So I somehow thought this past week was going to be less busy than the week before. I was wrong. I continue to wallow in this state of disbelief over how busy the month of May has been. Every single night – again! Plus plenty of extra things going on during the day too. It’s so exhausting. But it’s almost over. Shockingly, my thoughts have turned and I think I’m actually excited about summer! At least life can’t continue to be THIS crazy, right?!
Last Sunday I was finally able to start the giveaway celebrating six years of doll making. I had around 400 entries and over 12,000 people saw the post. I don’t often pay much attention the stats – I just want to sell my dolls! But it’s cool to think about how many people glanced at this picture. The giveaway, plus an additional discount code on Friday and Saturday, helped make up for weeks of almost no sales. I just wish I could keep up that momentum all the time. My inventory is pretty low at the moment, so I won’t have any more weeks like this until I’m pushing out a lot more dolls.
The only other thing we did of note last Sunday was go on a family bike ride. I mention it because it’s the first time I’ve ridden my bike since I broke my ankle. I was proud of myself for being able to do. But even though we only biked about half an hour, it somehow messed up ankle up really bad. This has been an awful week, pain-wise. I’d say I’m hurting as bad as I did last summer. Which is honestly just really discouraging. Am I ever going to fully heal? The doctor last December didn’t sound that optimistic about it ever feeling better than it did then. And now it feels worse. The first few days I thought maybe it was a good idea to push myself in a different way. A full week later and the pain even worse, I’m thinking biking is no longer going to be part of my future. It sucks.
On Monday I took Annie to the dog park and then spent most of my day in the kitchen making biscuits from this new cookbook I got last month. They turned out amazing! I shouldn’t make them too often, though, because I wanted to eat them at every meal and for snacks in between. Definitely the best biscuits I’ve ever made. I also made aioli and bacon and jalapeno jam and roasted tomatoes to make the blt on the cover of the cookbook. Unfortunately, the biscuits were so delicate they couldn’t hold up to being a sandwich, so it didn’t work out. But everything was still delicious.
Shepard had a soccer game on Monday night. He decided at the last minute he wanted to bike to the park, which meant Greg, Annie, and I had to speed walk to try to keep him in sight. I think it was a big contributing factor to my pain levels this week. Annie was pretty tired too! The soccer game was a lot of fun, though.
Even though the cats LOVE to be by Caden, this is the first time Jack ever settled in on his lap, so he was pretty happy!
Tuesday I tried to get down to business and work as much as I could. Jack, my ever present daytime helper. He knows how much I love brushing cat hair off of everything and fighting to keep him from sneezing on my finished dolls.
This was new! When Jack woke up and realized Annie had snuck up to cuddle with him he moved on to the arm and fell back to sleep.
On Tuesday afternoon Shepard’s class did a poetry reading at the library. It was short and sweet. 🙂 Greg and his parents came to watch too. Nobody can ever say my kids aren’t surrounded by love and support! I think Greg’s parents came to Columbus SEVEN times this week for them. They are fully committed grandparents!
In the evening Caden had a choir/recorder concert. We ate at Culver’s first. The concert was definitely interesting with all those fresh band students. I’m not sure instruments are Caden’s thing, but he sure loved singing!
Posing with his recorder next to his art project.
On Wednesday the boys decided it was about time they started using the breakfast bar at breakfastime. So far they’ve been fully committed each morning!
I worked all morning and then met my friend Deja at the dog park for a playdate. I was able to sneak in a nap back at home after with my favorite nap buddy.
I met the boys on their walk home from school and we went over to the new farmer’s market. It’s not very big yet, but is getting a lot of buzz. The boys both picked out popcorn, fresh squeezed lemonade, and some hot stix. We’re hoping to get some more meat and plants from Shepard’s school’s booth this week. Hopefully we’ll make it a weekly tradition this summer to head over there and see what we can find.
Shepard had his last official soccer game on Wednesday night. It was intense! For a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds, I think they really learned how to work as a team over the month they were together. They still lost every game, but they really improved each time. The coach was amazing and it was a great experience for Shepard.
I was working up until the last minute before the game and was able to get this batch of dolls listed after. They turned out so cute! Patriotic colors, but only two of them were actually patriotic themed. They all sold by Saturday.
I somehow managed to push off my big errand day until Thursday! We normally can’t survive the week unless I go right away on Mondays. I was happy to finally have some Qdoba for lunch too.
