Friday, July 27, 2012

Weather Angst

Emily is terrified of weather lately.

Be it rain, any cloud that isn't perfectly fluffy and white, or wind of any kind.  The girl is just SURE that some kind of inclement weather is going to turn into a tornado and she is terrified. I'm doing my best just to be calm and reassuring without reacting too much to her drama.  It usually involves tears and refusal to go wherever she was supposed to be headed for the day and the need for her blankie.  At 8 years old... really?  Let's hope this is a phase.  Please. A neighbor whose son is  a year old and had similar fears told me that in 2nd grade they do a tornado drill and show them a film that describes how to identify potential funnel clouds forming and that wind is an early warning sign of tornadoes.  Apparently that scares A LOT of the kids and the timing seems right on for when this fear started.  Nice, thanks school.

We've had our fair share of storms over the past few weeks so we now have her sleeping bag stashed in my closet so that if something develops in the night we can just let her sleep in our room.  It's easier and everyone gets more rested than trying to convince her it's safe to sleep in her room alone.  This too shall pass, right?

On the home front, things are particularly pleasant right now. Jim's job is still going very well. He has 2 more weeks of orientation/precepting and then he's completely on his own.  He's been working up to a full patient load over the last few weeks and doing fine, just using his preceptor to double check a med here or there if there's a complicated dosage calculation or high risk med.  But he should be good to go.  He is so happy lately it's almost comical.  Yesterday for example he picked up Emily from summer camp, which ended at 3, and brought home her best friend who was also there so they could play and her friend was going to stay over for dinner.  They had a blast.  Jim had a dance party going for the girls in the kitchen and they were hanging off of him like little monkeys.  He was loving it!

Hoping the storms stay away from the weekend so we can break-in the new fire-pit Jim built last week in the backyard.  Time for hot-dogs and s'mores! Happy summer weekend all.


Monday, July 9, 2012

Finally time to slow down a bit.

April through the beginning of July were absolutely crazy.  Every weekend I was either away or planning to be away and needing to pack/unpack/organize for the upcoming event.

This past weekend was the first real down time I've had in months and it felt amazing.  Jim was working this weekend so Emily and I puttered around the house a fair bit but I felt really productive.  It was ungodly hot for the past week, with highs over 100 and humidity making the head index somewhere between 110-115.  Forget about going outside.  Saturday after some chores around the house we spent the afternoon at the YMCA indoor pool.  Best move of the weekend.  No sunscreen and no crazy heat to deal with.  Sunday after more chores (I think I tackled every pile of paperwork lying around the house and lots of cleaning) the heat finally broke, highs only up to 88, so we decided to brave the outdoors.  We went to a local botanical garden that is just gorgeous, a nice place for me to play with the "good" camera, not just the usual point and click or my iphone camera.  And there is  a huge children's garden with a tree house, suspended boardwalk and water garden.  We spent 4 hours just wandering around enjoying the not too scorching weather and each others company.

I feel so much more organized today back at the office, like I finally have my head screwed on straight so it's time to get back at it. Lots of deadlines are looming this week.

Small update on Jim, he's on week 6 at his new job and still absolutely loving it.  It's so nice to see him come home with a smile on his face even after 13 hours on his feet at the hospital.

We made a budget for the month of July, the first one ever, honestly how crazy is that.  And that too makes my mind rest, knowing that we have double the income coming in for the first time in 4 years and have planned where it all goes makes managing the finances so much less stressful.  Here's to a relaxed but productive week!