Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Glorious weekend and introspection

I just looked on my phone for pictures to blog, and I have almost NOTHING since the last time I wrote. I think that's indicative of 1) how much I've been working and 2) how much I'm not working whenever I get a free moment. I've just about overdosed on technology I think. Except for the binge watching of American Horror Story: Hotel I've been doing on my laptop due to the solidly not-kid-friendly nature of the genre.

This is literally all I've got. I took Friday off originally to chaperone a field trip, but that got canceled so I crammed my art docent obligations in instead. I got to pack all my supplies in my awesome African basket that I bought from a corner bodega in San Francisco (the cool factor goes up with ever detail of that sentence.) So of course C and Averson had to play with it. This is why I hide my nice things.
The weekend was cold and rainy and wonderful and all of our plans got canceled except for Syd's soccer game. There are no words to explain how wonderful that was. I watched two movies! The kids and I went to see Ghostbusters (which I loved!) and then C and I rented The Martian since we'd both read the book. We liked the book better. I finished reading End of Watch and started a new book. The church carnival got canceled so they served pancakes and bacon instead. I watched four episodes of AHS. Syd and I made grilled cheese sandwiches and rice krispy treats. It was really the best weekend ever. 


And then it was back to work. I have been in non-stop meetings all day Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't figure out why my stomach hurt on my out. I pulled in my driveway and realized that I hadn't eaten or peed all day. That busy. Which leads me to...
I decided that I am going to ride out this temporary assignment but I'm not going to apply for the position. It sort of came to a head today when I heard that they'd begun accepting applications and I may have missed the deadline (I didn't.) I wasn't all that upset, and actually I was a bit relieved. I will be great at this job, someday. What I'm realizing though is that I miss what I was doing, and I think it's in my best interests to keep doing that for awhile. I'm not having much fun, even though I'm learning a lot and it's super busy and I've got a lot going on. I'm not naive, and I know that not every day can be great, but I still solidly fall in the camp of if I'm going to spend 40+ hours here, I better have some fun. It's freeing to have decided that. Now I just do the best I can, without worrying about it being a prolonged interview. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

International Day of the Girl

In honor of International Day of the Girl, I thought I'd share some pictures from our weekend. We had Girl Scout-mania this weekend. I don't love parts of the kids being in scouts (it sort of triggers all my introvert twitchiness and performance anxiety) but I do love that both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts seem to promote independence and decent human beingness.

On Saturday, Syd and I went to a STEAM expo that was put on by the regional council. SO COOL. There were all kinds of groups there, from wildlife conservationists showing the girls how to collect data on waterfowl to civil engineers talking about water reclamation. There was a robotics team consisting entirely of cool middle-school girls and Intel was there with a 3D printer. Syd loved it, and was only disappointed that she wasn't allowed to use the power tools in the woodworking station.
She lifted me off the ground and now keeps telling people that "I lifted ONE HUNDRED POUNDS!" Yep :) (BTW, that's not me, obvs. That's the sweet lady that works at the camp)

Testing out her catapult

Patterns and angles! I also took advantage of the opportunity to tell her how awesome miters were.

On Sunday we took the troop on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. We went on a "hay ride" and then had a contest to find the ugliest pumpking. After that we went to the corn maze. Somehow I ended up alone with seven girls. I consider it one of my greatest accomplishments that I didn't lose any of them (or come out with any extras!)

I love her face! She found a rotted pumpkin in the field and diligently planted many seeds. 

Sunday night the boys went to WWE and the girls and I made vegetable soup. Averson had been talking about her recipe for two days and would not stop until we made it. I vetoed the egg and the strawberries, but other than that it was all her. It didn't come out too bad! Both girls really loved chopping and stirring and picking out ingredients. If I were a better mom, I'd totally cook and bake with them all the time. 



And then in true Girls Night fashion we did makeovers. I took these pictures because the girls did my make-up and I looked ridiculous. But then I posted them on Facebook and everyone was like, "Cute!" "Beautiful!" "You look great!" All very great comments and very affirming, so now I'm thinking that blue glittery eyeliner in the crease of my eye and hot pink lipstick with a generous line may be my look. 

 So that's my ode to the International Day of the Girl. I am deliberately choosing to focus on these amazing girls that are going to change the world, rather than on "locker room talk" b.s. If I think about all that too long it gets pretty ugly.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Everyday I'm hustling

And just like that, it's been almost a month between posts (not counting the one where I was showing off my purse). Ugh. I'm still in the chief position, and though it's still crazy busy I at least am starting to feel a little bit more like I've found my sea legs. I may even, just a little bit, not even, but maybe kind of am starting to enjoy it. (Don't tell anyone.) I was getting really overwhelmed there for a minute. I was having lots of swimming dreams and a particularly subtle one where my work cell kept getting bigger and bigger, then someone broke the screen and no one would believe I hadn't dropped it. Takes an astute dream interpreter, right?

I wear suits! (sometimes, not always)
 (also, WTF with my face? I think its getting crookeder)
I'm not sure if it's a common experience, but when I get busy and I'm trying to learn something new, I get very engaged and hyper-aware. I feel like I've been running on all six cylinders a lot more lately (and then crashing like the dead every night.) Even my home stuff feels more energized, or at least I'm cramming a lot more into it. There's a psychology grad school game where you debate which symptoms you'd prefer to have if you had to pick and I've always picked hypomania. I've always liked energy, and caffeine.  I would have loved meth I think. At least until the skin picking, teeth rotting part. Then maybe notsomuch. Anyhoo. So I'm pretty busy and a teensy bit manic.


And this is what happens when I "run in real quick" after work







Sunday, October 2, 2016

Retail Therapy

I have SO many pictures to catch up on. We've been doing soccer and preschool and Girl Scouts and silly dinner pictures and lipstick selfies. But I'm a little overwhelmed by it, considering how long it's been since I blogged. I'm still alive and I went shopping today. Behold!
I've been wanting to get a new work bag to replace my four year old Vera Bradley tote that was starting to fray and was regularly mistaken for a diaper bag. The problem is that I never want to spend too much on work stuff because prison is gross. Today my house was a cess pool of pissiness so I retreated to TJ Maxx where I found this lovely bag/tote/satchel thingy. It's so pretty and clean and perfect. It's big enough for my (new!) coffee mug and water bottle, but small enough to carry long distances. The open top is ideal for the bag search when I walk in (it makes getting through security a lot easier than a lot of little pockets.) While I was there, I picked up a fancy new notebook to replace my nearly full spiral notebook and a pair of Sam Edelman boots for under $50! 

This is the first weekend that's been under 90 degrees, so I celebrated by buying boots, a flannel, and jeans for the whole family. I'm making stew tomorrow. I don't even care that this is what we used to consider summer in Colorado.