Comeback Kid, Take Two

So much for being the Comeback Kid. Last week, I forgot to write a TToT post, and this week, umm, same, BUT I HAVE AN EXCUSE and it's my first thankful:

I had Friday off and I also have Monday off, so nothing makes sense. It doesn't feel like Sunday, because I don't have the Sunday Scaries, and I therefore wasn't triggered to remember to write my list of Ten Things of Thankful. But two days off? Much needed and welcome!

Last week, my Conscious Discipline coach visited my classroom. Amy is a master instructor and makes me a better teacher. Not enough thankfuls in the world for that!

I ate one and a half bags of candy corn last week, but I think I have the candy corn-loading mostly out of my system now. 

It may not be FALL cool, but it was cool enough last week that I was able to wear long pants and not melt. 

I cleaned out my sewing/craft room. Correction: I STARTED cleaning out my sewing/craft room. It's been kind of messy for awhile.

I was putting fabric away and found a whole stack of masks that I made four years ago, and I am SO THANKFUL that they are residing in drawers and not in my purse, car, pocket, computer bag, etc. May it remain that way!

I drove up to Jefferson City Thursday night and met my daughter there for her final step in becoming an attorney: the swearing-in ceremony at the Missouri Supreme Court. My husband couldn't be there due to the hurricane (more on that further down), so I represented for both of us. She is officially Emma Kate Dillon, Esq.

On her way out of Kansas City and headed to Jeff City, in heavy traffic on I-70, my daughter was rear-ended while driving in the far left lane. She was talking to me at the time, so I heard a noise, then heard her say something not printable here, and she hung up (yes, she was hands-free the whole time she was talking to me). She and the other driver managed to exchange information and take a few pictures without being killed, and once we got a chance to look it over the next morning, we were both thankful to find no damage! A real miracle!

My son and daughter in law flew back from Washington, DC, for my son's best friend's wedding in Fayetteville, and my husband and I were able to drive down there Saturday morning and have breakfast with them. Looking forward to a future trip to visit them in DC.

After our breakfast, my husband had to do some work, so I dropped him off at a McDonalds (to use their wifi) and visited two of my favorite places in Fayetteville: Fayetteville's Funky Flea Market, where I picked up a few little Christmas gifts, and Rick's Bakery, where I bought (and then consumed) way too many cookies. Totally worth it, but between the cookies and the candy corn earlier in the week, I'm thinking I have used up my sugar quota for the rest of the year and possibly most of next year as well.

My heart goes out to the people affected by Hurricane Helene. The damage is beyond comprehension. Monetary donations are desperately needed to help with the immediate needs of sheltering and feeding the victims of the storm. If you feel led, I recommend donating to the American Red Cross. Visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (800-733-2767) to make a financial donation. People can also text the word HELENE to 90999 to make a donation. You might also consider donating blood through the American Red Cross as another way to help during this relief response.

The Comeback Kid

So it seems I took an unintentional sabbatical from blogging for the summer. I kept telling myself "I'll do it soon, I'll do it later, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll do it next weekend, I'll do it when I'm not so exhausted, I'll do it some day, just not now."

I AM exhausted. We drive to my dad's every weekend, two hours each way, to run errands, cook, clean, and keep him company. My school goes year round, so no summers off. And I have 20 VERY LIVELY four and five year olds every day and that requires lots of planning. And patience (testing it lately, I admit). It's a lot. I let the ball drop on blogging and especially on the Ten Things of Thankful and I feel as though I failed everyone involved with it.

Through much self-regulation, however, I am trying again to write. And thus begins my first TToT post in a coon's age:

1. I'm thankful for Clark for stepping up and offering to take over hosting the TToT when I just couldn't any longer. And additional thanks to Mimi, Kristi, and Lisa for being so kind about all of it.

2. Summer is pretty much over, and I'm okay with that. 

3. I got a special invitation from a special former (as in he graduated in May) preschooler to attend a community theater production that he was in along with several other members of his family. He totally stole the show, and I was honored to be invited to witness it! It also gave me the bug to audition, then I remembered Life and resigned myself to singing showtunes in the car instead.

4. The addition of a garage and workshop to the lake house has nearly come to fruition, and the best part of the whole thing is that the tiny screened porch has more than doubled in size and is a delightful place to relax. We still don't have real furniture for it, but the old plastic stuff is working just fine for now, and anyway, who cares when you can sit in it at night and work on a blog post while dock lights twinkle on the water and crickets and frogs sing in the background?

5. Football season has started again!

6. This is a big one: my daughter graduated from law school in May magna cum laude. She spent the next two months studying at least 10-12 hours a day, took the Bar exam in July and got the results this week...SHE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS! My baby girl is an ATTORNEY!

7. Friday, lucky me had a colonoscopy. Super fun. 5 out of 5 stars. JK only the propofol gets 5 out of 5 stars. But it's over for another 10 years, so yay!

8. While summer hasn't completely left us (it's coming back later this week with temps in the 90s again - ugh), today, fall poked it's face through the door and gave us a delightful day of cooler temps and bright blue skies. My husband and I took advantage of this gift by going to Silver Dollar City and listening to some bluegrass. 

9. We've had a critter of some kind in our attic this spring and summer, and in spite of having repairs done on the wooden part of our house (it's a Tudor, so mostly stucco) and closing up holes, the little shit has found a way in again. My husband finally had enough and put a live trap in the attic on Wednesday afternoon. He checked it Thursday - nothing. Friday morning, as I was sleeping off my anesthesia, I woke up to him standing over me and saying there was something in the trap. How did he know, when he hadn't opened the hatch to see? I found out shortly, because it sounded like the varmint was doing barrel rolls with the cage across the attic floor. While my husband was retrieving his wildlife removal gear (oven mitts, a beach towel, bungees, and the ladder), the cats and I were following the progress of the cage as it seemed to rocket across the attic floor. It had to be a racoon or possum to make that kind of racket, but when my husband climbed up the ladder and moved the hatch aside, it was...a squirrel. A very athletic squirrel. He brought the cage down to the bedroom wrapped in the beach towel, then secured the towel with the bungees. We read that the squirrel needed to be relocated at least 2-4 miles away, but we did better than that - we took him on a 2 hour car ride to the lake house and released him (with much difficulty; it's a well-made cage) at the park down the street. He shot out of the cage and bounded off. Hopefully, he will text all his squirrel friends and family back in Joplin and warn them away from the house with the crazy man with the oven mitts or we can hope so, anyway.

10. And I did it! I got a post written. I can do hard things!

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