It's almost that time...

This coming week school begins.  Catherine, Andrew, and I all have students on Wednesday.  I'm ready...or as ready as I'm going to be.  I allowed myself to leave early yesterday afternoon, knowing it was the last Friday that I would be able to do so.  While I am very grateful for the summer, and for the flexibility and more laid back schedule, I'm also grateful for the full time schedule of the school year that allows me to have a "full-time" paycheck.

Last week I made sure that the kids all took time to visit my grandmother.  We were there about 45 minutes, and she really enjoyed having us all there.  I'm not going to lie, it is really, really hard for me to visit my grandmother.  For so many years, she was such an amazing force in lives and that person we visit now just isn't her.  I struggle with that.  Regardless, after our visit we drove into town and had dinner at a pizza place, where two of my cousins (and a husband) and two of their kids joined us.  We had a blast and we agreed it is something we should do more often!  I'm so glad we made those things happen.

Today I made another visit north to help my sister work at mom's house.  That is another post, but it was definitely a very long day.  I'm grateful for a quiet evening right now, especially since we had dinner plans with Thomas and Lyndi last evening.  Tomorrow is church and then dinner with more friends.  August is never my favorite month, but it is the beginning of college football season so I can't be sad about that!  And of course it will be the holidays before we know it! 😁

Last day of July

The last day of July has arrived.  It was a full day, too.  I worked until 4:00, so basically back to the normal grind.  A cold front came through, which at least broke the horribly hot weather we'd been having.  Two weeks from today it will be the second day of school.  Lots to do between now and then, but I am ready to get back to a routine...and regular sized paychecks as well. 😁

I really do love my job, and I don't love summer weather, so I've been wondering why I'm feeling sad about the end of this summer.  We had a great summer.  We enjoyed a wonderful vacation with everyone and then another great trip with friends, but summers are different then they used to be.  My children are now adults, and I accept that.  As with everything in life, it has both pros and cons.

I've realized though, how much my life changes when school starts.  It isn't just my job, which cranks up, obviously.  But Andrew goes from having almost no responsibilities during the year to having the busiest season of the year.  And our town COMPLETELY changes.  Our quiet little town adds about 16,000 students, not to mention that even professors and other staff leave town during the summer.  Right now, going to the grocery is a piece of cake.  That changes dramatically when we have all those extra people. 

I know this is a short-term "mood", and I love fall and all that it brings, followed by the holidays and hopefully some snow.  Hopefully the cooler weather of the weekend will help to life spirits!

Last trip of the summer

This past weekend we took our final trip of the summer.  Yesterday was also my final day off for the season, but we still aren't working full days.  Yes folks, the new school year is nearly upon us.

I had originally taken these days off to have a nice long weekend at home.  Plans changed though.  Friends from California were going to be in Pittsburgh so that meant traveling over on Friday, and then my mom had a medical appointment on Monday and I told her I would take her, then we had lunch with my daughter-in-law, so needless to say, not nearly as many things got done as I had hoped.  But that is life!

Anyway, it was a nice visit in PA.  We got in Friday for an awesome dinner with my mother-in-law.  Saturday I was able to sleep in until almost 10.  We had plans in the city, and we had such a great time seeing so many people we hadn't seen in quite a while.  In fact, in my case it had been years since I had seen them.  It was so hot though, and even in the a/c, it was so crowded that it was really warm.  I was grateful that by early evening we were back at his mom's house and brought in a pizza for dinner.  We watched a cheesy Christmas movie, and I really enjoyed having the opportunity to visit.

Two weeks from today we will be getting ready for the first day of students the next day.  The summer always goes so quickly, but I love my job...and I'm soooo ready for cooler weather that the fall will (hopefully) bring!

Sometimes life isn't fair

This July has been full of some sadness for some family friends.  While we were in KC, we learned that the father of a friend of my parents had passed away.  The man was 98.  This was most certainly not a tragedy.  I knew literally the entire family, including some "steps" that had married into the family.  I took the day off and paid my respects at the visitation.  The night before this news came, we learned of another death, and this one was indeed tragic.  A young man, only 21 years, passed away after a year-long fight with cancer.  His family was also friends with my family, and his grandmother had been good friends with my mother when I was growing up.  His grandparents had passed away 30 years ago in a tragically sad incident.  As another friend said, this family already had their tragedy, how could this be happening?

