Not a Wasted Word

We don’t usually do anything for each other on Valentine’s Day, and we’re definitely not this year. We’re rain checking until our trip next week.

Which is fitting, because it’s quite a blustery day. So much rain this winter.

The good news is the weather in Mexico City is supposed to be beautiful next week. I haven’t been watching it too closely because our plans don’t require beautiful days, but I will happily enjoy them.

I’m certainly not sad to be missing out on this.

Meanwhile I keep trudging through my to-do lists. Clean the cat food mats. Clean the cat boxes. Do laundry and laundry and more laundry. Pack myself. Pack the kids. So many things to do and I am seriously losing steam. I think when I finally sit down on the plane I’m just going to a stare at the seat in front of me for a bit. Maybe the whole flight.

I’m actually pretty much packed now. I bought a few final toiletry items today and now I’m pretty much ready to go. It feels really good to be packed – it’s always stressful for me and this was exceptionally so because it’s such a different kind of trip. We’re going to nice restaurants and out for cocktails. I need to have “going out” clothes in my bag. I never have to pack going out clothes. Or at least I haven’t in probably a decade. So it’s nice to have it all in there, and to know it fits.

Last night I went to Sparring concepts and then stayed for Sparring afterward. It was one of those sparring sessions where I actually felt like I was getting better. It felt really good, and I hope I can hang on to that feeling after this trip and really dive back into my training. Tonight I’m going to High Belt class, which has never been a favorite. I know it won’t feel as good as sparring did but I hope I at least still feel like I’m making progress.

I promise to post about changes I’ve made to help me stay organized. I realized that I touted those changes as new systems when really they are new solutions to old problems. It’s not so much that I found different ways to stay organized on a daily basis, but that I created organized spaces that are easier for me to maintain. I just want to temper expectations, because the former would be amazing, but sadly I can only offer the latter.

I can’t believe I’m only at work one more day. As I expected, I’m not getting “all caught up” at work this week, but I am checking off a couple of festering to-do items, and I’ve made all the copies I need for the first few days of the week we get back (you may remember that I did NOT do that for the week after the Winter Break and I regretted it deeply). Tomorrow is my no-prep day so I plan to write my sub plans tonight. My good friend is taking my classes so I can just give her agenda slides to put up on the TV. That will help immensely.

Last night I slept very poorly. I was up every hour or so and I tossed and turned before falling back to sleep. I really hope tonight I get a decent amount of sleep, but I fear this is travel-stress-related and therefore here to stay. At least until I leave.

And my bus is about to arrive at the dojo, so I should stop and just put this up. I hope everyone felt loved this Valentine’s Day.

Last night I finished packing and when I texted my friends to tell them, they asked me what I was most looking forward to on my trip. And honestly, the only thing I could think was that I was looking forward to not having to do anything for five days, to just leave all my to-do lists behind. Of course, lately my to-do lists have been overflowing, as they would before any trip, but especially this one – the first one we’ve taken without our kids and the first where grandparents have had to stay them in our house (because the kids are in school). And of course, the state of our house required laundry lists of to-do lists over the past two months.

Keeping all that in mind, I am recognizing that lately my life feels like a series of to-do lists. And of course, to-do lists help me organize and prioritize my time and are important for me to keep from forgetting things. But if I’m not careful, I can lose myself in these lists. I can lose my life in these lists.

I remember during one break from school last year, I divided my goals into four areas (Home, Work, Self, Connection and seeing how short my lists were in “Self” and “Connection” helped me to prioritize self-care and time with friends and family. I believe I got a massage that week, and scheduled lunch with my husband and drinks with a friend so I could just write a couple things in those sections. Seeing how many tasks I had written in Home and Work and how few I had written in Self and Connection was a visual confirmation of how I was not prioritizing myself and my needs.

