Today was the big day. I finally rented the compactor for the patio. It is definitely heavy. I was moderately successful with it. I got much less done today than I wanted. Time just wasn’t on my side. I plan to go full throttle tomorrow and get all the rest of the compacting done. It will be a feat because I will most likely need to buy more gravel, and I will likely need to do it in several trips so it doesn’t destroy my car. That all takes time. I am going to give it everything I have. I don’t want to rent the compactor again. And I don’t want Billy to come home from work and ask me why I stopped working like he did today. That ruined my whole day.
Author: peanut7312
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July 3
I spent hours getting my string lines up to level the patio and was almost done getting it leveled out when someone let Jackson out. He got tangled up in the lines and pulled everything down in about two seconds of drama. It was so fast and yet it felt like slow motion. I seriously cried. But everything is level. We went out to eat at Picasso’s for dinner and then went to this place in the same plaza called Frozen Fusion. It looked cute, but it was terrible. They had three flavors (the usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) of soft serve ice cream and you add toppings and pay by the ounce. Disappointing, but the kids had ice cream and let’s face it, it’s hard to have bad ice cream. Would not go back. Which seemed like the choice most of their customers have made, since there weren’t any.
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July 2
I spent the day working on my site design at work. Every time I do something, I think of a better way to do it and then I have to do it all over again. I think now I’ve got a good system, though, so I just need to build it. Luckily I’ve also developed the content already, so all I really have to do is transfer it to a different format. More work now, but much easier to update later. I’m really proud of the work I’ve been doing. I can’t wait to see it all come together. We had some good conversation at dinner, talking about Greek mythology and its Roman counterparts and why the compass always points north even when we don’t. And then I worked on more photo editing. I am now up to Wednesday. I’m getting a little tired of photo editing, but I can’t stop now, midway through. I must persist!
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July 1
I spent six hours building something at work today before realizing there was a much better way to do it that would only take ten minutes and would function far more smoothly. At least I figured it out after six hours and not 40. We’ve been cooking dinner now for over an hour because there was too much water in the rice. I’m annoyed because the rest of the meal was ready over half an hour ago and I’m really hungry. Also Christina no longer enjoys surfing because she said it’s too hard. That just doesn’t compute for me. The harder it is, the more I want to do it. Why are my kids so wimpy?
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June 30
Nothing too notable happened today. Continuing to try to reshape the idea of training at work into something more like reviewer development and support. I have a lot of crazy ideas. My boss is giving me free reign, so I’m just blazing through them. There weren’t any dance or tumbling classes tonight, so I used the evening to catch up on some administrative things like paying bills and trying to get my year in photos project up to date. I’m four photos closer! There is still a lot to do. I saw an armadillo on my run this morning. And that basically sums it up.
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June 29
Christina started surf camp today. She didn’t want to go when I dropped her off. I think she was feeling insecure and self conscious, which is understandable when you’re trying something new. But a very sweet girl noticed she looked uncertain and came up to her and invited Christina to sit with her until the class started. I swear some kids really are some kind of wonderful, and this one absolutely is. Of course by the time Christina came home, she was excited and now she wants to do it for another week. I’m a little jealous, to be honest. I’d love to learn how to surf. Maybe someday I will. For now I’ll settle for enjoying Christina’s happiness.
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June 28
I’m not a fan of Sundays. I did a lot today and very little of it was fun. Washed sheets, made the bed, cleaned the kitchen, got coffee, fixed the a/c (did you try turning it off and turning it back on again?), went food shopping, did laundry. I did go out to dinner with Lauren and Monica and that was fun. Something came up in conversation about a friend whose daughter stopped speaking to her but she never gave up trying to have a relationship with her. The night kind of went sour for me after that because the guilt I carry having put my own mom through that is still a huge weight on my heart. But I came home and had dinner with my family and made the most of what I’m very lucky to have.
