Sometimes It's Just a Week

This has been a week of serious ups and downs.  The weather is weird, we've had no snow, and the work weeks just keep coming with no end in sight.  No snow days, warm weather, and looking at the calendar and seeing that it's just January is sort of discouraging.  I don't know whether to hope for a blizzard that snows school out for a week, or for it to just get warm and stay that way in the hopes that the Powers That Be will give us back our unused built in days once the danger has passed.  So, some doldrums have hit, and while they're not big ones, they are the kind that just linger around and pester. 

The week started off with a Sunday night bedtime viewing of Steel Magnolias, one of my all-time favorites.  Shelby's wedding and veil reminded me of my own big, poufy veil, and a conversation with a family friend inspired me to dig out the wedding album.  I don't keep these out in plain sight normally.  I, of course, laughed at this, then went to bed bawling my eyes out, because no matter how many times Shelby dies and Jack Jr. smacks Weezer, it gets me every single damn time.  Julia Roberts, eat your heart out.

Family stuff is kind of weird, too.  I think my dad is seeing someone, but he's being very shady secretive about it.  The last experiment in dating (see this post) was so awful, he swore we'd never know about it when he decided to see someone else, and I think that's what he's done.  I think I'm okay with it, though...as long as we aren't exposed to her, it doesn't really matter who she is, right?  As long as it's not this.

My sister and I, who are normally best friends, aren't getting along very well either.  She's getting married this summer, and we're miscommunicating quite a bit over details like dress shopping and bachelorette parties.  I'm sure she thinks I'm a huge hosebag and just being difficult for the hell of it, but that's really not it.  She gets her feelings hurt and just shuts down, and I'm caught dealing with her well-meaning friends who are trying to intervene and solve the problem.  But that's a post for another day.  I watched Bridesmaids today, and while it took me a long time to actually decide to keep watching it, my issues are very much at the center of that movie's conflicts...right down to the overblown out-of-town bachelorette party that I can't afford.  But oh well. 

There's been some cool stuff along the way, though, too.  I was honored with the "Brilliant Bulldog" award at school on Friday, and while the prize was just a scratch-off lottery ticket worth nothing, it was nice to be recognized and appreciated.  The kids' cheering that was heard all over the school was enough to make me smile for a while.  I wore a sequined sweater to work and actually avoided looking like a dork or a hooker.  (I think.)  And we had another very successful Drama Club meeting before auditions for our production kick off in a couple of weeks. 

 Andrew earned his 2nd degree yellow belt in his karate class on Wednesday, which was very exciting.  I'm really proud that he's stuck with it and wants to continue to progress.  We were strongly encouraged to take "The Killer" (his instructor's nickname for him) to the state tournament in March, and while I have visions of Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, I think we're going to go. 

JMU basketball season is in full swing...actually, starting into the end of the season.  That's full of ups and downs too, as our team continues to struggle with injuries and a depleted bench.  It's heartbreaking to see those kids out there playing their hearts out (sometimes not very well, but that's a different story) and running into brick walls almost consistently.  But we still go, and I celebrate the victories and the effort.  Plans are in the works to attend the CAA conference again, which coincidentally lines up with the location and weekend of the karate tournament.  Sometimes stuff DOES work out.

 Sometimes our view isn't very good.  :-)

We're into board games as part of our family time lately...well, the boys like to play card games, but I'll stick with the old-fashioned board games that I spent a million hours playing as a kid.  My favorite, and recently purchased Sorry!  was a hit on Friday night after homemade pizza.  While I got my ass kicked for a while...

I finally made it out onto the board.  Mr. Crankypants Six Year-Old, though, took his first trip back to his home base kind of rough. 

 (He's under the table.)

But he finally got over himself, and he proceeded to kick my butt for 2nd place. 

We finished up the week with a trip to Charlottesville for a family gathering...Charlottesville being the center point for people traveling from all over the state.  It was chaotic, and short, but it was nice to see everyone.  We don't see that side of the family enough.  You gotta love the Wood Grill Buffet, though, because where else can you create a dessert like this?

