Summer vacation isn’t even here yet and already I am hearing I’m bored. Allie Some people in this house might not survive until September. I offered some suggestions, but they were turned down.

And it confuses me. I thought I had some really great ideas. They included:

Painting the house.
Cleaning some one’s room.
Giving the dog a bath.
Reading a book.
Playing in their room with a few million toys.
Playing outside
Playing in the basement
Riding a bike or scooter
Cleaning the bathroom
Sweeping the floors
Changing your sister’s diaper

None of the above worked, so I took out the heavy guns:

If there is nothing in this house to amuse you, I will clean out your room with a trash bag so you are not bothered by all that “stuff”.

It bought me 30 minutes of quiet. And a quick happy dance that there is still 2 days of school left.

With the hurry, the worry and the well crap of the week it is nice to join Kristi and Joy in remembering that good things happen every week. Not that this was a bad week. Just a busy one where I got too caught up in juggling.



Here is this week’s top-10 things Kerri is thankful for this week:

10. Kate for letting me know there were still Buffett tickets available. Although I had to pass, it was so awesome to hear from her.

9. The nephew and almost-niece that came down this weekend to visit.

8. Summer is officially here with our first fire of the season.

7. That Boo was in bed and her sneakers didn’t end up in the fire pit.

6. I completed that 5k.  I did not come in last nor did I eat any bugs.

5. The friends that let us intrude on their family gatherings. (Oh we are so intruding on your upcoming vacation too)

4. That there are still 2 and a half days of school left before I have to figure out how to entertain the girls.

3. Tuukka Rask, without him the loss would have been much more embarrassing. I will be more thankful next week if we manage to win the Cup.

2. That Boo is having a language explosion. She is becoming much easier to understand, gaining words and feeling so much less frustration.

1. That it has been 2 months since my last Diet Coke and I am no longer feeling the effects of withdrawal!

What about you? Name one thing you are thankful for this week!
 

It is Friday and I am joining Lisa-Jo Baker for her 5-minute prompt. Ready, set and off we go…


Start

I thought I found my rhythm. I thought I was going to be alone and ready to make a life-change/move out of my comfort zone. Then I met my husband and my rhythm changed from a single woman to a couple. Putting another’s needs before my own. We added a dog to our little house and life was good.

Eons later, just after I found my couple rhythm we got married. You would think that nothing would have changed from live-in couple to spouse. But it does. All of a sudden I was thinking long-term and making plans. Just as we found that rhythm Allie was born.

Holy crap there is nothing like adding a newborn to completely make you lose your rhythm. I floundered for a while. Not really understanding the whole wife/mother/worker role. It was difficult, I didn’t bond right away with Allie because I was so nervous I was going to screw up. But I didn’t screw up too badly (she survived). I found my best rhythm when she was a toddler. When she was no longer breakable and I could understand her needs. There is nothing like vocabulary to settle your rhythm. No longer wondering what the heck does this thing want? (Yes, I called her a thing)

We were nicely in our groove with dog, child and spouse. A new job and college degree for me. Motoring on for half a decade without any real issues. We built a house, had to establish a new routine for preschool / work /mom / spouse. Then unexpectedly there was Boo.

Holy crap, I thought one child was hard to get use to? Having two was a wake-up call. Add a child with unexpected health issues to the mix and our rhythm of the family was completely evolved. But we found our rhythm in those early months. Allie learned how to prevent Boo from choking. We freaked people out at parties with our laid-back attitude to Boo’s vomiting. Just wear a towel if you want to hold her we would say. As Boo stabilized and we were no longer on alert, our rhythm changed yet again. I also got a lot more sleep, which probably helped.

Then the dog died and a part of my husband’s rhythm was lost. Then we added a puppy and holy crap what was I thinking.

But through it all we’ve maintained our groove of our family. I may not be able to dance or sing (according to the thing) but we have managed to all survive this experience we call life. We may not always be in sync but we are all following the same tune.

Although I admit to being a tad nervous of whatever is lurking around the corner to put me off my rhythm again!

STOP

I have gone to quite a few concerts in my life.  Really, in my 30’s before that and sadly after, I was not much of a concert goer. In my teens/20’s it just wasn’t something I did a lot of. Now in my 40’s the cost of a babysitter combined with tickets? Forgetaboutit.

As a teen, I only went to two. One was Van Halen without David Lee Roth (disappointment) but my first ever concert was…

Really, pink sweater?

A few weeks later he was able to get tickets and off we went to my first Buffett experience. If you have never experienced a New England Tailgate, think of the craziest bunch of people who may or may not be clothed. Add alcohol, sand, blow-up pools, brownies that may or may not be legal and a zillion barbeques, with a splash of sun. This is how we go to concerts up here (and Patriots games). Oh there were also inflatable sharks on every 3^rd car, because why wouldn’t you bring pool floats to a parking lot? A completely different experience than Mannilow that is for sure!

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