Do I Volunteer at Rhett's School?

A: Because the thank you letters are adorable.

These are from career day when I talked about being a statistician and had the kids create a bar chart with their shoes. Then we answered some questions and made some inference.

Saw our socks!! SAW OUR SOCKS!!


Glad my own son likes what I did.




This one. HAHAHA. Those poor parents probably hate me.

Tuckahoe State Park Triathlon

As mentioned, we picked Tuckahoe and this particular weekend because they had this super cool "triathlon." I think I mentioned that it was a two-mile run (on that fun fitness trail, but no, I didn't stop to do the rings), a ten-mile bike, and then a one-mile paddle. It was so fun! Except when it was boring.

Turns out biking is super boring (for me, obviously). I usually listen to podcasts while running, but I don't do it during races. But man, I could have used something during the bike. I was so bored that I started counting lines in the road. But then they turned to double yellow and I was back to bored. Clearly I just don't bike enough. I know the theory behind race running and I know my pace. But only have done a handful of non-kid bike rides this year, left me very bad at this. Ha. So even though I finished the run in the about 12th place, I stopped counting the number of people who passed me while biking. Clearly I should have kept counting as it would have given me something to do.

But even through that, it was still super fun. Only about 100 people participated and the state park did a great job organizing. I love a well-run race!

Riding away. I had no idea of the boredom to come.


The finish line was in the water. Pretty cool.


My big buddy and me. Next time (you know, after I can psych myself out for handling the ticks) it's Chuck's turn! Or, we wait until the boys are a little older and we enter two doubles teams.