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| First day of 8th grader. |
Tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation and I have a lot of thoughts about it. But first, let's talk about the second to last day of summer vacation. Tuesday night, Will and I were up watching the Rockies game and I started to have a bad headache. It turned into one of the worst headaches I've ever had and I even woke up Glenn to get some help. My forehead was aching and I felt so queasy and of course my brain went immediately to "I have a brain tumor and there's brain fluid leaking out of my nose." I'm pretty rational at 11:00 p.m. The next day I realized that I probably had a sinus infection. I tried a bunch of over the counter stuff yesterday but was still feeling droopy so I went to the doctor today. It turns out, you have to have two weeks of a sinus infection before they will prescribe antibiotics so I have 10 more days to go. I did pick up some more OTC meds that are helping. While I was at the doctor's office, the PA discovered that one of my ears was completely blocked with wax. Does this blog get anymore glamorous? So after two rounds of ear wax treatment and an unspeakable amount of wax pulled out of my ear, I'm happy to report that I can hear everyone grumbling and complaining about the lack of snacks in our house so much more clearly. I still have a headache so the ear wax isn't completely to blame for my condition but at least my ear canal is clear. And who knows, when I get on the scale tomorrow, maybe I'll have a lost a pound or two. Of ear wax. How's that for a visual?
All grumbling about snacks aside, we have had a pretty sweet week together. It's still hotter than necessary for the last week of August in Cheyenne but we had some rain today and the forecast shows things cooling off. Will is tired from football practice and Reina has had some time with aunt and cousins this week and she and I tried to make a doll's outfit on the sewing machine yesterday. Let's just say that we hope outfit #2 turns out better.
Glenn and I walked Charlie tonight and talked about this summer wrapping up. As hard as it's been with everything going on in the world and the worries about getting sick or someone we love getting sick and all of the TOGETHERNESS, this has really been one of my most significant summers of being a parent. I feel like I've really gotten to know the kids on a different level. Maybe that would have happened if it had been a normal summer. 13-yr olds and 11-yr olds are pretty cool - there's a lot of good stuff going on there. We've developed little patterns - Will and I watch baseball, Reina and I take Charlie out for what she calls his midnight walks. It's more like 8:15 p.m. but who's counting. Will keeps me updated on his fantasy football team and Reina and I read the same books. Glenn's here too - practicing tackling drills with Will in the backyard and letting Reina stay up until 10:00 p.m. watching a documentary on Nefertiti. We've cooked more meals than I care to count and the dishwasher is always running.
It's not all peaches and cream - there have been fights about electronics, differing opinions about the role of the police (really) and most nights end with me saying to one or both of the darling monsters, "I love you but I really really need to not talk to anyone right now." But we have made our way through it.
The kids go back to their school buildings on Monday. Most 'experts' (other parents, teachers and the nurses at the doctor's office today) agree that they probably won't be in school long. I've read the school district's plan for keeping everyone COVID-free and I'd say there's a pretty good chance that they'll be online-schooling from home sometime this fall, but on Monday we will embrace a little bit of normalcy, even if it's just for a day.
It's another Monday. We had a busy weekend with projects, a visit to the in-laws, a trip to the farmers' market, canned some pickled beets, sweated in the 90 degree weather and brought home three new chickens. It's a good night for a blog post - list style.
1. Glenn woke up Sunday morning and announced, "we are getting three new chickens today." Okay then. We stopped at the poultry swap and picked out three pullets, a leghorn, an easter egger and some blend that I can't remember. Two are mostly white so Reina named them Snow and Oreo (has a few black feathers.) The third chicken is white and red and Reina suggested "Ginger" but Will wanted the opportunity to name one. Her name was "the chicken to be named later" for a day and a half and today Will decided on Solomen (with an E - I asked), named after his Madden 20 quarterback. Naturally. I could write paragraphs about how Glenn spent an hour building them their own enclosure so that they could be kept separated from our current chickens and then in about 5 minutes, they flew over the coop and explored the yard.... but I won't. So far everyone is being chill except for Charlie who would really like to see what the new chickens taste like.
2. School starts one week from today! I'm more excited about the forecast for next Monday which is currently predicted to be 67 degrees. Please please please.
3. Reina got a haircut today, several inches off the length and shorter bangs. It looks cute and fresh and a good start for the school year.
4. I read an article about a shortage of canning supplies this summer because more people are home doing crafts and making jams and jelly. I'm running a little short on lids so I did a quick google search and it looks like the article was right. I have about 30 lids and twice as many jars right now but if all else fails, I'll just buy more jars that come with lids. What a weird but also typically-2020 problem to run into. Maybe I can trade some toilet paper or Clorox wipes for canning lids?
5. Wyoming has about 3600 COVID-19 cases tonight and 37 deaths.
I've had the urge to write on the blog lately, even though there really isn't anything new to report. We are still preparing for the kids to go back to their school buildings on August 31. We've received a little more guidance about what the school days will look like, although I'm still waiting to hear more about elementary plans. I just looked up the plan online - masks in the hallways and in common areas. Cold lunch but they'd like everything to be able to be thrown away (but I'm trying to have more reusable containers!), no drinking fountains so water bottles are a must.
Back to our planning, all of the school supplies are bought and waiting in backpacks. Reina just informed me that she wants to trim her bangs again before school starts so we'll add that to the list. (I trimmed them earlier in the summer after a very careful Youtube search and a couple of helpful videos.) Will has ordered every single pair of Nike pants currently in production - that's what it feels like anyway - so once those come in the mail, he should be all set.