Coming out of these past two months of intensive work on the house, I think I need to go back to that four-pronged goal framework. I think doing it at a monthly level to start makes sense, and then eventually working toward weekly goals in each of the four areas. I have become very task oriented, and I have systems for writing those tasks for home and school that are working for me. I’m a kind of loathe to shake things up too much when I’ve found some executive functioning systems that make life manageable. But I also want to ensure I’m prioritizing my emotional and physical health and connections with others, the things that make life feel worth living.

So I think, starting in March, I’m going to write monthly goals in those four categories, and then I’ll try to also write them as weekly goals. If I can add one “self-care” and one “connections” task to my to-do list every week, that would be a big improvement. And then maybe, I can start adding more. I honestly think just articulating that I’m doing certain things for my emotional and physical well-being in this way will make them more meaningful to me.

In the meantime, I have five full days (plus two travel days) of self care and connection coming up, which I’ve paid for over the past two months with so much work at home and at school. I’m really looking forward to feeling a little more balanced after next week.

Over two months ago, BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I started decluttering, reorganizing and cleaning my house in preparation for my in-laws to stay with our kids. And this weekend, after cleaning the floors and bathroom downstairs, I finally feel done. Are there still drawers that need to be organized? Definitely. Are there still bags of junk to get ride of in the garage hallway? So many. But all the projects I set out to complete are now finished and I think the house is clean enough for my in-laws to stay. Their house is pristine – literally there is not a spec of dust in a corner of their garage – and now my house is clean enough that they will feel comfortable there for three days (even though there is still dust and lint in all corners of my garage).

This was a big project for us. Massive. The last time we cleaned our house like this was when we had AirBnB guests in the summer of 2018. Some areas of my house (under certain large pieces of furniture) haven’t been cleaned since then. Other areas have only been cleaned sporadically. But probably the biggest transformation has been the organizing. We Marie Kondo’ed the house years ago (maybe 2015?) and got rid of a lot of stuff, but the junk drawers that inspired me to declutter and reorganize this time existed back then. Some of them have been housing random stuff since we moved in almost 12 years ago.

It feels really good to be done with this project. And it feels really good to be in a house that is clean and tidy. The best part is feeling like maybe, just maybe this time we can keep it up. If we can, it would literally be the first time I’ve found a system for maintaining a tidy living space. I have never, in my 43 years, managed to do that consistently. It’s one of the main ways ADHD impacts my life.

Of course, I can’t know yet if I really will be able to maintain this new level of tidiness. I do know I put some new systems into place and that seems to be helping. I’m realizing I wrote a post about that in January and never posted it. I should finish that and put it up…

We need to head to the airport on Friday morning, after taking the kid to school, and there is still so much to do. Tuesday and Wednesday I plan to be at the dojo until late, so I really need to use my time wisely on Monday and Thursday. Oh, and I need to have sub plans ready for Friday too. It’s a lot, but with the 7th graders gone at school I think it’s doable.

I just wanted to check in after that super downer post last night to say I’m doing a lot better today. Last week was a little more than I could handle and by the end I was spiraling (as you could probably tell from my post).

But last night I cleaned up the laundry area and much of the rest of the garage. I also did a bunch of laundry and cleared and dusted most of the surfaces downstair. This morning I did my regular cleaning (shaking out rugs, sweeping and vacuuming) and laundry and also changed the kids’s sheets. I still have more to do, but it’s feeling manageable again.

I also arranged for my son to be with a friend yesterday (the kids had off for Lunar New Year) which means I don’t need to make sure my husband has protected work time tomorrow. I feel much more confident that I’ll be able to get everything done tomorrow. Or at least enough of it.

I also pulled out some clothes to pack! That was fun, and probably the first real prepping I’ve done for the actual trip, which start this coming Friday!

The real mood booster was running on the Great Highway today. It was sunny and almost felt warm for the first time in weeks. I took my kids and my son’s friend (the one he was with all yesterday), so being in the sun and exercising was also taking the kids out for some movement and saying thank you to my son’s friends parents for all the coverage on Friday. It felt like a real win.

