Fearless (Day 4)

I must say, I could get used to this furlough thing.  Picture this day, if you will: I woke up at close to my usual time, but with an extra tap of the snooze button. AND - I didn't really have to get dressed. Woot! I threw on some deodorant and workout clothes, and headed downstairs. M. left for work early (before 7!!), and I had a peaceful 20 minutes of reading and drinking coffee before Finn woke up. He skipped downstairs and asked me to read to him, which I happily agreed to - though the reading material was a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book, and I must say that I'm not too impressed (so much greediness! Negative thoughts about people! Don't like). After 15 minutes of reading that doubled as snuggling, we went upstairs to rouse the beast (Lucy).

The morning was fun, because we weren't rushing rushing rushing. I got the kids to daycare at a leisurely 8:45. Rain scrapped my running plans, but I found a yoga video on Netflix instead. Lunch and shopping with a friend (yes, I spent too much money on my furlough day), picked up a couple of things at Target (WAY over my limit on Target trips for the month - oops!), and then I got the kids a bit earlier than usual. It was gray out, so I gave them a choice - pool time, or movie night. They opted for pool time, so we ignored the ominous skies, packed up a slacker dinner (lunchables, which I view as a FAIL, but the kids absolutely love), and headed over. Finn wowed us with his prowess on the diving board - this kid is seriously fearless. Behold:

 

The launch

 

The turn

 

The fracking flip. My 6-year-old does flips off the diving board.

 

He runs

 

And flings himself wildly. He loves it.

 

Maybe he'll try diving, too:

 

Gets in position...

 

Launches himself...

 

And belly flops

 

Maybe this time?

 

Nope.

 

How about this time?

 

 

Nope again.

He is never disheartened, and always enjoys the ride. He pops up from the water, usually smiling, and always already swimming. Like a puppy. So, so cute.

And this one. Goodness. Thinks she can swim. But oh, how she cannot. It takes an eagle eye with her. Don't you just love her blue and white striped bathing suit, though? It was an impulse buy from (where else?) Target. I wanted to get a shot of her running in to the water, as she loves to do repeatedly. But it was cold, and I was too busy trying to keep her from drowning. So a couple of landlubber photos that I was able to snap once M. showed up (he came home early! Because he left for work early! I love this!) will have to do:

 

Prancing toward the deep end. Even though (because?) I told her not to. Had to ditch the camera and wrestle her into her swimmie right after this was taken.

 

Probably drowning.

 

Love the little red rose! Want one for my suit!

 

 

Not so warm once we're out of the water - lots of shivers all around tonight.

 

Not sure if I'll make it on here the next few nights - headed up to Massachusetts EARLY tomorrow morning (I should be packing as we speak), and won't be back until Monday night. But maybe...

Hope you all have wonderful weekends, whether they started last night or tonight!

Day 3

Finn just called from his bedroom when he should have been sleeping. He was apparently pondering the deep, deep question "Do you need to count to 100 one hundred times to get to 1000?" He was not happy with my answer that no, you only need to count to 100 ten times. He kept insisting that would make only 110. I think we were having some communication issues, and I promised that I would attempt to explain multiplication in the morning, but for now, GO TO SLEEP.

Goodness, though, I'll take math contemplation over a nightmare any day as a sleep interruption. This kid is so excited to learn lately. Tonight we watched a bunch of videos from NASA on YouTube - he's very into space at the moment. He was fascinated by the Air and Space Museum's planetarium show on exoplanets this weekend (I have to say, I was too - lots of stuff I didn't know!). And his favorite pastime on the weekends is to watch all kinds of faux documentaries about life in the land of dinosaurs. Thank you, Netflix!!

Lucy has very little patience for any of these activities, and would prefer to watch He-Man or Jake and the Never Land Pirates, thank you very much. We're still working on her.

Sooooo, this week marks the first week of my 11 weeks of furlough. I'm trying to stay positive about the 20% pay cut. Friday is the mandated furlough day, so I'm hoping I can take advantage of the "three-day weekend" aspect of it by planning some fun things to do each week. Tomorrow I hope to kick it off with a morning jog (and not an insanely early morning jog - I discovered the hard way with a foot injury that 5 a.m. is not a time that my body likes to be up and running), lunch with a friend I haven't seen in way too long, and maybe some later afternoon pool time with the kids. Other weeks I plan to tackle some DIY projects around the house, go into D.C. to have lunch with M., and take the kids on some fun outings (splash park, Baltimore's Port Discovery).

Of course, I should probably make sure these things are as cheap as possible, what with the aforementioned 20% pay cut that accompanies all this newfound free time.

At some point the realization that "Thursday is the new Friday" should sink in, but for now I feel a little frantic. I'm not actually ALLOWED to do any work tomorrow, so I felt this crazy sense of "must get everything done" urgency today that is not very relaxing. Probably compounded by the fact that I'll be away on Monday, too - I'm heading up north for my grandfather's internment service. Which I expect to be both sad and fun - saying the official "goodbye" will be tough, but seeing all of my family and several of my friends will be great. Plus, I'm going up alone, so I'll have just me to take care of - what luxury!

Finally, a teaser photo of the kitchen renovations M. and I are having done right now - painting (did that ourselves), new countertops, and a new backsplash. The granite is in, and official before and after photos will come once the new backsplash is finally installed!

Day 2

No working out for me today - in fact, my FitBit shows that I've only walked a paltry 3446 steps - but I'm feeling better. Maybe the jog helped, lead-like legs, goopy cement and all. Maybe it was the heavenly bowl of rice and beans I ate tonight:

Or the bastardized cosmopolitan I'm drinking right now:

Maybe it was the cute new shirt I wore today (this one, in crystal violet):

Side note: I can't believe I actually found the shirt I was looking for in Target's sucky website. LOVE the store. Hate the website.

Anyway, I'll take the better mood.

A couple of photos from our weekend, while I'm here.  M.'s parents were visiting, and we had a very nice time - fireworks, sightseeing, pool time.

 

4th of July - on the menu: White sangria, corn on the cob, watermelon, shrimp salad sandwiches

 

M.'s dad got one of the coveted star-shaped pineapple pieces

 

(wonderful dessert, from this recipe, called "Berried Treasure" - how cute is that?!)

 

At the World War II memorial in D.C., near the Wisconsin sign, naturally. Such an impressive monument!

 

 

 

 

 

While visiting the Pres's house is awe-inspiring, we opted to not to muscle through the crowds to stand a wee bit closer.

 

This is what 8 hours of sightseeing in 90+ degree weather looks like

Day 1

I'm easing back in - to blogging, to running, to doing things other than scouring the Internet for the latest and greatest funny blog post to read or backsplash tile to ogle. I feel like I've been taking the passive, easy way out of EVERYTHING lately, and I'd like to stop. Or start, rather. So, onward. Seizing life, etc.

I jogged tonight. I felt like I was moving big lead rods through thick, goopy concrete. It was HARD, is what I'm saying. It's like I'm back at negative 20, not just zero. I also did three sets of eight "cheater" push-ups (where I lean against my stairs, removing about 60% of my body weight from my arms). It's a start.

In other news, we finished watching the new season of Arrested Development last night. Two episodes in, I was wondering if there was just no way for the show to live up to everyone's expectations. I was feeling very "meh" about it.  But I must say, it got better and better with each episode. Two thumbs up from me - did you like it? I think the dark quirky humor is right up my alley these days. I heart Gob forever.

Am I the only one who seems to be struggling a bit to get into the carefree summer spirit? Blah.