Summer recap (aka I'm Still Here!)

I don't really have anything special to say, but I was starting to get embarrassed by how long it's been since I posted anything. Summer recap maybe? OK, that'll work.

We've been very busy and will continue to be very busy right up until Madeline goes back to school on the NINTH of August. (That's right, the 9th. Has anyone ever heard of a school district starting that early? yeah, me neither) We had a lazy first couple weeks of June, knowing that it was going to be the only real stretch of inactivity the entire summer. I started the second session of teacher training on the 10th, just in time for Clark to head to Idaho for a job interview. It was stressful starting out on a 6 month commitment without knowing if we were actually going to be here for it. Clark assured me that we'd figure out a way to work it out, if it became an issue (i.e. if he got the job), but that probably would have entailed me staying in Albuquerque by myself with the kids for a couple months, which really didn't sound appealing. He didn't get the job though, which really bummed him out, but I got to heave a sigh of relief.

Since I brought up the job situation, it's kindof sucking again. The Evil Boss has officially left the building (thank god), which leaves Clark as the interim president, which, although it sounds fancy and cool, really isn't. He's having to make decisions as the president, without knowing if he's going to continue in that position, or be bumped back to vice president. Not to mention managing an office full of people who are acting like post traumatic stress victims. Everyone is paranoid, and no one knows what's going to happen next. He's turned in a resume for the job, but is worried that Former Evil Boss has left such a stain on the organization that the board of directors is going to be wary of promoting from within. Oh, yeah, and he's trying to continue doing his job, while also filling in the blanks left by EB leaving, which is basically two upper level managerial positions being filled by one person. The true irony of the situation is that I'm finally feeling really happy being in Albuquerque, and he's ready to leave if he doesn't get the promotion. big sigh. So, everyone cross your fingers that he gets the job, cause I'm really not ready to move again right now.

On to happier subjects. The kids. They're both doing pretty great. Their first big activity of the summer was swimming lessons. I enrolled both of them in group lessons at Clark's gym. Thirty minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks. I was pretty optimistic that Madeline would go for it, since she's been getting more adventurous in the water, and in general has been having a better attitude about new activities (anyone remember the ballet debacle from last summer?). I was really worried about Zach though. Especially since he hasn't really participated in any kind of group activity yet, and tends to stress about new things, and when those new things might require getting his face wet, watch out. The boy surprised me. He went right to his teacher, got right in the water, and didn't fuss once. My plan of attack was drop them off the first day and leave, so that no one would be putting on a show for me. I told them what I was going to do, and that I would be back when they were done, then I left, walked up to the front of the gym to buy cookies and water from the vending machine, and came back and watched from behind a tree so they wouldn't see me. So sneaky. I think it really helped though, and it ended up being a good experience for everyone.

The weekend between the two weeks of swimming lessons, I went to Cedar for Paul and Jen's wedding. Missuz J already covered a bunch of that, so I won't bore anyone by repeating, but I had SUCH a great time. It was exactly the break I needed. I gotta say, I really like traveling by myself. I can read, listen to whatever I want in the car, at whatever volume I want, and eat hot food in restaurants instead of having to cut pancakes or pour ketchup first. I enjoyed helping with all the flowers, even though it did cut into my socializing time a little. But, hey, I was there for the wedding, and I got to be a part of it, which was touching and sweet. LOTS of love went into those flower arrangements, LOTS.

Unfortunately, I missed a ton of yoga stuff being gone that weekend. Originally, I had thought I'd miss one Saturday afternoon session (4 hours, which I could make up in about an hour privately with the teacher). It turned out that I missed 2 weekly classes, the Saturday session, a 6 hour special workshop on Sunday, and a study group session. Yikes. So, when Clark got a wild hair and decided to bail out of town back to Cedar for the 4th of July weekend with the kids, I got to stay home and make up yoga classes. It was trippy to have the whole house to myself for, I think it was 5 days. I haven't done that in, literally, years. Before I had Madeline. The silence, the sleeping in, the cleaning staying cleaned for more than 2 minutes... heaven. I missed my sweeties horribly though, and was happy to have them back when they came home.

This week Madeline had nature camp. They do some great camps, both at the zoo, and at the aquarium/botanical gardens. We were too late for the zoo camps, since apparently they fill up in March, and while I was on the ball this year, I wasn't THAT on the ball, but she's loving it, so that's all that counts. I put her in the morning session, even though it meant we had to be up and ready and out the door by 8am, since I wasn't heartless enough to saddle her with being out in the desert heat in the afternoons. The morning thing totally worked out though, because this week we started a big project at the house... dum da da! The back yard!

Our backyard sucks. When we bought the house, there was an old, broken, nasty pool in the backyard, bordered by concrete and grey landscaping rock, and that was it. Nothing green, nothing growing. Considering the other options we were looking at for housing though, it really was the best choice. The former owners were nice enough to fill in the pool with dirt (mostly to avoid dealing with a pool inspection I think), but concrete pool border filled with dirt was preferable to giant hole, so we rolled with it. Now, the time has come to deconstruct what's going on back there and hopefully create something better. My dear friend Vic (old buddy from college who happens to live in Albuquerque now, have I mentioned Vic before?) is doing most of the grunt work. He and I spent two days this week shoveling landscaping rocks into big piles in the front and side yards. Tomorrow we rent the concrete cutting saw, and start wreaking havoc. And, back to the early morning thing I mentioned in the previous paragraph, in Albuquerque, in July, you want to get as much work in as early as possible, since we're hitting the 80's by 10am, and the 90's by noon. So, getting up early, while I hate it, has been a necessary thing this week.

Oh yeah, I'm also painting the master bathroom this week. I bought paint and got started while the kidlets were in Utah, but it's taking me much longer than I thought, so I've been shovelling rocks in the morning, and painting in the afternoon. Good Times. I must be in better shape than I thought though, cause I haven't been horribly sore. I mean, I can feel that I'm working different muscles than I'm used to, and can feel them fatigue, but I seriously thought after the first day of shoveling that I wouldn't be able to get up the next day, and tada! I'm up. I'm hoping to get it done this afternoon. I really need to get new batteries for the digital, so I can post some pictures of my projects.

The rest of the summer should look something like this: Clark's gone to Europe for work until the 23rd, left at 5am this morning, poor baby; Mom and Beck and Soph will be here the 19th for a week, staying with us, and helping celebrate Madeline's birthday on the 21st; a few days to recuperate, then off to Yosemite to stay with Grandma Pat (Clark's mom) and play in the river before it's back to school time. I'm going to be so behind on yoga by the time school starts it'll take me a month to catch up. Definitely lost some momentum in that department, but I'm not too worried. I think that when Zach starts preschool in September, I should be able to pack in at least 4 classes a week, that'll catch me up fast.

I'll try to stop slacking quite so much, this was fun. I've been going back and forth about why I'm blogging, and who my audience is (am I doing it for myself? or for other people to read? I'm not so sure), but I think either way, and even if I don't know the answer to that question, it's still a good thing. Namaste.