Lest you think all I am doing all weekend is cleaning my house, I did watch an episode of Twin Peaks with my daughter, and then an episode of True Detective by myself (I’m watching season 3, because I can’t manage waiting for new episodes of things to come out these days). And right now I’m heading to watch a movie with people from the dojo. I’m bringing my furikake popcorn, which is always a crowd pleaser.

Sorry for all the negativity yesterday. Work had been hard and I’m not managing it super well with all I’m trying to do at home. But soon we’ll be on our trip and it will all feel worthwhile.

I was planning on doing a 5 Fives on Friday post this morning. On the way to work I had it all mapped out. Then I got to my classroom and it felt like a giant wave of tasks just crashed over me and threw me around all day until it was finally 3:10pm and I said “Hasta luego” to my final class.

I’ve kind of felt like that all week.

It’s been a lot. My husband hasn’t been sleeping great and he’s really struggling with low moods right now. All week I got home after incredibly long days and he would be a zombie on the couch until he shuffled off to bed at 10pm. Meanwhile I had to stay up until past midnight grading papers and getting stuff ready for the next day.

I’m also the official family Uber driver again because my daughter is able to go to swimming three times a week only if I take her two of those times. Most of the year she can only go once a week (they day her school gets out early), but during the high school swim season her practice gets pushed back. She really wants to commit to swimming right now, and I can’t deny her that so I’m driving an extra 1.5 hours twice a week now. Sigh.

Oh my god I am struggling to write this so badly right now. My brain is made of oatmeal. And I have so much to do. I’m facing down the last weekend before our trip and I feel like my to-do list just keeps getting longer, instead of smaller. Everywhere I look are spots I forgot about, and that need to be dealt with. I am SO OVER cleaning up my house. I feel like I never want to look at my house ever again.

This might be all I have in me right now. I promise things are not really that bad, I’m just so, so done. My brain is fried and my body is sore and I just need a drink tonight and a morning with some space to get some stuff done.

And luckily both of those things are in my future.

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

{I must admit, I am starting to hit a wall on the house deep clean project. I’ve been working on it A LONG TIME. And it feels like I’m never going to be done. I get one area squared away and another needs work again. Or maybe I realize it was never really on my radar to begin with, but actually needs some attention. (::cough:: laundry area ::cough::).}

Today I made good progress. My husband and I cleaned the fridge. He took everything out, threw away anything we didn’t need anymore, and put it all back. I cleaned it. I don’t think it’s been cleaned like that since 2018, when we deep cleaned the house to prepare for AirBnB guests. I’ve definitely wiped it down a couple times since then, but I haven’t taken the shelves out to properly clean them in five and a half years. That feels like a long time. I’m curious how frequently you all deep clean your fridge. Is it a yearly project? Ours definitely needed it, badly. I am embarrassed by how dirty it was.

I also cleaned the downstairs kitchen. That was a massive undertaking. The downstairs kitchen was so, so gross. We don’t cook or anything in the downstairs kitchen – we only keep extra food there so we don’t have to go to the store so much – and I had let it get pretty dirty. It’s just so easy to walk in there, grab what I need, and walk out, willfully averting my gaze from all the scuff marks on the floor, stains on the counters, and junk piling in the corner. I honestly had no idea how disgusting the stove top was until I went to wipe it down. I don’t think it’s been used since 2022, when I had to boil our reusable respirator masks and hang them to dry.

Now that the kitchen is done, I’ll spend this week tidying the downstairs unit (our bedroom) so I can clean it properly next weekend. The floors especially need a good steam cleaning. Finally, the week before we leave I’ll clean our bathroom really well.

I also need to sweep and tidy the garage, especially over by the laundry area. (Seriously, how have I not noticed how bad this area is? Both machines are covered in lint!) If I know my mother-in-law, she’ll be doing laundry even if it’s not necessary. My kids always come back from sleeping at my in-laws’ house with their one set of clothes already washed. It’s kind of bizarre.

