I finished fixing that first section of the patio, and it looks really good. I’m so happy with it. I put up the edging, but it’s not tall enough, so I had to order more. What would this patio project be if I didn’t have to buy twice as much of everything than I originally planned? It looks so much better now that it’s (pretty much) straight and level. I still don’t love the plain pavers, but it’ll be ok. I can really start to smell the end now. I’ve only got half left to finish, and now that I know what I’m doing, I think we’re talking about another 3-4 weekends and then it’ll be done. It might be faster, but Christina wants to go to the beach next weekend and Robin wants to get together with her friend. There’s this life thing that has to happen. Still… the end is in sight. I’m starting to get excited.
Category: August 2026
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August 15
Billy and I had a date night at Java Game Haus. We played the Harry Potter game. It’s been a long time, but it was fun. It’s a little sad that we both started falling asleep at the table, pretty much exactly at 9pm. Other than that, we had pancakes and eggs for dinner, and they were REALLY good pancakes. I need to save this recipe. I spent the morning redoing most of the patio work I did the first two weeks. I thought I’d finish that today, but there is another day’s worth to do tomorrow. This is the neverending patio.
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August 14
After a week of high school carline drama and what I’m sure was an equally stressful week for Robin, we went to the first home football game of the season tonight. I was surprised Robin wanted to go, but she had a good time and we stayed until the end. Well, almost. There was about a minute left when we left, but they were up by two touchdowns and an extra point, so realistically, the game was over. It was so hot that we broke protocol and sat on the away side for a while because it was in the shade. It was a pretty good game, but the Mandarin fans were a lot more lackluster than the Creekside fans. It was fun, even though I sat alone and Robin pretended I wasn’t there.
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August 13
Carline is ruining my life. There were a LOT of tears today, from both me and Robin, at drop-off and at pickup. The stress of all that traffic, two hours a day, every day, is just more than I’ve been able to handle. There was yelling and swearing and generalized fury. All I can say is that tomorrow has to be better. Please?
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August 12
The carline saga continues. It took me two hours to get everyone home today. I took a different route home after picking Robin up. It’s about three times as far, but it took the same amount of time. There is also another carline to get through in that direction, plus two train tracks to cross. What I am learning is that there is no good way to get Robin home from school. And also if it’s raining when I pick her up, I might as well just pick Christina up at the same time. Today there were some really nasty storms at dismissal – they were so bad, they actually held up dismissal by almost 30 minutes because it was too dangerous to be outside. This is a true test of my patience, and also a real hassle because I actually DO have a job with actual responsibilities that are not getting done because I’m sitting in traffic for two hours every day. I sincerely hope this gets easier. Realistically, I think it probably won’t. Moms do not get enough points for this shit. And there’s nothing to redeem them for anyway. I am counting the days to Robin’s junior year when she can drive her own self to and from school. In the meantime, I am having to work a lot of extra hours to make up the time I’m missing during the day. This is love, people.
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August 11
This afternoon’s car line experience was still soul crushing, but it was soul crushing for less time than yesterday. I think tomorrow I will try to arrive later and take the long way home. Even though it adds five miles to the drive, I think it will be faster. It’s bad enough sitting in one car line. Sitting in two at once is just bananas. I tried a new recipe for dinner and it was pretty good. Nice salmon with an herbed caper sauce and red beans and rice. I was disappointed with my class’s performance this last week and decided today to pivot. We’ll see if that helps. I did not succeed at this morning’s run. It felt like I was running while wearing a hot, steaming wet blanket over my shoulders the whole time. It was a speed run and it was a challenging speed run and honestly I didn’t even feel like running in the first place, so it was just destined for disaster. It wasn’t really disastrous, but it wasn’t fun, either. Still, it’s done! I got out there and I did something and it counts. I pulled 15 pounds of fur off of Jackson today, and that was just on his left shoulder. I think he hates me now.
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August 10
The kids had their first day of school today. We officially have a high schooler. Christina was very excited about her first day. Robin had a little bit more of a tempered reaction to the day, but they both seemed to do well. Robin’s car line was a horrendous nightmare. It took more than an hour to get through it from start to finish, and then we got stuck in traffic for the car line at another school. It took me two hours to pick her up from school. I sure hope that doesn’t happen every day. I’m glad everyone had a good first day.
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August 9
I had so much fun making this blind beer tasting game for Dion for his birthday. He seemed to like it, which made me happy. We saw them today for lunch at European Street and it was really nice catching up with them. Now I’m wondering whether 8:21 is too early to go to bed, since Robin starts high school tomorrow, and we have to leave at 6:15am. Not get up. Leave. The next two years are going to be rough for this not morning person. I’ll buy her a car if for no other purpose than driving herself to school in the morning. We’ll see how this goes!
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August 8
I got a lot done on the patio today, but the biggest thing I revealed is that everything I did on the first day is a mess. It’s crooked, it’s not level… I will have to spend another day fixing that, but at least all the newer work is good. I learned that this part is about precision, not speed. It took me forever to get this section level, and then it was too low, so I had to do it all over again. I ended up finishing a mere ten minutes before I had to take Robin to tumbling. I had to take a sink bath and scramble to change, but we made it and I was mostly presentable. I’m about halfway done and getting excited because the end is in sight. Even though we won’t have all the furniture and decor, I’m excited to see how it looks and to use it for the first time. I’m very proud of it. So much work. But look what I am doing!
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August 7
I’m working on another leadership presentation at work and feeling pretty good about it. I’m proud of the work I’ve done this year. Billy had his first “game” with his new football team. It was really a scrimmage and not a game, but now that he’s coaching high school, I have to get used to the hours. They play a lot later than the middle schoolers. He said they didn’t do well, but also said it didn’t matter because it wasn’t a game. I still have a lot to learn, I guess.
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August 6
Christina had her school orientation tonight. She has been complaining for months that she doesn’t want to go to this school anymore, that all her friends left, that she’s tired of it, that the middle school is terrible compared to the elementary school, that everyone hates the middle schoolers. But she went tonight and saw her friends and teachers, and everyone was so happy to see her, and she left feeling excited for the school year. Let’s hope that excitement holds up.
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August 5
Pinot got himself a haircut today. He looks pretty handsome – we left it a little longer than usual this time, and I like it better. It’s so sad that he hates the car so much. Otherwise it was a pretty slow and uninspiring day. I seem to be ending my nights a little on the down side. It’s been a while since I felt this way.
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August 4
I went out for dinner with Molly and Cindy. We went to Salento, which is usually awesome, but for some reason, the service was terrible tonight. We were there for two hours, which was about an hour too long for me. It was still nice to catch up with them. They seem to be doing well, especially Cindy, who was moving around like she’d never been sick, almost. It’s the best I’ve seen her since then. Glad they are both doing well.
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August 3
It hit me around 8:30 – a wave of inexplicable sadness. It took me a while to remember that Mom died 12 years ago today. I think it hurts more now than it did then – not the same raging, overwhelming depression I felt then, but a steadily growing lump of guilt and regret that is so overwhelming that my only option is to ignore it. It’s surprising to see how much energy ignorance costs.
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August 2
I slowed down a lot today and really worked on keeping everything level. I tried to fix the problem spots, but they are still not level, so I’ll have to try again next weekend. They’re definitely better, at least. I need to get that one edge set because the rain washed out the sand and now it’s dipping again. I wish I could have gone longer, but Christina had dance and of course it rained. At least the new part held up in the rain – no pooling there. It’s looking pretty good.
Year in Photos 