family day/me time

sweet new plugs!
david took a day off of work to celebrate spring break. such a rare treat as david rarely if ever takes a day off that isn't involved to he or i being deathly sick. (seriously, the dude didn't even miss one single HOUR of class in college!) we had a very full and fun day. david let me sleep in until 10, glorious 10! then we woke up and i texted my good friend chelsea and she met us with her dog and baby at the dog park, which was muddy fun for everyone. we came home, relaxed for a half hour or so then took the kids bowling. i had gotten a sweet groupon deal wherein we got two games with shoe rentals included for four people, a large pizza, and four drinks for only $32. POUNCE. then we came home and, since it was so gorgeous out today and it was the only time we're likely to see the sun at all this week, we went to the park for an hour and played basketball/on the swings/playground. the kids and i then walked to the co-op and got two dozen eggs and restocked our incense. we puttered around at home until dinner time. i again used a groupon (well "groupon like" coupon) for a nice chinese restaurant. i did something i've always wanted to do but was too frustrated to walk-out: i ate my entire meal with chop sticks! something small but something i've never stuck with. even olive ate half of her lo mein with chop sticks! came home, dumped the leftovers into the fridge and went out AGAIN. this time to our friend nick fancher's photography reception. nick is the best photographer i know, hands down.

and now it is 9:15 and i am sort of starting my work day. i certainly didn't waste my time but i am also always torn between home based work and family based work. right now i want to work out, fold laundry, type reports, redo my nails (which is a stubborn, 30-45 minute process), scout online for deals for the community garden, and also just veg and watch tv or finish the last chapter of my book. what i HAVE to do is my actual work, type reports which i honestly could do until midnight or beyond if i let myself. i've been getting into a bad habit of staying up very late to do "me things" (mostly read and work out/shower) then i am exhausted the next day so i catch a nap, which shifts bedtime back, which makes me stay up late, rinse, repeat.

i am proud to say that i've continued to work out 3x per week. i have no idea what im doing so i'm mostly just following with how many calories i've burnt and how long it takes to do it in. right now i'm doing 2 miles on the treadmill, changing between brisk walks and runs. it feels like enough, especially since im actually going past my target heartrate a bit and im not exhausted/sore/totally out of breath all the time like i used to be. and i was just shooting for "not dying"!

onward and upward

i find it oddly satisfying to weed through our budget (or in this case, have david do it) and work out our finances and set a savings goal for a project. that sounds rather geriatric but dude, it's the little things in life! we are starting to save to redo our front "lawn". i use quotation marks because it's quite small. but the retaining wall is crumbling and bowing towards the sidewalk and what yard there is is unlevel.


there is literally one more bush in front of the house and the yard ends.

so the plan would be to put in two levels, a redo the deck area, and add some freaking landscaping. and of course we want to do this ourselves, something that i am looking forward do as i've never participated in any kind of house project of this scale. painting doesn't count! i've got it all sketched out in my head though i'm going to ask my mother-in-law (hi jayne!) because she is a wizz at this kind of stuff.

also, augustine's teacher responded to my inquiry about him moving up to the first grade class for math. she said typically they wait until the kid is in third grade to test for giftedness and then start programs like that, which i can't really disagree with. she said a few others in his class are on par with him and they get into a group and she gives them harder work, which i was unaware of because i only see the homework sheets that come home and they seem impossibly easy for him. apparently they do a lot of math skills in that group that are not simply recorded on a sheet and sent home, which makes sense. i'm feeling better about it all now.

david is going to florida for three days at the end of march and i am very nervous about this. i do not do well alone, especially at night. especially for multiple days. i am going to plan something leisurely to do every one of those days and NOTHING stressful. i shamefully have forgotten to brag on my husband. his work helped earned his company an award in advertising (think Mad Men). this is the image, click the "after" button to view his final work. DUDE CREATED DUST IN A SPOTLIGHT OUT OF THIN AIR.

i've been having obsessive, invasive thoughts again. i don't know if my medication isn't working as well or what but like, i will think of a song and a line from it will literally repeat ad nauseum. it is maddening and i've taken to wearing a rubber band on my wrist again. the thoughts are never bad or scary just annoying (as in the case of a song lyric). still, it's taking up more and more of my day trying to escape the single line repeating like a skipping record in my head. this is rather typical with my anxiety and rarely lasts more than a week or so and then it will go away for a long period.