Thank goodness the cleaning person comes again the day we fly out. Speaking of which, I need to confirm that with her…

So yeah, it’s been a productive weekend. I wouldn’t say I’m starting this week well rested, but I did cross most of my most urgent tasks off my to-do list. I even made it through my first three hour training session at the dojo. It’s a really good set of classes, but it’s also exhausting. It starts with Sparring/Ground Fighting. which is physically exhausting, and then leads into High Belt, which is mentally intense, and finishes off with Forms, which requires memorizing difficult multi-step fighting forms. It’s just a lot. But it’s also a really good use of my time, training wise, so I’m glad I’m able to go three Saturdays this month.

Also, a shoe rack I ordered came and it fits perfectly and I was able to move the other shoe rack to a spot so it can still be used. It feels like suddenly we have WAY too many shoes, which means *I* have way too many shoes because everyone else in my family has a very reasonable amount of shoes.

My kids each have 3-4 pairs each. My husband has four pairs (black and brown work shoes, one pair of Vans and a pair of rain boots). Then I have enough pairs to fill an entire hang-over-the-door shoe organizer. I know I have too many, but I also know a lot of women have more than I do. I wonder how bigger families manage their shoes. Do they store shoes in each kids’ room? Is there a giant closet full of them? We have a door organizer (inside of entryway closet), a bench with two levels for shoes, a smaller shoe rack (with now holds my (multiple pairs of) Uggs. And a three level rack for the kids shoes on the landing of the stairs. So much shoe storage! How do you store shoes? I’m kind of dying to know.

Oh, and I’m stoked to have found a CAP dumbbell set on Craigslist because HOLY SHIT are dumbbells expensive. $35 for ONE 20lb dumbbell? What the what?! I have a rag-tag set of dumbbells, most of them from my parents, so I had no idea they started getting so expensive when they are heavier. I recently saw a set of them at Costco (six pairs, 5lb-30lbs on a rack) and balked at the $500 price tag, but now I guess I get it. Jeez. Anyway, I found a set you can put together to make 20lb-40lbs dumbbells each for $50 on Craiglist and I’m picking them up tomorrow. Yes please! Now I have all the dumbbells I’ll even need, and for less than the price of two 20 pounders.

The weather today was crazy, rain and high winds all afternoon. My son and I went to the mall to kill some hours and the power went out while we were in Target. It was a real trip. The weather hasn’t been so bad when we left, but by the time we got home the wind was howling. We stayed put the rest of the day. I hope our commutes are fine tomorrow.

Because tomorrow is another Monday. Another start to another week. I hope it goes by fast at least.

February has officially begun, and what a full February it is. And a leap year! Starting March 1st, everything jumps TWO weekdays ahead on the calendar (instead of one day). I will say: I’m not sad July 4th skipped from Tuesday to Thursday. The mid-week July 4th is rough stuff.

Five things that are happening in February.

Daughter’s art school audition

Tomorrow my daughter has her audition for the public high school she had to apply for with a prepared portfolio. She needs to bring a small object to draw in front of judges. This audition is the culmination of over a year of taking classes and working hard to give this application her best effort. We all know that admission is a long shot, and I’m so proud of all the work she’s done to get here. I’m also SO relieved that it’s almost over, and that all we have to do after is wait.

7th graders at outdoor Ed.

Thank goodness I don’t have to go with them, but their departure is a big deal for me because three of my classes are mostly 7th grade. That means the week after next I have a much lighter load. I used to earmark that week for catch up, but I’ve learned the hard way that I never get as much done as I want to. Instead I hope to decompress a little during that week. And this year the timing is especially good because that Friday I leave for our…

CDMX (Ciudad de México) trip

I still can’t really believe we are going. I really hope we both stay healthy and have a good time. I know we both need the time away from our real lives, and the time to reconnect with one another. Also Spanish! And mezcal! And lucha libre! And music! And book stores! I can’t wait.