Then I picked Shepard up from school early to get his staples removed. It was much less painful than getting them in, he said. Notice he’s wearing such long socks, though – on Wednesday when he was biking to soccer he took a tumble and has some awful bruising on one of his legs. He was just as self conscious of that as he was about his staples. On Sunday night he was crying for hours because he was so worried people would make fun of his head. I talked with his teacher and it ended up being okay. I know he told a couple of people himself, but I don’t think anyone made a big deal out of it. I was surprised at how upset he was when he’s normally purposely doing things to stand out – like with his fancy hair cut and wearing tank tops and shorts in 30 degree weather.
Thursday night the boys went to Grandma’s and Greg and I had an at home date night to celebrate the third anniversary of owning our house. I can’t believe how quickly those three years flew by!
Friday was a no photo day! I worked all morning, took a really long nap, and then basically had an emotional breakdown over how exhausted I am. And stressed out. And angry at myself for never getting enough done yet never having time to do the things I really want to do. May has been filled with so many fun things and great memories, but it’s also killing me. I can’t be this busy. I’m falling apart.
And then we had to go to the last soccer practice – a parents vs kids game. It rained all day so it was held in the gym, drastically shortening the field and making the game that much more intense. I didn’t play, but still managed to get my ankle kicked three times. It was really fun to watch, though. The kids got so aggressive playing against their parents! Caden and one of the other older brothers joined the kids team too and he was having a blast. It was close, but the parents finally let up enough to let the kids have a victory.
Yesterday Greg and the boys went to Cedar Lake with his parents and I stayed home to clean the house and get a bunch of food prepped. I somehow thought I was going to FINALLY have time to work on my writing class – the class I was determined to finish this month and haven’t even opened up one single time. But no, it did not happen. I was able to get a short nap in before Hudson, Timmy, and Brittany came over, though. We realized pretty quickly our house is almost toy-free, so we walked over to the school playground to wear off some energy. It was so hot out, though, so we didn’t last long. It was the first day that truly felt like summer. And even though I HATE summer weather, it was kind of a nice reminder of the fun days that DO happen only during the summer months.
We were reading some books and I wanted to take our required selfie, but he wasn’t that into it lol.
Timmy and Brittany wanted to take a nap and I noticed our neighbors were outside, so we went to join them for a toddler pool and popsicle party. Hudson wasn’t too sure about that for a long time either, but he finally got in the water and was having a great time by the time my boys came back home.
I made chicken tacos for dinner – basically my standard guest/party food since they always taste delicious, can be made ahead of time, and are easy crowd pleasers. I also made watermelon agua fresca! I’ve been obsessed with agua frescas since I had one in DC last fall, but they don’t seem to be a thing at Mexican restaurants around here. Now that I realize how easy they are to make, it might become a regular summer thing. I didn’t take a picture, but I also made edible chocolate chip and fluffernutter cookie doughs for dessert. The fluffernutter was SO GOOD.
We spent the rest of the evening outside, checking out all of the neighbors’ toys. 🙂
Hudson wondering why Caden thinks he needs to hold him down a two foot slide. Caden was loving it, though.
We were able to fit in one cousin pic before they had to leave. Such cuties!
Sunday Intentions
And that brings us to today! Another week. MAYBE a less busy one. After my meltdown on Friday I realized that I need to start forcing myself to make some work related boundaries again. I was so desperate to catch up on dolls after our vacation that I fell back into the habit of working every possible minute of the day and night, and stressing about it every time I was doing something else. I can’t live like that. Working at home is hard enough, I don’t need the added pressure of feeling like I need to spend my entire life sewing. So I actually stacked everything up and put it out of sight for the long weekend. It’s still in the back of my mind, but I want to get better about enjoying the time I have with my family. Seeing weekends the same way most people do.
Our only real plans for today and tomorrow are to start working on garage sale prep. Also something I really do not want to do AT ALL, but it needs to get done. And better to do it when Greg is home to help me. It’s a huge undertaking, but it’ll feel so good to get rid of all the crap we don’t want anymore.
Tomorrow the boys are going to walk in the short local parade. Well, Shepard wants to for sure, Caden can maybe be convinced. And that’s about it for the weekend! I’d also like to catch up on some reading, but…we’ll see.
Tuesday is our 13 year anniversary. We’re hoping to go on a date sometime this week, but nothing has officially been planned yet. I’m tired of making plans.
I think the boys have some school field trips and outdoor days this week. It seems like playing outside is almost all they do the last month of school – at least Shepard’s class. There’s also a pool open house…maybe Thursday? And the library program’s kick off is Friday. A lot of nighttime options this week, but nothing required.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide if I should spend my last six days home alone working my butt off, or totally relaxing and focusing on self care before the boys are home all the time and I’m losing my mind. I haven’t come to any conclusions yet. I think I might work to get this next batch of patriotic dolls finished up and then I’ll give myself whatever days are left off. Revel in my solitude before it’s gone.
Well, that’s about it! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
