The girls had haircuts today. Robin hadn’t had one in something like two years, and she cut off around five inches. They both got blowouts and they looked so different with straight hair! They were both so happy with the cuts, and I’m glad. Then I met up with Myrna for lunch. I love Myrna. And then Christina wanted to go to Losco Park, I think hoping that one of her friends might happen to be there too. No one she knew was there, though, so we only stayed for about 20 minutes. Still nice to get outside for a little while, especially after like 15 hours in the theater yesterday. I talked to Aunt Cathrine and Peggy and Rosina and now it’s 10pm and I am just settling for the first time all day. Whew.
Tag: sky
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May 31
It was a busy day. Robin had her fifth grade graduation in the morning, then had her first cheerleading practice at the new gym, and then I met some chorus friends for wine, cheese, and a river sunset. All very nice. Robin loves her new gym. She said she learned more today than she learned in the entirety of last season. She came home with bruises on her thighs from snapping her arms to her side and she was thoroughly proud of them. She worked hard and loved it. Two other people from her old team are on her new team, so that’s nice too. Her old coach is also at the new gym, though not coaching her team, so on the whole it looks like this will be a good arrangement. And then Christina got her invitation to join next year’s dance team… It’s going to be a busy, expensive year, but I feel confident that both girls are doing things they love, and that makes it worth it. Now if only I could find something like that for myself.
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May 24
I apprenticed a NAMI family support group tonight, preparing for facilitating at some point. After like 15 hours of training, I learned tonight that the group is not run anywhere near the way I was trained to do it. I brought all the scripts with me and we never even came close to anything even resembling them. It wasn’t ineffective, just nothing like what I expected. I took the long way home and detoured to my favorite park to watch the sunset. I only spent 15 minutes there – couldn’t spare any more than that – but it was 15 minutes of beauty.
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May 19
I took the day off from work to edit photos, and I did so for almost seven hours before my laptop battery died. I am not great with Photoshop. I’m sort of making it up as I go and hoping it doesn’t look too obvious that I tampered with the photos when people print them. Removing people from photos is tedious and difficult, especially when they are standing in front of bushes, fences, and palm trees. Why were they even there in the first place? How dare they go to the beach and invade my photo shoot? But, at least when I’m editing, I’m too focused on that to feel anxious and nauseated. That’s something.
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April 16
More yard work today, followed by a walk to the playground with the girls and dogs. Now cooking dinner and annoyed because a) the grill started up, but by the time I got out with the chicken, it had gone out due to an empty propane tank, b) in going with plan B of baking the chicken, I discovered that Billy put the baking sheets back in the cupboard WITHOUT WASHING THEM, and c) I had to do two days’ worth of dishes just to make counter space for cooking. I am tired and hungry and cranky. Grr.
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April 13
I married Billy 15 years ago today. It has been a long road filled with babies and tremendous loss and suicide and baseball. And, ok, travel and amusement parks and homemade pasta. There have been times I didn’t think we’d see another anniversary, but here we are, celebrating 15 years for better or worse. And it could certainly be worse.
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April 12
Robin finished her state report project today. If I were her teacher, I’d give her a B. Personally, I wouldn’t be satisfied with a B, but Robin seems content with it. Christina, on the other hand, decided she wants to do her own state report. So we went to the library and took out a bunch of books and she has already started taking notes, collecting all the required information. These two are like night and day sometimes.
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April 7
The kids had the day off from school, so at the last minute I decided to take the day off too. I took the kids to get sandwiches and we went to Walter Jones Park, where we played card games while squirrels tried their best to see what food we might have for them. Then I took the kids to the beach. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside and we sure did make the most of it.
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March 27
Thought I’d already uploaded this one. Guess not. My favorite part of this shot is the appearance of Venus. It’s nice to think that as big as this world seems to be sometimes, it’s just a speck in the universe. People on Venus are probably staring at our little glowing speck in the sky, wondering what we see when we gaze back at them.
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March 25
It’s been a busy day of keeping the kids out of the house so Billy can sleep, preparing for various church-related obligations, and now a concert. It’s the last one of the season, which is both a relief and a disappointment.
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March 7
I finally started feeling a little better yesterday. The day got away from me a little bit, but I managed to get some things done. Everything but the dishes. And the floors. But I’ll take it.
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February 23
The marathon of my life continues. A bunch of people backed out of tonight’s church class (that I’m leading) at the last minute and I was so exhausted, I just wanted to cancel it. But there wasn’t enough time to let everyone know before it started. So I went reluctantly and said I’d just plod through. In the end, it was a really good class and I left feeling more energized than I went in (which admittedly wasn’t so hard). As much as I complain about being overwhelmingly busy, I guess it’s good that I am busy. I feel more motivated to do even more things, like get some of my writing published and maybe even make that lucrative enough to quit my “temp” job that I’ve been in for almost 17 years and have never enjoyed. Of course that means I have to write and I have to find publishers who might like my writing, which means even more work, but I guess I might as well ride this motivation wave for as long as it lasts.
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February 16
Dealing with childcare is incredibly anxiety-inducing for me. I spent an entire hour at tonight’s chorus rehearsal panicking over whether I’d need a babysitter and then whether she’d be available if I did need her, and then when I thought she couldn’t come, I started planning what to do if I didn’t get home before Billy had to go to work, and then after all that, we finished in about 15 minutes and I made it home just in time. I seriously can’t do this anymore. I love singing with the chorus, but the stress is killing me.
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February 3
It has been a rough week. A lot of tears, a lot of angst, a lot of trudging through endless emotional muck. February is not my favorite month.
Year in Photos 