When I look at my time tracking journal, sometimes I feel like life is an unending slog of pick up/ drop off/ what am I going to make for dinner. But even though there are certain things in life that are “wash, rinse, repeat” every day is different and contains its own joys, no? At any rate, having missed doing weekly recaps for pretty much a month, I thought I’d recap the joys I found in July – one for each day. So here they are:
7.1 – Prepping from home. Love having the flexibility to do this.
7.2 – Got to visit with a good friend after camp drop off. Just a couple hours sitting and chatting while the 4 year old played quietly by himself and the baby napped.
7.3 – Met up with college friends for an afternoon walk around a near by quaint small historic town.
7.4 – Fourth of July! Chores: sorting baby clothes, making me feel nostalgic. Such itty bitty clothes.
7.5 – First day of rehearsals!
7.6 – A tam tam showed up in rehearsal. I find it delightful.
7.7 – After the baby fell out of bed again, I asked on the local listserv if anyone had a bedrail they were looking to unload and I was offered several. Gave me the warm fuzzies.
7.8 – Forgot my phone at home today, and while I was initially worried that I would miss something, by the end of the day, I came to appreciate being more intentional in my availability. What I did miss: being able to read a book on the Libby app, Google Maps.
7.9 – First time dining inside since March. I was invited to dinner to help celebrate a colleague’s birthday. A lovely evening of comradery and theatre stories.
7.10 – Final Room Run! It’s been a fast yet gentle process.
7.11 – Date night with The Husband. My parents watched the kids and we went out for ceviche. First time in… actually probably since the baby was born.
7.12 – Walked the nine year old to camp. Which was probably a mistake as it felt like it was 80 degrees by 8:45am. Also foolishly thought the baby could make the walk – it’s less than a mile and she has been known to walk 2 miles. Hah. Had to carry her back home. Uphill. Grateful that the four year old walks with little complaints, though.
7.13 – I found some castanets for our show at a music shop near our house. Castanets are very fun. Our one and only tech rehearsal in the evening.
7.14 – Final Dress!
7.15 – Day off. Visited the zoo with my parents and the two little kids. Saw lions and tigers.
7.16 – Opening/ Closing performance and party afterwards where I got to catch up with some friends who had come to see the show.
7.17 – Cover Run and final clean up. My parent’s last night in town. Sad to see them go, but so grateful that they were here.
7.18 – Friends came over for dinner, along with their three kids. Nice to be hanging out again.
7.19 – Dressed the baby in this pink flowery dress that had been the nine year old’s at that age. It was one of our favorite things to put her in, and I had forgotten about it until this week. Good thing too, because it is almost too small. The baby is so much bigger than her older sister was that this age.
7.20 – Exit interview at work. (Though I don’t much care for the term “exit interview” seems so final….) Even though it gave us a lot to think about in terms of organizational structure and objectives and how to serve them, I am so excited and happy that I got to be part of this company this summer.
7.21 – Took the kids for gelato in the afternoon. I’m on a quest this summer to consume as wide a variety of frozen treats as I can. I had the honey-fig-mascarpone gelato and it was very good.
7.22 – A friend of the Husband’s was in town so we all had lunch together. I know this is a luxury for the gainfully unemployed, but I love lunch dates with the husband.
7.23 – The County Parks Department had an event where arborists “taught” kids how to climb trees. They hooked them up in harnesses and hoisted them to the leafy treetops. I think I was even more excited about it than the four year old. The baby declined to try, even though the arborists were certainly game to put her in a harness and send her up there.
7.24 – Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. I love watching the Olympics. For all the criticism that the Olympics gets about being overblown and terrible for a city’s economy, I think there is something so inspiring about each individual athlete.
7.25 – 8 am swim meet. Last one of the season. Swim team is certainly very time consuming, but I’ve loved seeing how much it’s inspired the nine year old to push herself.
7.26 – Am trying out a new mask pattern. I know that cloth masks are not as effective as N95 masks, but I like how when I make one, I can make sure that it fits tightly and comfortably for the kids.
7.27 – Took the two littles to story time and a park afterwards. I love that the libraries are doing outdoor story time.
7.28 – While visiting the library today, saw that the rec center (which is located in the same building) has toddler play times three times a week. And it’s free! I signed the kids up for rec center passes on the spot. The center also have pool tables and ping pong tables and open gym for basketball – all things I think the nine year old will like.
7.29 – My friend Kristen met us at the pool for pizza and pool time, but then it started to rain really hard, so we abandoned the pool and went home to have pizza and Olympics time.
7.30 – Took the kids on a hike up near Harper’s Ferry. I kind of didn’t follow the trails correctly so we never made it to the stream, but it was a lovely shaded wood walk with lots of butterflies. Good to get our July hike in!
7.31 – Our friends dropped their dog off for a week. He is small and cuddly and adorable and while I don’t want a dog for myself, I think dog sitting for a week is a great way to scratch that “I want something small and cute” itch.
We are almost half way through August now. Back in June, the summer seemed endless, but now we are in the last month of it and there seems to not be enough time to do everything I want… including doing nothing.