We made it through the second week of school with a lot fewer breakdowns! I’d say this has probably been the easiest transitional beginning school period we’ve ever had. Which is surprising with Caden at a new school and Shepard without his big brother to depend on. I’ve even had a pretty easy time transitioning into my own routines again, without feeling like my life has drastically changed. I like it!
Unfortunately, it still wasn’t quite a “normal” week. September is never normal since I’m usually preparing for birthday parties on more than one weekend. Which basically means a ton of running around trying to gather everything I need. My sewing always falls to the wayside, which is frustrating, but I don’t really know what to do about it. I think I just need to accept I’m never going to be as productive as I hope to be in September. Hopefully I can make up for it in October?
On Monday, I began my morning with that two week yoga challenge. It felt great to get it over with first thing in the morning and I was loving how I felt. But by Wednesday I was getting super sore, mostly my ankles, and wasn’t sure if I should power through or not. I don’t think I was actually injuring myself, but it was getting a lot harder to walk and feel good. By the end of the week I wasn’t feeling the greatest either, so the last few days have been very half-hearted attempts. I really want to complete this challenge, but I lost my enthusiasm for it after four days.
I tried going for another long walk after getting the boys to school, but that hasn’t gone very well either this week. The stupid mosquitoes!! There are honestly like twenty mosquitoes on your body at all times the second you walk out the door. It’s an absolute nightmare. And it makes me want to cry how beautiful the weather has otherwise been, but we’re all missing it because the mosquitoes are out to kill. 🙁 And poor Annie! She’s only getting out to the bathroom the absolute bare minimum of times every day, with almost no additional exercise. I walk her with us to school every morning, but then I rush her home as fast as possible because every time she stops to sniff or go to the bathroom, I’m attacked by ten times more mosquitoes. She probably feels like she’s being punished.
I ran to Walmart for some groceries and then stopped at my mom’s to drop off a few condolence gifts I picked up in Chicago. We had coffee together and then I came back home to try and catch up on all kinds of random stuff I had waiting for me. I hung up this big sign I got at the vintage market at the bottom of my stairs – I love it! I was going to hang up my colorful signs in my sewing room too, but realized they didn’t come with any picture hanger thingys. So I need to figure out where to buy those before they can get on the wall.
The rest of Monday I napped, worked a little bit, Greg took Caden to his first Lego League – an hour late because I never got the memo the time changed – and just laid around because I wasn’t feeling that good. I really haven’t been feeling the greatest all week. Not sick enough to be bedridden or anything, but enough to make every job a little harder and motivation much harder to muster up.
Tuesday I was bound and determined to actually get some work done. But I also had yoga, quiet time, school send off, errands at the post office and library, and I stopped in at a local morning coffee, but people who said they would be there were not and I was frustrated and sick of how often people think my time is invaluable, so I left. I don’t have time for people that waste my time anymore. Or time for people that have zero interest in maintaining a friendship. I went back home and worked, worked, worked, and still went to bed feeling incredibly frustrated with how little I actually got done. I feel like I used to sew so much faster! Am I being more of a perfectionist now? Or am I just plain slower??
I ordered this new bench ottoman type thing from Kohl’s with a bunch of Kohl’s cash I needed to use last week. It ended up being super cheap. I was hoping it would fit in our bedroom, but there’s definitely no space for any extra furniture. So I put it in the family room, hoping it might make the space a little happier. Instead it just looks more cluttered than ever. I’m really not a fan of that room. But I don’t know what to do to make it any better. It serves as our dining room, our main living/tv watching/video game playing space, the electronic charging station, the room we walk in and out of all the time and dump all of our shoes, coats, and bags, Greg’s office area, and where Annie’s kennel and toys and food are kept. How do you arrange a room that has to fit so many purposes? Anyway, the boys and pets love the new stool. I’d like it more if they’d actually keep it in one spot. I don’t know why everything I neatly arrange has to be moved and cluttered about two minutes after I arrange it EVERY SINGLE TIME.
I went to the fall opening of one of my favorite stores, Twisted Sisters, on Wednesday morning. I’m finding that I like the things they sell there less and less, but I always enjoy looking around. I ended up buying a few stems of fake fall flowers. Then back home to work.
