A Day Off?!

I sometimes fantasize about what I wold do if I have no responsibilities and my "real life" just evaporated, leaving me free to do whatever I wanted. Well, today that dream is coming true...until 4 PM that is when I have to pick up kids again.

The trouble with this otherwise perfect scenario is WHAT DO I DO NOW?

Genius Golfer is playing the first day of this weekend's Play 2 of 3 Days Gold Tournament. He will be all day long. The Girl and The Boy are volunteering at the therapeutic horse place they go to with neighbor friend Nicole. They won't be done there until 4.

So what shall I do?

There is always a lot I SHOULD do, but I don't want to do that today. Maybe I will call a long lost friend and go to lunch. Maybe hit a movie I wanted to see that no one wants to go to with me. Maybe I will crawl back into bed and unplug the phone. Maybe I will curl up in a patio chair and read to my heart's content.

Obviously, I need more practice to really perfect the "day off" situation.

Losing Stream

Today is finally Friday. Man, what a long week it has been. I am drained, physically and mentally. I still face the last day of Junior High sucker sales for PTA today, tiring in and of itself some days. Next week is going to ramp up as well; it always does.



Maybe that is why I like the sentiment in this comic. For Better or Worse, written by Lynn Johnston is a classic newspaper comic about family life.

In case you can't read it, it says:
Friend: You've know Connie for along time.
Ellie: Since University.
E: I was going to teach English and she was studying radiology. Then she went off to work in South America and me?...well...I got married.
E: Connie thinks my life is perfect because I have a husband, and I envy hers 'cause she has a career.
F: Raising kids is a career, El. Ally our knowledge skill and expertise you pour into your children.
E: True. Maybe that is why I feel empty sometimes.

It isn't just the kids who can make me feel drained. I keep trying to tell myself it is because school is nearly out, or because I am cutting my Diet Coke intake dramatically (gasp!) or because I am trying to walk more each day. But ultimately, life is making me tired.

I suppose that is how it should be. I am doing PTA, Young Women, helping Tammy, serving my family, teaching kids, raising leaders, and trying to be a good, fun friend. Check back on me in a week or two. Maybe then summer will have kick started me and filled me with energy and excitement, or at least made me less tired.

Yeah. I can't be sure of that either. But tired from swimming is very different from tired from life.

Cute, Right?!

Yesterday I had a Strawberry Days photo shot, of sorts. I am still quite new to this and want to do what they want but not sure exactly what that is. We had an idea that this shoot yesterday was a Pepsi product placement shoot, like an advertisement with a Strawberry Days bent.

I met most of the group at the Rodeo Ground and took photos of the "wild cow milking" team of cowboys--great guys by the way. Very funny, and somewhat charming in their "aw, shucks" sort of way. Then while we waited for the Rodeo queen I met Holden, a five year old cowboy, and his cousins Hadley and little Beau. Holden was a pro! He easily could be the face of the Strawberry Days Rodeo, no problem! Little Beau was not so easily persuaded.

Finally Dad came and Beau was satisfied again. This is him above with his dad. How cute is this boy?

Maybe I have been reading Pioneer Woman's blog too long, but there is nothing cuter than a little kid in his jeans and a cowboy hat with all the sincerity in the world, just being a cowboy.

Makes me miss The Boy, back in the day, with his stick horse, MerryLegs.

Exhausting, I Tell You

I have been given the responsibility (read: thrown under the bus) of selecting and teaching a bunch of sixth graders a song they will in turn perform at their graduation. Tuesday was day two of the teaching bit. I spent about 40 minutes with them. Luckily they are familiar with the song, Real Gone from the Cars movie soundtrack. I am just trying to add in the right amount of jumping and air guitar. Did I mention this is a rather more-irreverent song choice than they have done before?! I thought that might help these hooligans, I mean 6th graders.

I go back today and then a couple times next week, and they perform it on Thursday. I can already feel the need for a nap.

It's Either Thursdays or Nuts

I heard in a movie once a line that has kind of stuck with me: "If life weren't a little nuts, it would just be a line of Thursdays."

Doesn't that make you feel better? At least it gives me an explanation for the WHY questions I seem to always be asking. Though this reasoning is very shallow, it is at least some reason.

The last two weeks of school are seemingly pointless, from a parent's perspective. The Girl has already turned in text books. The Boy is finished with their end-of-year testing. What do the teachers do with these guys for 8 days?

At least The Girl's art teacher is still having them work, but then again, it is art class. They are water coloring a landscape image they had to find in a magazine. Still, that is something.

The Boy is being forced to learn a song (with ME teaching it) along with all the 6th graders who are willing, that they will sing at their "graduation" celebration. They also have to work on their dance for the dance festival. Brainiacs, I tell you.

I completely "get" that the teachers have come to the end of their ropes, and the end of the curriculum. I understand that they need to process the test data and clean up. But two weeks? That seems nuts to me.

I suppose that is the point, right? Otherwise it would just be like a pile of Thursdays.

Begatting Bloggers

Last night, either in an attempt to stall the inevitable bedtime, or because they really want to do it, both kids asked to set up a blog. As of now they are tightly private, but I set the rules about not using real names, and not saying anything you wouldn't say to some one's face, and giving no clues about who they are or where they live. As far as I can tell, so far so good on the rules.

I know there are some other classmates of my kids that blog--generally these are creative writing buffs who spin their tales online in an effort to come up with a first novel type of fiction. Good for them for writing! I am not sure that my kids will be using the medium of the same purposes.

Maybe they have a need to express themselves, or just a good excuse to stay up later. (You know, Mom does it!) Either way, I am glad they wanted to try something new. It is becoming exhausting trying to stay ahead of them, I must say.

Keeping them safe and out of danger all the time is impossible, I know, but I cannot feel good about any idea where I could have set them up more safely and then I didn't. So no one will be reading their work, as yet. We are in the probationary writer's framework, yet. We'll see how they do before unleashing them on you--our friends and family. I'll keep you posted.

Behold

Sunday should be a day of rest, but it has meant wrestling with my computer and Genius Golfer wrestling with my printer. So, here is a late-day posting with a Sunday appropriate message.