The good, the bad and the end of summer (finally)

Well, we’re finally here. It’s the last day of summer break. This summer has ended on both high and low notes. Let’s start with the low notes, just to get that nonsense out of the way.

Yesterday, I walked into the living room to find the children elbow-deep in a sticky bag of marshmallows, with sugar and chewed up vanilla beans strewn across the carpet. Not a good start. Seriously, though. Why on earth would she chew on multiple vanilla beans? They do not taste good. And why pour the sugar on the floor? I walked into the room while Madeline was trying to fit a fist full of sugar into her mouth, and all she had to say to my shocked expression was “What?” Not cool. I rage-cleaned for a bit, and threw away some of their toys. It helped.

Not long after, I forgot how to walk down the stairs and thought it involved falling down several steps. As it turns out, that’s NOT how you’re supposed to do that. Now we know. I thought I broke my foot, but X-rays showed that I did NOT break my foot … recently. Wait, what? Yes, you heard right, I didn’t break my foot YESTERDAY, but apparently I have broken it in the past. Which is funny, because I broke my jaw as a child, broke my arm in college, but I’ve never broken my foot. How is that even possible? No idea. But there are bone fragments that are supposed to be attached that are definitely not where they should be, but it’s not in a spot that hurts now. You can see where they belong, but they’ve kind of rounded themselves off, so he said it looks old. I have literally no idea how or when that happened.

Apart from the mystery broken bone in my foot, I’m probably fine. I have some nerve issues going on, but hopefully it’s temporary. The outside of my foot is a little tingly, and I can’t move it very well, but it’s not because of swelling or pain – my brain is telling my foot to move and it’s doing … nothing. Weird. They think there’s some internal swelling or bruising or something that’s putting pressure on a nerve. It hurts more today, but it’s been better since I wrapped it up. Driving is kind of exhausting, since I have to lift my entire leg to move my foot on and off the pedals. So weird.

Today, I spent the morning scooping fish food out of the tank, because Madeline thought pouring half the jar in was a good idea. Cool. While I was engaged in this delightful activity, she dropped the iPad on the tile floor and shattered the screen. Such fun! Much laughter! So joy!

In better news, I finished Madeline’s backpack just in time for school. She’s ecstatic (there was a literal gasp when she saw the finished product), and I’m quite pleased with it myself. I wish I could take credit for the pattern, but I actually got it from https://www.andriedesigns.com/ , where there are a ton of awesome projects and super detailed instructions (much better explained than in any store-bought pattern). It came out perfect, and I learned some new skills!

Currently, I have bread baking for lunches tomorrow (yay!) and cinnamon rolls rising for a happy-first-day-of-school breakfast. Madeline “helped.”

We found Emmett’s glasses yesterday! They’ve been lost for a couple of months, and I found them in the couch. Who knew that all I had to do was email his teacher saying (among other things) that we lost them, and that he would probably not have them for school tomorrow. I found them literally 5 minutes after I sent her the email.

I’ve been working another job recently. It doesn’t pay much (mostly because I don’t do it very often), but I’ll take $50/week for minimal effort in my free time. It’s through a company called Rev, and I basically listen to audio that clients submit, and I type up a transcript. I’m not the fastest typist (I average 54-55 wpm), so it takes me a little longer than it should, but I’m speeding up. They pay me per minute of audio I type, so the faster I type, the more money I’ll make. It’s been fun to do something different.

And finally, I’m having feelings about Madeline going to school. It’s weird. I’ve never been one to be very emotional about things, and I was cool about Emmett starting school. Of course, he started school when he turned 3, so he wasn’t home with me for nearly as long, and he didn’t really comprehend the idea of “school” at the time. Madeline is so excited to make friends, so eager to learn, so ready to be a big girl. With Emmett, I was just sending him to another building for a few hours. Even now, he can’t tell me what he does at school, who his friends are, or what he’s learning. With Madeline, it feels like she’s actually growing up. While I’m glad to be getting her out of the house, I’m having periodic bouts of … emotions? Strange as it may be, that’s not really my thing.

So that’s what’s new with me. Here’s to a fun, educational school year, and a great many productive, quiet mornings. I’m excited.