What. A(n). Exhausting. Week!

Busy, chaotic, and tiring.
What are….three words that describe my last week, Alex?

Though the final week of July felt like it could possibly kill Mike and/or me, now that it has ended, it’s comforting to know that our schedule of demands has eased up quite a bit, at least for the time being. As a result, we as parents are taking full advantage of our increase in free time by simply not.going.anywhere. this week, unless we are actively forced. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta hermit.  It also feels good to have spent a large portion of today in a seated position, I ain’t even gonna lie.

This first post is my blog debut of the Week in Review segment. Here, I plan to discuss the 3 best parts of my previous week, as well as the 3 worst.
Happy reading, y’all!

Highlight 1: Hurray for Naps!

So, I discovered I was wrong in assuming that my 2-year-old was done napping. Wahoo!  Lately, getting S2 to nap in the middle of the day had become a struggle of epic proportions, often taking 60, sometimes even 90 minutes. Nothing had changed as far as her regular nap routine, either. What the heck?

Well, one thing had in fact changed, and thy name is S2. S2 decided that “Sike! N ain’t for ‘Nap,’ it’s for ‘Nope,’ suckas!” And after a few days of hellish nap attempts, Mike and I collectively decided to throw in the nap towel for good.

Then, Monday morning happened. A tantrum of epic proportions, around 11 am, spurred by my apparently horrific decision to have her play in the ‘other’ family room chock-full of her toys instead of the one she was currently destroying. As she threw herself on the floor, the thought crossed my mind that perhaps she may be tired? With zero expectations of success, I attempted ye olde nap routine once again. And to my complete astonishment, S2… fell into a deep sleep. In less than 5 minutes. And a quiet peace was felt across the land.

Highlight 2: Thou Shalt Kick-Butt At Shakespeare Camp

Last week, my older daughter S10 knocked her Shakespeare camp performance out of the park.  About a year and a half ago, S10 informed me out of the clear blue sky that she was interested in attending Shakespeare camp. I eventually found one at a reputable place, but the downside was that it was located an hour away from our home and only ran from 9:00-2:45. Oh, and ’twas expensive AF too. However, being that my oldest excels in school, is generally polite and respectful to others, and had been wonderful in her new role as big sister, we figured we’d let her try it out last summer. One parent would drive her to camp, and the other would pick her up to spread out the horrendous commute between Mom and Dad chauffeurs.

Well, S10 loved the camp.

At the end of each week, the campers invited parents to watch them perform scenes from a Shakespearean play they had worked on. Week one was ‘As You Like It,’ week two, ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

What S10 didn’t tell me this week was that not only was she chosen to play the role of Juliet, but her scene was the most famous scene of the play. It was the  “where for art thou, Romeo?” and “what light through yonder window breaks?” scene, and she absolutely nailed it! S10 chose to perform her Juliet monologue in song, and when her ‘Juliet’ heard ‘Romeo’ outside her window, she cleverly improvised a “mic drop.” It was absolutely fantastic.

Seeing S10 perform also served as the reminder I needed that my 10-year-old YouTube-watching, dystopian-fiction reading, Queen of Acronyms (DIY, OMG, et al) has a passion for Bill Shakespeare, and that itself, is pretty awesome.

Should that passion be nurtured? You bet thine ass it should.

Highlight 3: I Set Up This Blog Having No Clue How

Tis true! I set up this blog, and pretty much on my own.  Typically, I do consider myself pretty technologically proficient. Even at work, I am often the faculty member called upon to troubleshoot computer issues. But being a Microsoft Excel guru or the sultan of “turn it off then on again” is positively old school compared to what I am seeing those damn Millennials and Gen Zers creating in the blogosphere. I often feel like a Baby Boomer programming a VCR!

Until last week, the only plug-in I had ever used before was made by Glade, for Pete’s sake. However, with persistence (and a little help from my old buddy Bill), my blog, while not the fanciest, is definitely up and running. A pretty impressive feat for someone who grew up with the Apple 2C as the pinnacle of “cutting-edge technology.”

Lowlight 1: Bye-Bye, July

Yes, Last week was the last week in July. Which means that my summer break is now half over.

That is depressing. And before I start to hear how ‘most people work year-round,’ I must interject by saying that during the school year, if I am awake, I am usually working. I work constantly for 40 straight weeks. During the school year, every single minute that I don’t work pushes my paperwork to-do pile farther into the weekend. No joke.

Now, I’m certainly not miserable. I like my job! Heck if I didn’t love teaching, I certainly wouldn’t be heading into my 13th year of doing it with my sanity intact! Point being, summer is the only time during the entire year that I can act like a ‘regular’ person. I can have interests and a life outside of work, just like everybody else. And that is why I am sad that my summer break is half sniff over.

Lowlight 2: S10 Made the Seniors Yet She’s Not Even a Freshman

So, S10 made the senior squad at her cheer gym. That’s not the bad thing though. We switched cheer gyms this year, and overall, I have been very pleased. In fact, I’m proud of her! What is upsetting is that with her placement comes the inevitable bills for choreography fees and monthly tuition payments. And this isn’t small change. All-star cheer is crazy expensive, so of course, S10 has asked to do it 4 years in a row. However, paying out significant sums of money in the month of August as a teacher is borderline painful. You see, after my summer check is deposited, when looking at my bank account, I feel like this:

But by August, when I look at my account, I feel like this:

Which is where I’m currently at.
So it’s not the sport itself, but the financial commitment. If you ever wanted to know what it felt like to drain money directly from your pocket, enroll in all-star cheer. Trust me.

Lowlight 3: When Your Car Is Pretty Much Your House

Too. Much. Driving. During the last 2 weeks, I feel like I could have driven to the California coast from NY and added fewer miles on my car than I did by chauffeuring both kids around. Our schedule was absolutely insane!

Random thought: I wish you could collect car miles like people do airplane miles. And then trade them in for either free gas, or a credit toward a new car. If that ever happened, I’d end up owning either the gas station or the car dealership at the rate I’ve been racking up miles lately.

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Until next time!