Lots of martial arts

I’m testing in mid-April and my husband will be out of town a lot in March and April so I’m trying to get ahead of my test prep in February with some long days at the dojo. I’ll be there every Saturday from noon to 3pm, except the one I’m in CDMX. I’m also trying to go more during the week. It’s going to be a lot. I’m already anticipating a meltdown from my husband, who I know wants to support me, but who I also know just can’t handle it when I’m consistently out of the house. I’m already asking around for friends to take my son. I know I shouldn’t have to, but I also know that if I can set some set up, we’ll all be happier for it. I’m taking my son’s best friends to the KOA for a week this summer, so I figure I can ask for a few Saturday afternoons.

Can we keep the house clean?

I am extrinsically motivated to keep my house in great shape for the next two weeks, because of my in-laws visit. I know it will be spotless when we get home, because that is how they role. But what will happen after that? In the past I would have been sure it would eventually fall into disarray, but now I’m not so sure. We have avoided our messy status quo for several weeks now. Will I be able to keep that up? Possibly. I’m more hopeful than I’ve been before.

January has not been a great month for me. I’ve felt fussy and out of sorts. I was experiencing some symptoms (chest tenderness, bloating/weight gain, GI issues, grumpiness) that I was attributing to holiday weight gain, but that I realized around mid-month was probably hormonal. My hormone fluctuations are so random these days it always takes me a while I realize that is probably what is making me miserable, and this bout especially was so long that I needed several weeks of feeling out of sorts to realize what was happening.

Then my brain started breaking. It started with some small stuff, but culminated in a few days of really incredible mishaps, of increasing severity.

First I went to book club on Sunday, at my good friend’s sister-in-law’s house. I was excited to go, because I always heard so much about her daughter’s cousins (her daughter and my daughter are good friends), and I was pleased to finally put faces to names. So when I went over, I eagerly met both girls and chatted with them a bit. Later, the sister-in-law’s husband came in and I barely nodded at him from my seat on the sofa. It was only later, when I got home, that I realized that the sister-in-law’s husband was my friend’s brother! Who I have been wanting to meet for two years! How did I not make that connection when I was there? Or before hand? I am so mad at myself for the missed opportunity, but also concerned that I didn’t even make that connection until several hours later.

The next day at work I spent all this time writing the names of students who had missing work and therefore couldn’t pick their seats, only to get out into the hallway and start calling names to a dumbfounded class that didn’t recognize them. I had done all that work for a class much later in the day! That may seem like an innocent enough mistake, but I have never done anything like that in 20 years of teaching. I was so sure I was looking at the right class.

Then, that afternoon I got home and did something horrifying. I pulled the car into the driveway and got out, leaving my car door open with my phone still plugged in. I walked up to the front door (the gate was open in case of a delivery) and tried three times to get my work key to fit in the deadbolt. Of course it didn’t because it was my work key, but as I was doing it the third time, I absentmindedly pulled the gate shut, locking myself into the tiny space between the gate and the front door. I immediately realized what I had done and started ringing the doorbell, thanking god my husband was home. But my husband didn’t come to the door. After frantically ringing it a bunch of time in a row, my phone started ringing. Since it was in the car, still plugged into the speakers, the ringtone was super loud. I just kept ringing the bell and my phone kept ringing on the car speakers and I kept being locked in the entryway. After about three excruciating minutes of this, a guy walked by and it was all I could do not to reach out between the bars and grab him. I did call after him and begged him to reach into my car and get my keys, which he did, at which point I was able to unlock the front door and get into the house.

That last one really shook me. Looking back I was so cognizant of the fact that the key wasn’t fitting in the lock. Why would I pull the gate close? I never do that! If my husband hadn’t been home, or no one had walked by, I could have been stuck in there for a long time. It could have been very, very bad. (And yes, I know the gate should have a latch on the inside. Several people have informed us that it’s a fire hazard to not have a latch on the inside of the gate – we’ve always just kept a key hanging INSIDE the front door to open the gate in case our electricity goes out in a fire. Getting the latch installed (which will probably require totally replacing the gate) is something I’ll be looking into fixing now.)

