Category: personal

I have ringworm on my arm. (I won’t show you a picture.) I’ve been obsessing over it. I thought it was a mosquito bite, then a few days later I upgraded my assessment to spider bite, then finally after a week it formed a classic ringworm shape. For confirmation I asked one of the doctors I work with, and he sent a picture of it to his dermatologist friend, and since steroid cream seemed to make it worse, that’s what we landed on. It itches SO BAD you have no idea, unless you’ve had ringworm, and then you have an idea. It’s taking up way too much of my mental energy.

It’s nice to not be commuting to the medical center this week. Unfortunately our clinic is super slow and I might not be able to work a full schedule for awhile. This lull has coincided with some big expenses like our air conditioner and car repairs so it has me thinking a lot about our financial future, my life’s dreams and goals, and how to get there. I need a plan. This is what’s really on my mind most of the time.

We are doing well with meal planning and eating healthy this week, so that makes me happy. We are eating: egg salad with bacon lettuce wraps, balsamic pot roast, tacos (or taco salad), coconut-flake chicken tenders, crockpot taco chicken bowls, chili, and tortilla soup. Right now this is about the extent of my healthy meal ideas that my family will eat, so I figure I can just repeat them each week until I find some new stuff.

I started working on my Week in the Life album. Just the title page so far. I’m going to need some dedicated time alone at home on my computer to edit and print photos, and I’m not sure when that will happen, but I have a decent plan in mind. Meredith’s quilt is on hold, but seeing the fabric out makes me happy.

We have new neighbors. They have a 5-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. We met them, and then we met THEIR neighbors who have lived there for a year and a half. They have a 5-year-old girl and a 21-month-old boy. We were all chatting outside yesterday and it felt like a block party. In eight years of living in our house, I’ve never gotten that feeling and I only have one other friend in the neighborhood so it’s pretty cool.

I have a nervousness about me today that I can’t shake, and I don’t like it. I’m off to try and get rid of it with kid cuddles and maybe a walk.

What a treat to see Megan, one of my best ever friends, on Saturday. Even better to meet her at the home of Becky and Dan, longtime family friends of ours, and to feel so welcomed despite the suddenness of our descent. And we do not arrive quietly.

Megan lives in Nashville now, and I miss her dearly. So when I found out that she would be in Austin briefly (less than a 3-hour drive away) my plans were made. The kids and I hopped in the car – well, after two hours of packing and preparation, I don’t mean to make us sound so carefree – and we were there a little after nine. We spent the day chatting and playing and relaxing outside and snacking and exploring the creek. It was perfect.

Here is one difference between my kids. Right before we went to the creek Meredith fell in the backyard and got a teeny tiny scrape on her leg. Well, for the next hour she “couldn’t walk” and spent the first half of our time at the creek sitting in the chair. Liam, while at the creek, ran all over the place, slipped and fell face first multiple times, and only shook his head and laughed. But they both ended up having the best time and could have spent all day throwing rocks into the water.

Around seven that evening, after stopping for burgers and fueled with a cup of ice cream for the road, we got in the car to return home. Meredith fell asleep before she could even finish her treat, and I happily did the task for her and enjoyed the calm ride home. They transferred easily to their beds and slept through the night.

Best.

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I’m excited to be participating in Week in the Life this week! Tomorrow I’ll begin to share our daily photos and words here on the blog. Hope you had a great weekend!

The first thing that comes to my mind as I sit down to write is: it’s hot. I hear talk around me of teachers and kids getting ready for school, and aren’t Christmas trees out in some of the stores? but here summer has just hit its stride.

Also, our air conditioner is broken again. It seems to be something pretty major this time so we have gotten three different opinions, and now I think we must bite the bullet. I’ll be honest, I have shed some tears over this as it is a heavy financial burden and that’s something I’m anxious about anyway. But all we can do is all we can do and we will just try our best to make progress and make good decisions in the future.

I remain sleep deprived. We have refused to let Meredith start the night in our bed, but every night this week putting her to bed seemed to take longer and involved more tears. Last night was the worst yet and I am on the verge of giving up. The kids woke me before 6 both days this weekend and before 5 today. I tried hard (and failed, I think) not to be too grumpy about it. I am thinking back to the days just a couple of months ago when I was waking at 4:30 a.m. before work and loving it. I am not sure what to do.

Despite those things, we have been having fun. A haircut for Liam, splash pad, library, drawing, visiting the grandparents. Meredith drew the first semi-recognizable picture of a person I’ve ever seen her do. She explained what she was drawing, and it started with a huge, oblong circle. “This is your big ole head,” she said.

The cats are everywhere, everywhere. Although I think they, too, are a bit hot because I’ve been able to catch them lounging more often than usual. Today Ziggy cuddled calmly on my lap and I was so happy. Usually they are over-aggressive with their need for cuddles and attention, and they end up biting.

Oh! David and I had an at-home date night yesterday. His parents watched the kids after church and we decided to start watching True Detective. Have you seen it? There are only eight episodes so we thought it was possible we could get through it. It’s definitely more my husband’s taste, but so far it’s pretty good and not too creepy. The best part of the date was that I got to eat a ton of ice cream and not share any.

Hopefully by the end of the week the house, at least, will be cooler.

My friend Lauren got Meredith a ticket to the zoo for her birthday. On Monday I took the day off and we went; just the girls. She wanted to wear her zebra-print shorts to match the zebras. It was hot, but there was enough shade and air conditioned exhibits to make it bearable. We stayed for over five hours. There was a chimp lying on his back holding his foot and eating. It was so lazy and great. The gorillas came so close to us. They had such kind, sad eyes.

Meredith played on all the playgrounds and rode the carousel and pet the goats. We packed a picnic lunch and got ice cream for a treat. We saw the elephants get a bath and the sea lions put on their show. We loved every minute of it, and then Meredith took a solid nap and I loved that too. This girl of mine will take an experience over a toy any day. Makes me so happy.