Since Billy and Colleen both have to work on Easter, we celebrated Easter Saturday this year. There were a few minor glitches, like the time when Robin took an enormous bite out of the bunny cake before we’d even frosted it and I went crazy because omg now the bunny has only half a head! That ruined it for Robin and she halfheartedly threw some frosting on it before going to her room. Christina and I did our best to fix it and it came out pretty good, but I was sad that my initial reaction killed the Easter Bunny for Robin. But the baskets went over well. The wildcard item was these little $6 ear cuffs for Robin that I wasn’t sure she would be into, but they were the biggest hit. She cried when she thought she lost two of them (luckily we found them). She wore them on her ears and septum and honestly, it looked pretty good on her. Christina got a Squishmallow and bunny slime and well, that works for Christina. Dinner was delicious. I had bought a different kind of ham than we usually get because, well, I didn’t know what we usually get, but Billy of course did awesome with it, and I think it even tasted better this way. Christina made the mashed potatoes and did an awesome job on them! There was good conversation, and it was just great to see everyone. Not too shabby.
Author: peanut7312
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April 3
Since Billy and his sister have to work on Easter Sunday, we are celebrating tomorrow, which means coloring Easter eggs tonight. We tried marbling this year, but it didn’t work very well. It wasn’t for lack of trying. We also finally put our Christmas tree out on the curb for pickup today. Seems kind of poetic, putting up the tree for Christ’s birth, and putting it on the curb for his death. We can almost pass it off as intentional.
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April 2
My proposal went over well this morning, which was a great way to start my day. There is hope on the horizon. For some reason I am exhausted and have a headache tonight. Think I’ll go to bed early.
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April 1
I felt pretty proud of myself today. My stroke of brilliance yesterday held up to a good night’s sleep and seems even stronger today. Fixing things makes me so happy. You know what else makes me happy? Watching Robin do gymnastics. She hangs in there with those seven-year-olds. There is one little girl in her class who is absolutely terrible at gymnastics, but she puts her whole heart into it and she never stopped smiling once during that entire class. I love Robin, but that little girl was a joy to watch. And as it turns out, Robin isn’t the best one in her class on beam. So maybe it won’t be as boring as she thought.
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March 31
Before I even started work today, I went for a run, did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, took the kids to school, and went to the gym. And then when I got to work, I solved all my problems of the last few months in a moment of sheer enlightenment. (Modesty becomes me.) I will just have to make it through the rest of this class, which I hope will only be a couple more weeks. With luck, I may get my life back soon, and people will love me for it, too.
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March 30
It’s only Monday and I’m already two days behind where I was on Friday. What is this garbage? However, I did receive some more goodies for my patio project and I am now even more excited about it.
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March 29
I’ve been wanting a backyard sanctuary since before I had a backyard. I’m feeling ready to make a true effort. It won’t be the $30,000 version I had in mind originally, but I think it will be nice. I have a screened in tent, some cushion covers, string lights, a shopping list, and a plan. Robin is skeptical. Her skepticism is my fuel, folks. And when we finish with the patio, I’m moving on to the garden. I’m excited. I will probably finish just in time for it to be too hot to want to use it. But it’ll be ready.
