1. I've been buying dozens upon dozens of eggs this past month because CLEARANCE and WE EAT THEM A LOT and CHEAP and BAKING. Using dozens and dozens (and dozens) of eggs takes time.
2. I'm teaching 3 classes right now, which one might think would keep one comfortably busy when one's spouse is able to take on a majority of one's child-rearing duties because summer. One would be wrong. One is sick and yea tired of grading. One feels that one is always trying to get through her list of things to grade. One is weary of life many an afternoon now.
3. We took a few days off to schlep the girls to a beach, which was f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s but there was then a whole slew of that grading hanging around when we got back. So life was pretty grand there for a stretch, and we've since been plotting on how to return and when and where. I'm a fan of just buying a nice vacation place up there. The boy does his best imitation of a sensible person and reminds me that we are not yet wealthy enough to just throw money around willy-nilly. This is a topic that we will return to again, I've no doubt. I'm now determined.
The girls, believe it or no, are just about the easiest part of this summer season. The boy and I, however, have been scrapping and scraping all the live long days what with conferences, classes, appointments, meetings, and responsibilities. The girls just have some swimming to do and maybe some reading every now and again. Otherwise, we just throw a few snacks at them every now and again, and they shriek amongst themselves all day long.
Coming into the summer, we were just forced to replace our cruddy range, which was visually pleasing but monetarily less so. But crunch time has come with the taste of that bitter pill still lingering. Our child rode her hand-me-down bicycle between our cars, which were parked in our snug garage. This bicycle doesn't have any rubber covering the ends of the handlebars anymore. She scraaattttccchhhed her way down both of our cars. I have never ever been so furious with life as when I discovered that boneheaded maneuver. You expect your child to break an occasional table lamp (been there) or stain some carpet. I never expected $2000+ in a new paint job on both of our cars because my kid was riding her bike. It's going to be upwards of 2G and about 5 or 6 days of being a 1-car household when the boy and I often need to be in different places at the same time given our work commitments. This one hurt, to say the least.
And the same day that the first estimate came in on these, I paid for new flooring to replace our beat up and well abused laminate flooring in our kitchen. That was a weepy, woe-is-me kind of day. But you know what would help make all of this feel better? A vacation house on a huge lake with lots of beach access. At least that's what I've been telling myself. Here's to more of this someday.
2 comments:
Oh, no! That would be an incredibly painful day to find the cars scratched. Yikes. Ask my hubby-he knows exactly that feeling in the pit of his stomach as I may (or may not?) have once closed the garage door onto the bumper of the car. Yikes. It created a jagged fist-sized hole clear through the bumper. I'm still trying to get back in good graces after that.
On what lake do you fancy your vacation house to be? I used to think it strange to travel to one same place over and over again. I mean, if you have money and time to spend, wouldn't you want to travel to a new place each time? That's what I thought. And then I spent some time in the woods of North Maine and fell in love. If ever I have money for a second house just because there is no doubt in my mind that I'll buy property in the woods of North Maine. Ah. That would be wonderful.
I'm so glad to see pics of the girls!
Bwahahaha! A certain bro-in-law of mine actually closed their garage door ON TOP of their car once.
OK, I'm completely with you. There are so many places to travel, why stick to only one spot. But I get it now! We were up at Lake Michigan, and the beauty there is that it's an easy drive (less than 4 hours where we went), multiple pretty, accessible, not crazy busy beaches, cute houses, etc. It was 4 days of pure giggles, which was truly the best part. The way the girls just were above and beyond happy was fantastic. That right there is enough to make me want to throw money at some property. There was a 700-sq foot house right beside us that went on the market while we were there and is already off the realtor site. We thought HARD about that one.
I'd love to go up through Vermont, New Hampshire (mountains!) and Maine, but that's a bit yet beyond our "we can tolerate this in the car" range yet.
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