 No, that's not my concoction.  My niece, however, greatly enjoyed it, and when it melted to a thick pile of chocolate goo, she discovered the best way to get the last bits.

Tonight's accomplishments?  Saving the badge of Sheriff Woody, sewing patches on the Karate Kid's gi, and creating a yummy, easy dinner that had Andrew almost licking his plate...okay, licking his fingers that he rubbed across the plate, but same thing.Woody's badge, with its one-sided "buttonholes."  Impossible to sew back on, because there's no way to get a needle through!  Whose bright idea was this?

 Not quite good-as-new, but the best I can manage. 

Dinner...leftover pizza-dough-turned ham and cheese stromboli, and apple slices with my new favorite thing...peanut butter dip!  Like peanut butter pie, only healthier and guilt-free.  Well, until I eat a whole container of it, that is.

And now it's Sunday night once again, my least favorite night of the week.  Grocery lists, laundry, bathtime, harried blog posts while the kid is in the bathtub, and my overwhelming habit of staying up too late watching bad television and starting the week off exhausted.  Oh, and this week?  The added attraction of a Monday-afternoon doctor's appointment.  Whoopee!

It's Over Already?

I am finding it hard to find the time to write lately, with all that has been going on. I know this is a stress reaction, but I sometimes feel like I'm on five or six different conveyor belts at the same time, and they're all moving in different directions and at varying speeds. Understandably, I can't keep my footing in any kind of graceful way, and I usually end up letting one belt carry me away before I realize what's happening and have to jump back onto all of them. The "belt" carrying me away right now is obviously Edna's medical condition and the overwhelming desire to drop everything else to be there with her. I don't know--maybe a juggling metaphor would have been better, even though it's kind of trite; besides, the juggler is usually in control of how many things to put into the air, and if there's one thing I'm not right now, it's in control.

But, I promised an update, and there are other things going on that are write-worthy here and there, so here goes, a month in review:

My youngest sister Anna turned 21 early this month. Unfortunately, her birthday was a couple of days after her mom's cancer diagnosis, so she'll always have that to deal with, but we all had a nice dinner out with drinks at our new favorite local Mexican restaurant to celebrate, and everyone had as good a time as we possibly could (margaritas in gigantic glasses helped that along).

Andrew is learning things at a still-incredible-for-me-to-watch rate. He's starting to write, and sometimes it's even legible. He wrote Anna's name all by himself on the outside of her birthday card.

We've been hurting financially, largely due to the cold weather and having to heat this monstrosity, so we find cheap entertainment where and when we can. We took advantage of one exceptionally warm day to take a little nature walk through our wooded lot, which is so thick with undergrowth during the warm seasons that we don't try it. Andrew was impressed and took to the woods like a champ. We also took advantage of a coupon to a local inflatable center--you know those places with the huge jumpy things. Andrew went straight for the playhouse, pirate ship, and kitchen stuff and mostly avoided the inflatables because of rowdy bigger kids whose parents were too pre-occupied to watch them. He did finally get his turn at a "batting cage" with a floating ball held up by an airstream, which was pretty cool. He hit it more than I could have.
Indoor recreation is not only free, we can stay warm too. Andrew loves to cook--his favorites are "eggies"and pancakes, but he also enjoys making pizzas, strombolis (see below), and even gourmet toast. When he's not in the kitchen working on haute cuisine, he's practicing for the professional hallway bowling circuit and getting ready for the Toddler NBA draft. And what's a good game of basketball without an audience? Last, but not least, nothing says "fun" like a good trip to the recycling center. Who knew throwing beer bottles in the dumpster one by one to hear them smash could be so much fun?

As we move into the last weekend of January, we're looking forward to more good news on the medical front for Edna, James' 40th birthday celebration this weekend, and Andrew's first professional non-daytime babysitter, which better go well, because we're actually paying for it. ---Tamara