Anyway, it’s been really upsetting to watch myself do such dumb shit, over and over. I’m worried I’m going to lose something important, like misplace my passport on my trip in two weeks, or worse, cause an accident that affects others. I’ve read a lot about perimenopause affecting cognition, and I’m assuming (hoping!) that that is what’s going on. I feel like I spend my life about to make mistakes like these and now that hormonal fluctuations are affecting my cognition, I’m being pushed past my self-created safe guards and dropping all the balls. It’s not a great place to be.

Worry about mental decline has definitely not helped improve my already fragile mood. I’ve just been low lately, struggling to meet the salty adolescent attitudes all around me with patience and grace. It’s hard not to let everyone else’s bad moods bring down my own. I’m just struggling to self-regulate.

I’m also reading Building a Second Brain and realizing that.. I don’t have any real reason to save resources in this way? Can I really be that boring? Do I have no projects that require I save interesting articles to come back to them? I’m honestly struggling to recognize how I could use this system in my own life. I feel like all my bookmarks are for things I want to go back and buy later. And when they are articles I could return to later, I don’t have any real reason to highlight the article and keep a summary for later. Maybe I could write a blog post about them later, but I rarely even do that these days. It’s just making me feel like my life is incredibly boring, like I don’t use my brain to create anything anymore, I just solve problems with stuff and move on with my life.

Oh, and so much for a break in the rain. The 10 day forecast is bumming me out, hard.

But not all is bad at the end of this month. My house looks AMAZING after the house cleaner came. I didn’t even realize how dingy it looked until that layer was removed. I can’t stop staring at my floors! She comes again the day we leave for our trip, and then we’ll have to decide if we want her to return once a month. I don’t think we could afford more than that, at least not while my son is in the $$$ aftercare. And honestly, I think I could keep the house fairly clean in the weeks between, and let the cleaning lady really get at the floors, the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom when she’s here once a month.

That is assuming we can make $300/month work at all. With the way were spending money right now, I’m not sure we can prioritize a cleaning person over other things right now. (These two cleanings are my Christmas present from my mom)

I also love my new vegan leather jacket from Gap. And it was only $35! (Clearance and then an additional 40% off!) A jacket like this can be hard to find, and the fact that I got a new one for so little, and on my first try, is making me unreasonably happy. I’m trying to take the small wins when I can.

Tomorrow is the first day of February. And it has 29 days! That is novel, at least. I think February will be a much better month than January was. Especially if this hormonal fluctuation evens out, and my brain starts working again.

Saturday morning I realized that this weekend was one of only three until we leave for Mexico City. We’ve done so much work, and the house looks really good, but there are still a few big tasks to finish and I haven’t done any work on the house in a while.

So this weekend I started doing stuff again.

I cleaned off some surfaces in the garage. They are right by the door so a lot of random stuff gets thrown on them, and I’m always looking at them and their mess when I come in and out of the house.

I replaced two door knobs and fixed the latch on the front door so now it catches all the time instead of just 25% of the time. The door knobs were high on my list because they required very specific handling to function properly, and if they these doors aren’t closed properly the cats can get into the garage, or escape outside. We definitely don’t want the grandparents to have to deal with AWOL cats, but I had never replaced door knobs and wasn’t sure I could do it. Turns out they really are quite easy to install. I was pleasantly surprised.

I swept the area behind the gate and pulled out all the weeds growing in the sidewalk, so the neighborhood dogs won’t pee (as much) on our house.

I took all the towels out of the hall closet wire basket drawers and organized them. That was a real pain point for me; clean towels never fit in them anymore, so I’d shove them in and then they wouldn’t close. It was frustrating.

I cleaned the freezer, which was truly disgusting. I even unscrewed the bottom and lifted it enough to get all the gross junk under the grates. I did not get to the fridge yet, but I plan to do that next weekend.

Oh, and a bonus task was sewing four patches on my son’s karate gi’s. you may remember that looking for the patches with our last name was part of what prompted me to start this decluttering project. I finally found them in one of the many junk drawers (one I’m sure I checked before!) so it was nice to get them on his new tops this weekend. I also ordered some new fun patches for the backs and arms.

