This and That

Ewww...I just had to kill a hobo spider in the basement hallway on my way to my computer. This is how I have to begin?

Anyway, it is hot here. Very un-northwest rockies hot...like 100 degrees. So I am gratefully downstairs in my cool basement on the computer...along with the hobos. Actually, I don't have another choice since DH took his laptop to North Dakota. How rude.

The kids had swimming lessons every morning this week through Thursday. And I have been busy catching up this week after our vacation. I did do a couple of loads of laundry Monday and Tuesday, but I spent the rest of those days catching up on rest. My body was beat up and tired. At the lake, I spent a lot of time entertaining Michael (9) since he did not live at the horse barn like Jonathan (6) did. This entailed running (literally) around a field catching bugs to fish with, then fishing which meant putting bugs and worms on hooks to taking fish off of hooks (none of my family were willing, not even DH - thank goodness my grandpa took me fishing as a kid and made me bait my hook and unhook my catch), watching him swim, taking him out in kayaks and fishing boats, and playing cribbage. In the midst of that, I jumped off the tower 3 times over the week, water skied once, and tried 4 times to get up on a wakeboard. From the wakeboard, I ended up with tons of bruises all over my knees and legs. The ones on my knees are just now going away. I also accompanied Jonathan (6) on two of his many horseback rides that week. And then there is all the walking and running back and forth to the room, barn, or lake to get forgotton towels, cameras, bugspray, whatever. Anyway, I took a vacation from housework when I got home.

But by Wednesday I kicked it into gear. I think I've gotten most of the laundry done and put away as well as most of the Weekly Home Blessing Hour done (Flylady). The WHBH takes more like 3 hours so I divide it up now over 3 days or so.

Thursday I got to see my nurse midwife for a "girl" checkup. I think while in the office, I ended up with a ruptured ovarian cyst again. It came on suddenly, and I left with the same intense pain in my right abdomen that I had in January. I went home, napped and took two courses of the prescription Aleve they gave me in January and the pain was pretty much gone in 24 hours. And I still got my chores done on Thursday and Friday.

Saturday morning I was going to get up early and pull weeds before it got hot. Instead I spent the morning buying replacement irrigation heads and installing them. Four were easy...just unscrew the top and screw a new one on. One I had to dig the huge thing up and replace the entire unit. I was actually sweating from my forehead, and down my back and legs. I still ended up weeding although it was after noon. I wasn't too picky. If it was big I grabbed it, if it was little, I'll get in next time.

I also finished two books this week. One of them was "The Shack" by William P. Young (Christian fiction) which I started at the lake (CDJ - I wanted to read this after you blogged about it. This book was interesting and made me think outside my little "Baptist understanding of God" box. And while part of the middle seemed to move a little slow for my taste, I really enjoyed the chapter entitled "Verbs and Other Freedoms". This chapter spoke to me where I am at this point in my journey...trying to understand what it means to be free in Christ and living in the Spirit with joy and peace vs. living according to my understanding of Biblical rules and laws I have been taught and living in fear of judgement. I also liked the example of responsibily vs. the ability to respond, and expectation vs. expectancy.)

So that's that.

June and July

Well winter finally passed and summer finally arrived (physically, spiritually and emotionally). We have had a wonderfully peaceful and playful summer.

The kids have been involved in various camps and activities. Jonathan (6) got to restart Taekwando, went to basketball camp, and was in a Children's Theater play called "Johnny Appleseed". He was an appleseed. Michael (9) went to football camp, YMCA Broken Arrow camp, YMCA golf camp, and YMCA Mission to Mars camp. Both kids were taken to the pool too many times to count as well as to parks, on hikes, and day trips to lakes by the best mom ever.

The whole family just got back from a week up at a dude ranch preceded by a quick trip to a wedding in a neighboring state where Jonathan (6) was the proud snagger and now owner of the bride's garter. (That's a lot of "..ers", CDJ. Noticed that just for you...oh, and look at all the "..allys" and "..ullys" in the first paragraph. Now that I read that in your blog, I can't get away from seeing this stuff everywhere.)

I've eaten way too much this summer. The theme song for the "Pullups" commercial keeps marching through my head ("I'm a big girl now..."). Gotta cut back, but there are no regrets. Food was good.

The kids start two weeks of swimming lessons tomorrow and then school starts the next week on August 27th. Yes, I know swimming lessons should come before all the trips to the pool and lakes, but at least they are getting them.

This summer I've started on two projects, making dinners almost every night using the E-mealz.com menu system and getting my house decluttered and cleaned using the Flylady.net system. Both have helped me overcome some (and I say some) of my poor planning and organizational skills. Baby steps, as fly lady would say...

Anyway, more later.