Will finished his third day of football practice. It's been a warm week but the weather cooperated today with practice moved to the afternoon. It rained for like two minutes but it was cloudy and everything cooled off. I'm ready for fall weather. That's one drawback to not being in the office this summer - no air conditioning!
Charlie got to go to the field tonight for a walk. It may be anecdotal evidence, but so far on the nights he goes to the field, he sleeps all night in his kennel. We are back into the days of toddlerhood (puppy edition). Will he sleep through the night? Will he wake up at three because he's lonely and make his sad warbling noise that gets louder and louder until someone comes and gets him? If I let him outside at 3:00 a.m. to go potty, he'll go back in the kennel but only after I offer him a dog biscuit. As certain people have pointed out recently, he's training me well. Charlie is zonked out on the rug right now so maybe this will be a sleep-through-the-night night.
Night night from me, too.
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| Hip Hop 2. They danced to the Pokeman theme and it was a lot of fun - very energetic and animated. |
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| The Ballet song was from Hercules and they were dressed as Greek goddesses. It was really pretty and Reina's really learning how to leap. That's our girl in the middle. |
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| Jazz 2 danced to a song from The Greatest Showman. This was my favorite outfit and Reina is so close to nailing her splits. |
I took a bunch of pictures but these were the only three that are even slightly publish-able. I was sitting too far away to capture the action shots and there are a lot of blurry faces. Reina requested that I put this one up because she thinks she looks like Bigfoot.
This week is a whirlwind of mostly good stuff but a lot of *stuff* happening. We are less than two weeks away from school starting. I think - the school board was meeting tonight but I had to run Reina to dress rehearsals for dance and then decided to give my sanity a break and read the highlights tomorrow instead of listening to it. Will had another pre-tryouts baseball practice tonight. He wasn't happy with how he played so we spent part of the night talking about playing fall baseball so he can keep working or just focus on football. He and I did this while simultaneously watching the Rockies who almost blew a 6-run game in the 9th inning but thankfully (for both my sanity and Will's) won the game. Reina and I took a late evening walk with Charlie which is becoming our new tradition. Glenn was here too - just doing chores and looking for side-by-sides online and running Will back and forth to baseball.
It feels like we are all a little on edge. It's almost like it was when all of this first started. I think the uncertainty of the next few weeks is affecting us. Will there be middle school football? Will the kids make it through a week of school before getting sent home? Will we all stay healthy? One day at a time. Tomorrow the cousins are coming over and that's what we'll focus on right now.
I keep dreaming about going to back to the office. In one dream I was really worried about being around too many people. In the second dream, my boss had brought in a cat and said that we could keep it in the office. That was super exciting (for me) especially since it was an African Serval cat (google it). At our staff meeting the next morning (in real life), I floated the idea to my boss and co-workers. Shockingly, it wasn't greeted with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it would really help with social distancing.... if I had an actual wild animal in my office.
We found out yesterday that the Wyo Cowboy football season has been pushed back or possibly canceled. I hadn't cried about COVID related stuff in at least a month but I have to admit that it brought about a few tears of disappointment. I completely respect the need to keep players safe and the uncertainty of the long term health effects that may occur but dangit. I think I needed football on Saturdays to make me feel like things were getting back to normal even though they really aren't. I'm also mad that we as a society couldn't come together and get this thing figured out.
So instead of ending this point on an even more downer moment, here's a Charlie story. I took Charlie on a walk over the lunch hour. He's getting braver about being out in public and even a little friendly with other dogs we meet. It was warm at noon but he and I walked for a while. Finally he laid down under a tree to signify that he was done with the walk. The only problem was that the tree wasn't in our yard and we were about a mile from home. Nice try Chuck.
Another summer weekend wraps up. Without baseball, you'd think we'd have a lot more free time. We did have a baseball bbq yesterday and it was fun to see everybody one more time before summer ends. Will socially distanced himself from us and hung out with his teammates because of course he did. Grumpiness aside, I'm glad he likes his teammates and I hope they all have the chance to play together again next summer.
Glenn started staining our deck which he did a few summers ago but the kids and I were out of town at the time. Its a messy project but he does a good job. We are truly running out of home projects which is shocking.
Will was supposed to read the lesson during today's Zoom church service. Even though my computer uses Zoom every day during the week for work, today it decided to have the microphone be all wonky (technical term) so after a few tries, our Pastor had to take over. I sent a message apologizing for the technology and she wrote back that my computer must be observing the Sabbath. We both agreed that who knew it was so devout?
The rest of the day involved baths for all three dogs, some weird cleaning projects and my latest craft project - reusable gift bags. I like sewing stuff that has straight lines.
One last bit of good news. I discovered the Otter Pops that I've been snacking on all summer are only 90 calories for SIX pops. I thought they were 90 calories each. This is big news and guess what's for breakfast?
Two weeks tomorrow until the possible first day of school. Stay tuned.
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| Glenn rarely sits in our chairs when Will is up to bat or on deck. He and my dad migrate to the bleachers or behind home plate. Here's Glenn wandering back after Will got on first base. |
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| Will on first base. |
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| Will and teammate chilling in the dugout. |
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| Base running |
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| Look at those wheels. |
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| Last at-bat. |