Tomorrow the cleaning lady comes. I’m weirdly nervous about it. I hope the house is ready enough for her to get a lot done. I’m curious to see what it looks like when she’s done; no one has cleaned my house since before the pandemic. It could really use a professional’s touch.

There are still a few big things I need to accomplish before my in-laws stay here, but I got enough done this weekend that I’m feeling good about things again. It was nice to take a couple weeks off from this project, but we leave in less than three weeks, so it’s definitely crunch time. I know I can get it all done, but I have to keep working.

What can I say? I like short, succinct lists!

Five things I’m glad are over

• This work week. Seriously, it was a doozy.
• Family visits. I love seeing people, but don’t love always being busy.
• The rain. I’m sure there will be more, but right now it’s only forecast for Wednesday of next week.
• Uncertainty about my classes being covered on Monday. Why is it such a pain in my ass to not be in my classroom?! What other job is like this?! I’ve been stressing about it all week!
• Work until Monday. Did I already mention this one? Well, I’m doubly glad because work this week sucked.

Five things I spent $-$$ on this week.

• Korean face cleansing oil. It was buy three, get $30 off at Costco, so I bought three. ($)
• A New vegan leather jacket from Gap. I realized mine was fraying badly last weekend and want one for my MXDF trip, so when I found one on sale at Gap for a very decent price I ordered one. Two actually, because I wasn’t sure of size. I also got my daughter some cargo sweatpants. Because I’m nice like that. ($)
• Roll8+ deep tissue massager. My thighs are always tight and sore now, and I finally decided my comfort was worth some relief. ($$)
• A new Gi for my son. His dobok pants were halfway to his knees. It was time. ($)
• Random groceries. How does one just “pop in” to grab “a few things” three times in a week and spend $50+ each time?! ($$)

Five things I spent $$$-$$$$$ on this week.

• Flights to St. Louis – Chicago – home this summer. We got the hacker fair on three different airlines and it was still so much. ($$$$)
• Daughter’s away-camp this summer. It’s her first one! ($ now, $$$ later)
• Daughter’s flight to DC. She gets to go with three friends (and not her mom), because she is THE LUCKIEST. $$$
• A 5-day reservation at the KOA this summer. I’m taking my son and his 3-4 10yo friends. I’ll let you know the size and shape of my Best Mother Ever trophy when I ceremoniously accept it. ($ now, $$$ later)
• Our plumbing work and new bathroom floor. The credit card bill came due. Money was moved. ($$$$$)

Five things I’m currently looking forward to (near term)

• Finishing Take My Hand. Interesting premise but was not for me. I’m finishing it at x1.8 and I can’t be done with it soon enough. (Our book club meets tomorrow, so if I don’t finish by then I don’t have to.)
• The cleaning woman coming Monday. My kitchen floors are deplorable. Also, I haven’t had anyone clean my house since before the pandemic.
• Not seeing my classroom, or students, for two days. Seriously. This week at work almost broke me.
• Waking up at 8am or later! It’s been since last Saturday! I need to sleep past 6am this weekend!
• Having a drink tonight, and again tomorrow. Or two. Maybe 2.5. I really need to just sit on my couch with a home-made margarita.

Five things I’m looking forward to (long term)

• Trip to Mexico City. It’s three weeks away! We’ll be alone, without our kids, eating and drinking and sight seeing. I can’t wait.
• Camping in Joshua Tree. We’re going over spring break. I’m still not a super enthusiastic camper but I’m so excited to check these “must visit” spots off my list.
• Daughter’s 8th grade promotion. By then we’ll know what high school she’s going to. I’m so proud of all she’s accomplished these past three years.
• Trip to St. Louis + Chicago. The +Chicago part just got added and I’m really excited to visit the city again, and with a friend who is from there! Woot!
• Summer in general. We have a lot of fun stuff planned and I just a lot of money on many of those plans, so I’m starting to get excited.