now it's THURSDAYS that suck?

I have sworn off food crafts (FOR THE MOST PART), but I absolutely WILL NOT stop trying the hair crafts.

Every time I turn this corner on the path around the kids' school and see the sun coming up in front of me, I feel so HAPPY to be out running.

Trader Joe's $3 sheet masks are still my favorite ones in the world.

This is the much more orderly mic drawer in my other lecture hall, and I don't like it as much as the messy one, even though I am reliably loud enough thanks to its maintenance. 

HOW DID MINNIE GET THIS BIG???

YOU GUYS. I keep solving for problems, and then MOAR problems pop up. Like, I fixed Tuesdays by giving myself a buffer day between teaching days this semester. Then I realized that Wednesdays were THE LITERAL FREAKING WORST, so I started wearing clothes I love and treating myself to coffee (but not full caf because I did not need any more anxiety) and all the other excellent Wednesday reset ideas and now? I am just crabby and off my game on Thursday nights.

I think I am solving for the effects of a problem instead of the causes. SO. I am joining the YMCA so we can get priority registration for on-site after care next year. Minnie will likely be on the dance team (IT IS GOING TO BE SO CUTE YOU GUYS), so she will likely only go to care a couple hours a week (for six HUNDRED dollars a month), but I think those hours? WILL BE FREAKING AMAZING. Just to be able to stay 90 minutes or so later at work when Ben is OOT will be a game changer. 

Reminder: her school dismisses at TWO THIRTY Tues-Fri and at ONE TEN on Mondays. If she could just stay there until 3:30, that would be wildly helpful. After care is done by 6, so it won't help me on my late Monday-- but hopefully Ben will be able to be the pick up guy that day.

Because the PROBLEM is that I do not have time to do all of the stuff I need to do, and all the tea in bed and new release books and atleisure in the world will not change this. A few extra hours of childcare? Will.

(Leggings as pants, though, makes A LOT of things better)

Also I am going to institute a LEAVE ME THE EFF ALONE rule on Thursday nights lasting fro the minute Ben gets home until the last child goes to bed-- I think this will help too.

 

Week 2 FIGs

1. Cookie dough Built bars. THESE ARE SO DELICIOUS. I am always looking for something sweet to eat at the end of the lunch hour, and THESE ARE IT.

2. Last week's Cool Blogger Book Club homework. Look at these gorg Gilded Age mansions just a 10-minute walk from my office!

3. Sunrises.

4. Sunsets

5. More fave comfy clothes at work

6. Fave walking/running buddy 

7. I got my filthy car washed!!!! At one of those places where you just get out and they drive it through and like 6 people leap into action and vacuum everything. Which gave me plenty of time to look at the macaws. Which honestly really creep me out. BUT NOW MY CAR IS CLEAN on the outside and definitely clean-ish on the inside.

Bonus: this book is terrific, and I loved the narrator

Also, a cookie decorating kit from a local bakery-- Minnie got to frost cut-outs, and I did not have to bake them (but they were freshly baked, and the frosting was **chef's kiss**!)

 

5 on a Friday: This week I...

 1. BARELY READ ANYTHING unless you count one thousand emails and google form responses about the elementary school talent show I am coordinating.

2. Got a hair cut for the first time since MAY.

3. Def phoned it in for the kindergarten Vday party. When Harry was in first grade and Jack was in kindy, I assembled homemade cookie decorating kits for each kid with a sugar cookie, a little cup of frosting (dyed with BEET JUICE), and organic, natural-dye sprinkles.

4,  Wore a silly outfit to school on Wednesday

5. Bought Dorothy and Cooper matchas for their inexplicable quarter zip and matcha spirit day. Middle school is weird.

Diving Weekend

Nothing reminds you how much time weekend-heavy kiddie activities take up until you spend your whole weekend doing kid activities, huh?

We ran down to the Chicago burbs so Cooper could compete at a dive meet last weekend. We didn't want to spend the night, so we made him do 1-meter with the high school age group (lol), and he was fabulous, as usual. His travel team was at a meet in Orlando, but Cooper really wanted to go to one in GA in a couple of weeks, so we thought we'd have him stay local this weekend and get a bonus weekend of reps in front of judges. Ben's parents met us for coffee and spectating, and it was a lovely time all around.