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March 28
I’ve become a big fan of ChatGPT at work, but it has repeatedly let me down at home. Every family activity it has suggested has been a giant bust with only one exception, and there was no way it could have predicted that my old boss would show up randomly at the restaurant it suggested which was otherwise just sort of ok. Anyway, it suggested RAM for today, so we went, and there just wasn’t anything interesting there for anyone. Also there were 40mph wind gusts and it was like 60 degrees outside. You should have seen the kids’ faces. It wasn’t disgust and it wasn’t boredom, it was complete disinterest. Christina couldn’t even be interested in sharing a brownie with her father. No one cared where we went for lunch, so Billy just picked a place he’s been wanting to go to, the Bearded Pig. The kids walked in there and then their disinterest did mingle with some disgust, because there weren’t cheeseburgers or chicken tenders on the menu. They settled for pulled pork and mac and cheese while silently dying inside, but then the food came out and holy shit, folks. They liked it. Moods started to improve. And then the magic happened. I don’t know if it was someone at the table who suggested it or just a whisper on the (insane) wind, but somehow we ended up at Sweet Pete’s, and satisfaction even turned into smiles. I guess candy will do that to a kid. We got a banana split and came home and no one has had to eat anything since then. Except Pinot, who ate my Starburst and is yet once again dead to me. This dog has eaten more of my candy over the years than I have and I hate him for it. And then I ended up on this mission to find a Lego piece that Robin lost from her set that we bought in New York. Christina has a 20-gallon tub of Legos and we pulled them all out looking for a replacement piece, but couldn’t find it. So I went to lego.com, or whatever their website is, and ordered the piece, which costs $0.13, but I ended up paying more than $13 for it with service fees and shipping. But there is no way we’re leaving this thing unfinished just because she is missing a 3/8 inch piece that I can’t find in 20 gallons of Legos. I have a lot of patience, but it is worth $13 to me to not have to pull out 14,000 individual Lego pieces to try to find the one we need. That may be a very conservative estimate, too. And that, my friends, was Saturday.
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March 27
The kids had a half day today, so Robin and I went to Leaderboard and played video games for a while before getting ready for tonight’s middle school dance. Looking at these two tonight, I really have to wonder what the heck happened to my babies?? At this point I have no chance of surviving prom. They had a great time and I’m glad.
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March 26
I had such a hard time waking up this morning to go for my run, but I’m glad I did. It is pretty much the only sanity I’ve had this week, and I’m so grateful for it. Today was a little better than the rest of the week, but it ended on a sour note when I got a series of condescending emails that really rubbed me the wrong way. But I have running and grapes and brownies and let’s face it, that person has bigger problems than I do. I’ll sit here being smug instead.
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March 25
I finished the day with a splitting headache. There is just so much riling me up at work and I can’t control my ire. I have a clearer idea of what I can throw off my plate; now I just need to find the time to do it. First I need to recover.
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March 24
Work is trying to kill me again. I am not really sure why I can’t keep up, but I finished the day drained and couldn’t really articulate why. I am grateful for the time I get to myself in the car while Christina’s at dance, though. It’s nice to have the peace and quiet. Although I did get stuck behind someone driving 24mph almost the entire way home and that just made me angry. Whyyyyy?
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March 23
Back to work today, and it was a stressful day. It took all of about six minutes for me to begin feeling annoyed, 23 minutes to feel angry, and an hour and a half to become irate. After that I was just tired and overwhelmed. But undeterred! Christina made tacos for dinner and then I read more of Billy’s book while I waited for her at dance. She wants to take eight classes during the summer. I’m glad she likes it, but I’m tired just thinking about it. So I won’t. Problem solved.
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March 22
I got a lot done today, starting with a much-needed run and ending with a highly admirable family effort to clean up the yard so it can be mowed tomorrow. There are three orange blossoms on Christina’s tree, and even the dead hydrangea managed one little baby cluster of leaves to give us some hope. I also did two loads of laundry, went food shopping, cleaned the kitchen, and cooked dinner. And I watched a shit-ton of college basketball. No one’s bracket is totally busted yet, but Billy’s hopes rest on Texas Tech beating Alabama later tonight. I know better than to talk shit because today has proven that you can’t predict basketball. And now it’s back to work tomorrow, which makes me kind of sad because this spring break was a bit of a letdown for me. It feels like forever until our next vacation. I am just going to have to find a way to make the most of my weekends. Mission accepted.
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March 21
In retrospect, this year’s spring break was generally poorly planned. We spent five of the last eight days in the car. Our day in NYC was kind of a bust. And today everyone was so worn out from all the traveling that we left Sea World after only half a day. I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I can’t even really salvage tomorrow because we have to go food shopping and do laundry, which will take up at least half the day. Oh well. I guess they can’t all be winners.