On Wednesday evening we met Greg’s parents at the new restaurant/bowling alley/arcade in town, Fast Lanes. We were celebrating Caden’s birthday with them because they’re off to Greece for the next two weeks and won’t be around for the party. I’ve been dying to check the restaurant out since it opened. I ended up just ordering the basic chicken sandwich and garlic tater tots. My only complaint is that none of the food was very hot, but it still tasted good.
We came back to our house for presents and cupcakes. Caden was super excited about a new video game and his very own RED portable charger! We’ve reached the age where gifts are much smaller in size and much bigger dents in the wallet!
His first 10th birthday dessert. It was a fun night!
Thursday was another big work day. I’m hoping maybe if I force myself to work and only work 2-3 days a week it will ease up some of the guilt I feel on busier days. It still wasn’t super productive, though, because I was super tired. Getting up at 4:30 every day to fit in my full morning routine is awesome, but I always pay for it by late morning which sucks. I forget how productive I was in those early hours and just end up mad at myself for how little I got done later on.
I was originally planning to go to that Madison Night Market, which looked so awesome. But by afternoon I was really feeling like my time would better be spent working and getting ready for the big weekend. Plus, it kind of sucks always going to these events by myself. I just wasn’t up for another one. Anyway, Greg offered to pick up a pizza from the other new restaurant in town, James Street Pizza. I was a little annoyed to see that they don’t let you change anything on any of their menu pizzas. (Almost all of them had onions, which is pretty much the most annoying topping to have to try and dig out before eating and we both hate them.) We could have built our own, but it would have been New York Style, and I really wanted to try their Old World Style with the fresh mozzarella. So we landed on the least offensive pizza choice and I just picked off the sausage. I think it would have tasted amazing with some pepperoni, but I did really like the pizza otherwise!
This is Caden’s new favorite reading position. Annie had to try it out on Friday morning. 🙂
I woke up super early on Friday, but was really stressed about my lack of doll progress, so I used the morning to work instead of do yoga. I wasn’t feeling very well all day, so it’s the first day I skipped a video completely. There was just so much to do! Shepard decided to pull a fake out sick tantrum when we got to school so Greg gave in and let him come home. Except he admitted like two minutes later he didn’t want to go to school because they had a substitute teacher who is really mean. TOTALLY faking the sickness. I was pretty livid, but I also had party running errands I needed to do, so I left Greg to deal with it. He ended up bringing Shepard back to school mid morning.
My main mission Friday was to get a ton of different donut holes and pick up everything else I needed for Caden’s birthday party without needing to run back out last minute. I think I succeeded! (I have two more hours to realize I might have forgotten something.) Then back home, a nap, and more work.
The facebook book club I’m in is doing a fall readathon this weekend. Despite it not being the best of weekends to making reading a priority, I decided to join in the fun because there was no hour requirement this time around. And I’m actually really glad I decided to partake because it’s made this weekend so much more fun and relaxing than it could have been! With a lot of Greg’s help doing house cleaning, I’ve had more time than ever to just read the last two days. I think that mentally I really needed to put my dolls aside and only focus on party prep and reading. I kind of want to do this every weekend now. It’s been great doing all the facebook related prompts too, with the reading group. I love being around other book lovers, even if it’s only through my computer.
Saturday was the big party prep day. Again, I was planning to go to the farmer’s market, but made the decision to skip out. Maybe next Saturday. Hopefully next Saturday. 🙂 This was the right choice, though. The boys had some friends over and at first we said they couldn’t come inside because we were cleaning. The mosquitoes were eating them alive, so then we said they could come in if they helped clean. Which they all willingly did, which was kind of hilarious.
We’re taking it pretty easy with this breakfast themed birthday party, so the only real baking I had to do was making apple cheddar scones. I also had to make a couple packages of bacon, cheesy hashbrowns, and sausage. Lots of little prep, but nothing unmanageable or stressful. Caden’s birthday cake is this donut “croquembouche.” (Thanks for the idea, Great British Baking Show!) It turned out pretty well!
Anyway, I’m off now to finish everything up for the party and then HAVE the party. More later!!
