It's a Funny Old World

“It's a funny old world”

-Margaret Thatcher

I woke up this morning at 4:26, unable to go back to sleep. I tried for a while, tossed and turned in the bed, laid on the couch, but ultimately ended up making coffee. While I was sitting here drinking my coffee, I heard an unusual sound.

I went to the window, and it was a very fine rain. The kind of rain that would barely get you wet, even if you stood in it for an hour. As I was looking out the window, I noticed that the windows on my husband's car were open a little.

I remembered him telling me last night that he was going to close them, but apparently, his memory is wired like mine, and he must have forgotten to close them. I never noticed last night when we came home from shopping for school clothes that they were still open.

Okay, so the reason I had to get up so early was because I had to close the windows, and with that completed, I should be able to go back to sleep, right? Nope. Here I sit, un-asleep and un-amused.

Sometimes when I wake up earlier than I have to or want to, I feel rested; I feel like I've slept enough even though I really haven't. Today is not one of those times. I suppose it's a good thing there isn't much going on today.

My son has his end-of-hockey celebration today. His team won the championship and all the kids played great.

Today they get to skate for fun, have some pizza and spend one last time together as a team. My husband usually does hockey and football duty. We alternated baseball, and I took care of cross country and boxing. Evidently, I said all that to basically tell you that I'm off the hook from outside responsibility today. Good thing, too, because my head is very fuzzy.

As I casually mentioned, we started back to school shopping last night. Right before my daughter and I were leaving, I asked my son if he wanted to go with us. He's been saying that he doesn't need any clothes, but I'm noticing some of his shirts are getting short. He asked if he there were shoes at the store we were going to because that's all he wanted; new sneakers.

My son was so funny and sweet last night. He found 2 pairs of sneakers that he loved (by my favorite designer, on sale. Thank you Rita Rudner), I said that we should at least look at clothes since we were there. He was like a pinball bouncing from display to display. If I would have let him, he would have bought one of everything. I let him get some things, and he kept hugging me and thanking me. He was soooo excited!

My daughter found some cute things, and was lamenting that she couldn't get a “fashion backpack”. Since she started her current school, I've been buying heavy-duty backpacks because she always had so much to bring back and forth. I noticed last year that the loads have been lighter, so I said she could get one. It's really cute; buffalo plaid, many pockets, and a pom-pom hanging down.

You would have thought I bought her the world! The world with a pom-pom dangling from it.

I love how my kids are so appreciative. When they were at camp, my husband and I went to the dollar store and bought junk for them. My son's championship game was on a Sunday while they were at camp, so we had to get him from camp, take him to the game, then return him to camp. My husband and I brought the “care packages” with us and left them with a counselor to give to the kids later. Again, you would have thought we gave them the world. A few dollar store things totally made their day.

Our back to school shopping is nearly finished. My daughter needs shoes (actual shoes, we bought her sneakers) and a couple tops, but I think we're done. My son might need a backpack; I'll have to look at his. I bought school supplies a little at a time when I was at the store. I know there are a few things I still need; certain binders, a sketch book, and a calculator. We have time, though. My kids don't start school until September 6^th. Incidentally, my daughter will be twelve when she starts high school. She isn't a teenager until September 8^th.

One Drought Is Over, One Is Ongoing

I've been feeling mostly lousy with intermittent patches of not-as-lousy.

I've been battling flares/new symptoms/fatigue/spasticity and just generally feeling icky most of the time.

I have to admit, feeling like this for so long has severely impeded my Pollyannaishness.

I did manage to get to New York City last month.

Every 2 years, my daughter goes to a dance convention to take classes from nationally known teachers, and I get to bum around NYC while she's taking classes.

Thank goodness it wasn't my first trip to NYC. Our room was extremely sub-par, especially when you consider it was a luxury-brand chain hotel. The weather was totally uncooperative for me as well; it was in the 90's every day with the warmest day being Saturday at 97°.

Still, the Universe has a funny way of taking care of things for you. My friend was supposed to go with my daughter and me, but at the last minute, she couldn't get off of work. Quite a disappointment. However, that left room for me to ask my niece to stay with us. It's convenient for my niece because she works in Manhattan. We don't get to see each other nearly as often as we'd like.

While I was bummed about my friend having to stay behind, it was nice spending time with my niece. And because the weather was so awful in NYC for me, we spent a lot of time lounging in our shabby hotel room, visiting and laughing.

My daughter had a wonderful surprise; my great niece came to stay with us as well. My daughter and great niece are very close cousins, and they don't get to see each other as often as they like. So, really, having a very low-key, hardly-leave-the-hotel weekend was good for us all.

This summer has been like last year, as far as me not being able to do anything. This year, I don't want to go out because it's been so unnaturally warm. Temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's with high humidity have kept me hiding in the air conditioning. We're actually currently experiencing a drought .  Just look to our grass for confirmation. It's been mostly brown since the end of June. I refuse to water our grass; I will water our vegetable garden, but not the grass.