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June 27
Christina woke me up at 8:40 this morning asking, “are we leaving?” She had dance class at 9:00 and I totally forgot. I took her in my pajamas with my crazy morning hair, teeth unbrushed, braless, and without even going to the bathroom to pee and we got there right on time. Later I took Robin to her tumbling class and then spent pretty much the entire rest of the day editing vacation photos. I’ve gotten through about 35 photos, which feels like a lot but is barely anything. I’m quite tired of looking at my computer, but the photos are looking great. I’m realizing just how little I understand Photoshop. I just try things and see what happens. I fear that what looks good on the screen may look completely phony once printed. Oh well. Today I also bought supplies to make something at Billy’s request. He wants a fabric wall hanging in the shape of the National Parks arrowhead logo to put our National Parks pins and patches on. I know about as much about making those (as if there are others) as I do about Photoshop, but I asked ChatGPT and if nothing else, it made me laugh. Time will tell, for the photos and the arrowhead.
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June 26
I spent the whole entire day building an Excel database for my training program. It’s not done, but the bones are there and I’m pretty proud of it. We went out to eat at a new to us Italian restaurant on Philips Highway and it was pretty good. I spent the rest of the evening reading. It’s now almost midnight. I need to finish this book because it’s taking over my life.
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June 25
Today I drafted formal procedures for the new training program I developed this year. I had a little help from artificial intelligence, I admit, but it had to get done by Monday, so a little cheating was necessary. Tomorrow I will work on building the documentation template to use as evidence of control effectiveness. It’s a little nerdy that I enjoy this. Otherwise today I grilled cheeseburgers about 12 seconds before a thunderstorm, worked on a Yellowstone jigsaw puzzle, edited vacation photos, and read more of my book. It is after 11pm, which means yet again I am not going to want to get up in the morning to go running. I really need to get out of this pattern because running is important to me. But so is sleep. And so good night.
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June 24
I caught up with Sarah at work today and it was like a breath of fresh air. I needed the reality check. It was otherwise a busy day with not much time for building, which is my new favorite pastime. Then it was therapy and the last NAMI class for this session. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to lead these classes, but it is always a relief when it’s over. It’s just so hard to fit it into the schedule. I’ve been reading The Calamity Club, which has been taking away from Becoming, by Michelle Obama. I’m a little obsessed with it – I’ve been staying up until ridiculous hours reading and haven’t been able to wake up in the mornings for my runs. Ok, well, that was just today, but still. I still regret lying in bed that extra hour instead of going for that 25-minute run. I will admit that it wasn’t just the lack of sleep that did it today; it was also the weather, which just isn’t appealing to run in. 76 is actually pretty reasonable these days, but still not appealing when I’ve only slept five or six hours. And so goes another Wednesday.
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June 23
It was a pretty typical day. I managed to take care of some tasks that have been sitting on my list a while – getting Robin registered for high school, getting the kids enrolled in their respective camps, scheduling car maintenance and doctor’s appointments, rescheduling the cleaners… I still have more to do. But we played Yahtzee after dinner and I started editing vacation photos. I’ll get to the bills soon.
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June 22
Back to work today… luckily it was a slow, easy day. I will take it. Took Christina to dance for the first time in what feels like forever. I finished paring down the photos from Yellowstone. I started with 783 images and narrowed it down to 94. That may be as low as it gets. Next, editing, and then printing and putting them into an album. Billy didn’t even know we had an album from Shenandoah, so we took that out tonight and looked through it. Yellowstone will be bigger. Both trips were pretty epic. Those and New Orleans are my top three family vacations. It’ll be tough to follow this up, although Robin said she wants to go to Monaco to see the F1 racing museum. That could be fun too.
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June 21
Today was a day for chores and tedium. Unpacked, did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, went food shopping. Every time I thought I’d have a minute to look at vacation photos, something came up – laptop battery was dead, nail polish wouldn’t come off, needed to cook dinner for Father’s Day (french toast, yum). I did finally manage to get everything off my phone and camera onto my laptop, so now the arduous task of picking favorites and editing. I hate Sundays.
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June 20
We had a pretty smooth trip home, but I felt sad the whole time. I already miss the mountains. I guess I’m also glad I get to see the pups again, though. I missed them too.