Even Dorothy sort of had fun!

Cheese!

I was not really double fisting-- one was Ben's.

Such concentration!

Keeping an eye on Raquel.

Warm ups:

Minnie was more than happy to do a work book

And make a sign

that she faithfully held up every time Cooper was on the board

He might as well compete up since he has a terrible dive birthday and has to compete with the 16-18's next year as a 15 y/o. Right now, he is in his second year in the 14-15 age group even though he won't be 15 until SEPTEMBER when the season is OVER (when he will be competing in the 16-18's).

For us, both dance and diving are high weeknight commitments but relatively low weekend commitments-- until the season starts and we have to be places on the weekend. Dance is quick-- there's a dress rehearsal and 4 regional competitions March-May, plus the recital weekend in early June, plus a week for nationals in late June. Not a ton of weekend time spread out over the whole year. Dive is similarly scheduled. There's a fall meet or two, but the real action happens in the spring/summer. Between a couple weeks ago when he went to Milwaukee and July, Coop has Chicago, Milwaukee again, Madison, Des Moines, Iowa City, Orlando, Ft Lauderdale, and hopefully West Virginia (maybe even twice). And if West Virginia is not in the cards, he could have another trip to Ft. Lauderdale. That's a bunch of travel (except Madison, which is still a weekend commitment).

I am just not used to it, and we definitely felt the pinch in terms of grocery shopping (by which I mean placing an online order and picking it up) and house admin stuff.

Don't worry, though. Annabel doesn't mind that I didn't have time to change Dorothy's sheets.

FIGs so far

Elisabeth is encouraging bloggers to collect daily glimmers of joy this month (FIG= finding joy in gratitude), and I was skeptical because the world is a dumpster fire, etc, but I am giving it a shot, you guys. 

1. Apple Notes: I credit Sarah with my love of this app. For years, I only used it to store my IG hashtags for easy cut and paste into posts (and I still think this is a great use of the app, even though IG has recently changed its hashtag limits). But! After hearing SHU talk about the way she uses Notes, I have been using it for more catch-all things (and I like it better than a google doc for some things because it is more user-friendly on my phone than a doc is) (To be clear, I mostly type on my desktop in Notes, but it is so easy to access a Note on my phone and make small changes).

Right now, in addition to my IG hashtags, I have a shared Note (with the fam) where I keep track of weekly menus-- with recipe links-- so helpful when grocery shopping. 

I have a blog content Note

I keep track of book stats in Notes, as well as my Ins and Outs lists. I also have a bog old random Note called "random" with weird odds and ends and links, and the kids have started sharing their wish lists this way. 

LOVE IT.

2. Dopamine dressing. This is a really dumb internet way to say WEAR WHAT YOU LOVE and makes you happy. I have been making this a priority on Wednesdays (because Wednesdays suck), and I loooooove it. What a fun practice. For me, SLIPPERS AS SHOES even when I am lecturing to a packed house is key.

3. This mic drawer in one of my lecture halls. Loose batteries that are actually dead, mics with no chargers, mics with no batteries, phone chargers, a speaker-- what the what? Does my dad actually maintain this drawer? Makes me smile every time I open it (even when all the mics are dead and all the batteries are leakers).

4. Cool Blogger Book Club: I don't even like this book very much you guys! But I like the practice of reading it with all of you! Also! I am teaching the cult of true womanhood and the ideology of domesticity as they applied to abolitionist rhetors in the US and re-reading all of the Anne books, so this time period and these ideas are kind of all muddled up in my head right now in a way that's really interesting.

5. Speaking of bloggers connected offline and across distance! I love doing Yoga with Adriene with Julie.

6. I am so grateful for these EXCELLENT pre-seasoned veggies from Costco. Made with avocado oil and just the right amount of garlic, they are a perfect side dish when I am running late and am otherwise uninspired. We are on our third bag.

7. I adore being cold and sweaty

8. My tiny ballerina getting ready for her (June) recital

Thanks to Elisabeth for encouraging us to find joy in our every day and our everyday.