Good, Bad, Ugly, Stressful, Good

GOOD

It’s so awesome to have two fully working vehicles again, with no worrisome noises or blinking lights. Chris’s was back after a new (to us) transmission was put in, job finished Monday afternoon; mine was a short fix on Tuesday – a wheel bearing needed to be replaced. So nice to be able to run errands, etc.

Though we did have some very nice friend time while we were home – we had several different groups come & swim with us, or hang out here, so that ended up being good. August has been a great mix of seeing friends, planned & spontaneous, starting a bit of schoolwork, and just hanging out here at home, relaxing. Well, the kids relax; I get stuff done, mostly. But that’s okay.

I’m reading a book of letters from a midwife living in Sudan for a year with Doctors Without Borders, called Sunday Morning, Shamwana. I’m enjoying that. Also, the next season of Burn Notice (total guilty pleasure) is on demand on Netflix, so we just started that last night. I still want to write about the last book I read, 12×12 and have the passages typed in, but I’ll have to write about it later.

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BAD

While we were waiting for the car, we hung out at the beach. Sounds good, but it was quite chilly and overcast. The kids brought their sand toys, but there weren’t any other kids to play with, so mostly Owen harrassed his sister. Then this sweet little dog came around, and Owen was playing with it a bit, and picking burrs off it. She was well-fed and portly, but had tons of burrs and looked quite muddy around the edges. I knew she wasn’t a stray, but I wondered if she’d gotten lost & had been wandering around for a few days. So I called the police and they said they’d send over animal control.

About fifteen minutes later, this guy (who I recognized as living nearby the lake, but don’t know who he is) yelled – really super mean and harsh, “Get your HANDS off my DOG!” from way down the road. Owen startled, and stopped playing with the dog. I said, “He was just trying to keep her safe – we were trying to help!” and he said, “I don’t GIVE a SHIT LAAADY!” and starting yelling at the dog.

Can you imagine? UGH. People.

Then two young couples came up, one with toddler twin boys – very cute. But they kept shaming the boys because they didn’t want to put their bare feet in the sand, and dropping the F-bomb left/right and then started smoking. None of that is allowed at the public beach, but there was no one there but us, and after that other confrontation… we just packed it up and walked to the library. Shortly after that our car was done, thankfully.

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UGLY

Squash bugs. Never had them before. Was out checking on the garden, and they were in hordes all over a bunch of my pumpkin and winter squash leaves. I may have screamed in horror. Soooo disgusting. Owen got me my trusty spray and a shopping bag. He held it open for me so I could clip off the worst leaves and just dump them in there. Then I sprayed the shit out of all the rest of the leaves.

I went out in the afternoon and only saw one dead adult. I looked for the eggs to squish, and found five or six clusters on the underside of the leaves, but they wouldn’t squish – they were like hard beads. So I dumped them into the Japanese Beetle Bucket. I also saw some of the really tiny larvae things, like spiders with a see-through belly. Those went into the bucket too. Maybe more screaming. High disgusting factor + surprise = screaming.

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STRESSFUL

We’ve started school, and that’s been pretty good. It’s been surprisingly nice to work with them without all the extra-curricular and daytime lessons/activities. I never realized how much all that eats into our time, and energy.

That said, I’m struggling to map out what our days are going to look like once we get all the activities figured out. Madelyn wants to do band (well, not really – the band/music teacher SUCKS, and since Madelyn’s violin program is so good, she’s fully aware of the suckitude, but anyway, she DOES want to play the trumpet), and she’s going to help her dance teacher with a morning class of 3 to 5 year olds. Owen wants to do art and gym. They’ll both have a violin lesson (back-to-back). That’s all daytime stuff. I’m really hoping to get it in three days, or even four, and NOT five. It would be really good to have one day to take field trips or just be at home. Two would be even better.

The afternoon/evening activities are working out better. Monday night I work; Tuesday Owen has dance 5:15-6:15, and I may/may not work; Wednesday night they have choir from 4-4:45 and I work; Thursday Madelyn has dance from 4:15-6:15 and Friday is violin from 3:15 or 4 til dinner. This seems quite liveable, especially if I can give up the Tuesday night tutoring.

BUT! I’m having such a hard time pinning teachers/schools etc. down re: schedules. For example, I need to tell the kids’ violin teacher when we could come, but I don’t know when band will be. I have several options for Owen’s art/gym classes, but I don’t know when the violin lessons will be. There are so many puzzle pieces, some of which I can influence and others I can’t, and so many different people needing to know when, but I can’t tell them because other people haven’t told ME when.

Stressful! I’m sure it will all work out; it has every other year. I’m just starting to realize how much better it is when we’re not heading in different directions every few hours all day and prioritizing not doing that…

Also, I’m having a hard time scheduling their end of the year review, and it’s almost the beginning of the next year. I’m trusting that one of the two people who said they will do it, will. Soon.

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GOOD, AGAIN

Owen singing “Little ‘Liza Jane” while he plays it on the violin. He has such a sweet pure singing voice. That boy loves music.

I picked up a bushel of NJ peaches today for just under $30. How awesome is that? Now to get my recipes in order for preserving – plain canned peaches; vanilla canned peaches; plain peach jam; vanilla bean Jim Beam peach jam; peach bbq sauce; chipotle peach salsa. YUMMMMM!!!

(And oh my! a lot! of work!!!)

Owen and I dug potatoes today – it was really fun. We got a bunch, and only pulled up 2/5 of the plants. Also got cucumbers and beans, which are doing their second flowering.

Madelyn wants to watch the Anne of Green Gables movies with me. Looking forward to that.

We still have a few weeks left of summer, including a camping trip.