How did Billy’s wrestling boosters know how much I love craft beer?
Category: April 2024
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April 14
I think I had a pretty good parenting day today. The phone situation with Robin is getting to a boiling point because she has retreated so far into it that she won’t go out with friends or even come out of her room, where she closes her blackout blinds and literally lives in darkness. I won’t tolerate it and I won’t give extra time for any reason, which made her extremely angry. She sulked through food shopping without a word, even when asked direct questions. Finally I compromised and told her she could have the time on two conditions: She could only use it to find drawings to copy, and she had to draw outside, with me, in sunlight. She actually agreed and even smiled. She perked up almost immediately. And then we made pretzel animals, which she also loved and came out of her room for. Those were Christina’s favorite parts of the day, and mine too. I keep hearing in my head that no matter how hard it gets, I have to stick to my guns with the phone limits and working Robin out of her personal cavern. I feel like her life depends on it. And it IS hard. I just want to see her smile. Limiting phone time and pushing her out of her comfort zone doesn’t do that. But I think it will do it in the (maybe very) long term. Anyway, I’m glad we had a good day.
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April 13
Christina had a dance competition and did pretty well. Her production dance is amazing and got a couple shout-outs on stage from other performers. It won first place and a golden egg, which really looks a lot more like a chicken than an egg. She said it was a duck… either way, not an egg, but a nice nod from the judges nonetheless. I love how much Christina loves it.
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April 11
Robin and I played hooky today and went to the mall and out for haircuts. It is the happiest I’ve seen her in ages, and I am so happy that I got to spend that time with her. The evening was rough, though. We are at odds over the time she spends on her phone and it came to a head. She came out of her wrecked room in tears and we (I) talked and I think we both came out a little better for it. Momming is so much harder than I imagined. And then there’s Christina, who can see everything and knew to hug me just a little tighter at bedtime. I love her so much too. As hard as it is, I would not give either of them up for anything.
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April 9
I gave Robin some tough news today about a decision Billy and I made for her and she took it as hard as I expected. It mad me sad and frustrated, because all I want for her is happiness. I feel like I am losing her and it’s my fault. Let’s go back to the days when all we disagreed over was sippy cups. But those days were hard too.
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April 8
The kids got glasses to watch the eclipse and I was counting on borrowing them so I could see it too, but they both lost them before the end of the day. The best I could do was look through my tinted sunroof with my sunglasses on for a tenth of a second, which was long enough to burn the shadow into my retina so I could see it with my eyes closed. That was awesome, but really the light here on earth and the ring around the sun were cool too. I adjusted the exposure on this one so you could see the sun’s ring, but the light on the grass and flowers really was this bizarre. It was the literal highlight of my day.
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April 7
Eating outside on the patio is always special and worth the effort. As is asparagus. Besides a nice dinner, Christina went to a birthday party, I went food shopping, I sewed until I ran out of thread, Robin had a cheer practice, and we played Uno. Not a bad day.
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April 6
Did a lot for a day with no plans. The highlight for me was doing some sewing on my advent calendar, now in its third year of progress. For the kids it was making collages. When did magazines get so expensive? I bought two and it came to more than $30. I might as well buy actual books. But they had a ball. It was worth it.
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April 5
The girls won their soccer game because the other team never showed up. We’ll take a win however we get it! They used the time to practice, which was fine with me because the weather was gorgeous.
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April 4
I got some things off my chest today. Now it is kind of hovering in the air and I’m not really sure where it’ll land. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure it even matters, but we’ll see. I’m getting tired of second chances, even if I stand to gain from them. Second chances just seem to lead to more second chances. But still… soccer in the shadows. Robin kicked ass, even though they got their asses kicked. A sign of a champion.
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April 3
I’m continuing to truck along. Trying to get some things straight for myself, trying to stay productive creatively. I’m writing, only maybe one or two paragraphs a day, but I’m writing. I’m finding a lot of the process is trying to think through a story I don’t really know. I’ve doubled my progress from last year and it’s only just April. It’s something. May not necessarily be good just yet, but it’s something.
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April 2
The girls had their first soccer game of the season today. Robin didn’t play because she thought she wasn’t good enough. After watching today’s game, she now knows she need not worry. The important thing is they all had fun.
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April 1
Some days you just want to throw in the trash and this was one of them. Nothing terrible happened, but I opted out of almost everything and literally made myself sick for no good reason. I guess the joke’s on me.
Year in Photos 