This morning brought further sad news, and sadly it involves the first family I wrote about.  A granddaughter lost her husband this morning.  Both are in their early 40's, and he'd been fighting cancer since last fall.  They have three little boys, the oldest only eight, and the youngest not yet in Kindergarten.  My heart is so broken for this family.  Those boys need their dad.  I know the family will rally around Lesley and her boys, but this just isn't supposed to happen.

Teacher of the Year

It took me two months to get this written, but I don't want to forget Andrew's big accomplishment of this year.  He was named the Rotary Teacher of the Year.  I am so, so proud that his talent has been recognized.  He's really awesome at his job.  He's going to use the prize money to take his kids on a field trip.  He's amazing!

KC, Mo

We decided back in April that we would make a trip to visit our friend, Julie, in KC, Mo who lost her husband four years ago.  We've seen her several times since then, but it was her coming here, not us going there.  At dinner with our good friends one evening we were discussing the trip, and we decided to be there on the 4th just like we were when they first moved fifteen years ago.  By the time dinner was over, we had confirmed with Julie and made our hotel reservations.  I was just as excited about this trip as I was about our family vacation last month.

Our friend is a control freak and won't ever let anyone else drive.  So that was decided early on.  We left Thursday (7/3) morning, and the trip took FOREVER.  Part of it was our need to stop due to constantly hydrating, but part of it was the traffic was really heavy as well.  By the time we arrived, we had dinner with our friend and then tumbled into bed.

The next day, July 4th, was my favorite part of the entire trip.  We had breakfast at the hotel, then Julie came to pick us up for our day out.  First, we had to watch Nathan's hotdog eating contest because the guys are ridiculously obsessed.  Our first stop was to a distillery that we had visited together seven years ago.  We had the BEST strawberry cream concoction, and they even had the Reds game on for a bit while we were sitting there.  The next stop was into town where we had a lunch, visited a shop or two, and then found a little wine store where we could have a glass.  There was an 80's/90's trivia game, and our table took full advantage.  When we got back to the hotel, we just decided to order some appetizers for dinner and hang out in the bar, then we ventured to our room and watched fireworks on TV.  It was such a fun day.

Saturday took us to Julie's house where we spent the entire day.  She had moved since her husband passed away, so it was a new location.  We made a trip to the grocery to pick up supplies for an awesome dinner made by the guys, and again played lots of games and had some wine.  It really felt like old times hanging out.  We returned to the hotel and Julie joined us, where we stayed up well into the night playing card games.

Sunday was our last day of fun.  I had talked us all in to making sure we had three full days of fun and not returning home until Monday.  This was the day we went downtown to see some sights, and we also had an incredible meal.  Oh my goodness, I'm already looking forward to doing that again next year!  We drove around and saw some other sites before returning to the hotel and turning in for the night.  We met Julie for breakfast on Monday morning, then we were off on our way home.  I'm so grateful for the memories we made and for the friends with whom we made them!  We've already decided we are doing it again next year!

The first half of July

I am wayyyy behind in writing, but it isn't a bad thing.  We've been having fun and enjoying the more laid back life that July brings.  I have lots of things to write about, including our trip to Kansas City, but I'm going to start with our new furry family member, Bettis!

Andrew made it very clear he wanted another dog after Abby passed last October.  I told him I didn't want another dog, but that I loved him and knew how much it meant to him, and that I was okay with another dog.  We had always kind of joked that June 16 was the date, but the unplanned trip to Vermont derailed that.  When he returned, there wasn't much talk about it, as I knew he was kind of just exhausted at that point.  After we returned from KC, he was READY.  He researched and had sent in applications.  Last Wednesday, we drove 1/2 hour north to the next town.  We had been told about a dog who had been surrendered by his owner just the day before as the owner was moving into assisted living.  They brought the dog out and he was just shaking so hard.  I put my arms around him, we put him on a leash to take him to see how he did with cats, and he was ready for us to walk him out the door.  He was ready to go!  They offered to take us to see other dogs, and I looked at Andrew and we knew...this was our guy.  He is a pug/beagle mix. I always said if I owned a pug I was naming him Bettis after Jerome Bettis. It's a little ironic because this guy has the beagle body, but Bettis Grant is his name.  We brought him home that night, and my goodness!  By Friday it felt like he had been here forever.  He's been a lapdog from the beginning and just full of love for his humans.  We are so, so grateful for this new furry family member!