Memory Dump

It has been ages!  And I’m too busy to put anything with any kind of structure here – I’ve been using up all of my “creative time” to make the Professor’s annual Father’s Day Shutterfly Book.  It’s almost done, so I *might* just have time to get it printed and delivered in time for the big day.  Meanwhile, some memories I don’t want to lose:

Sister Visit

My sister came to visit, and lo, it was a glorious thing.  She arrived on Thursday a week ago.  I picked her up and we had pizza at a café in my building, then the Professor came and fetched her home while I finished out the day, then came home for some kind of supper that I can no longer recall.  I do know there was wine.

On Friday, she and the Professor took the boys for haircuts while I went into work.  I made an appointment for us to have pedis that afternoon at the spa in my building (the bottom floors are a hotel-with-spa), and we lounged around the Quiet Room with poinsettias* and pretty pink (me) and purple (her) toes.  That evening we went out for margaritas and burritos at a local Mexican place, and it kinda rained on us all as we sat on the back patio, but we were chipper nonetheless because Aunt Amanda!  Margaritas!  Chips and salsa for dinner!

Saturday, we dropped the Professor off at the train station in Hattiesburg, and he sojourned off for a quick four day backpacking trip with friends.  Then we labored our way home, stopping at literally three different McDonald’s in different areas in order to accommodate potty breaks, nursing breaks, and milkshake breaks.  After a quiet rainy Saturday afternoon of naps, grocery shopping, and drawing pictures, we set up a fort and tried to enjoy watching Frozen from beneath the canopy (the children made it difficult, though, as they were kind of whiny and snippy).  It continued to rain and be terrible weather throughout her trip, but we shook our fists at the sky and drove to the beach anyway on Sunday.  I’m glad we went – it never opened up rain on us, and we enjoyed sand castle-building, lounging under the umbrella, tossing a Frisbee into the wind, and holding tightly onto the children while they nearly were torn from our arms in the fiercest, most choppy water I’ve ever seen on the Gulf.  Sunday night we set up camp just like Dad, putting tents and camp chairs in the front room, and watching Swiss Family Robinson while “roasting” cotton ball “marshmallows” over a paper drawing of a “campfire.”  It was pretty darned cute.

Monday was a typical day – I worked all day long, and Aunt Amanda watched the boys at home, playing at Stay At Home Momming.  Monday night we did not have any fun hijinks because the boys finally had exhausted all of Aunt Amanda’s fresh, child-free energy, as had a sunburn and headache, and both adults were kind of worn out.  Tuesday, however, I took a half day off(ish, I just snuck away and kept on top of email), and we went to the rooftop pool at my building (again, part of the spa/hotel, and we are members of the pool).  We splashed around with all three boys, then left them with a babysitter and had great Girl Time having a fabulous dinner with wine in the courtyard of a local Italian place.  Wednesday morning she went home (SAD), Thursday morning the Professor came home, and Friday I took him to the doctor for an outpatient surgery that went just fine.  Friday night I fell asleep on the couch with the baby at about 9, but then woke up with him (teething) at midnight and just . . . stayed up the rest of the night, working.

This Here Weekend

Saturday morning dawned on me desperately trying to send an email at 4:45 am so I could make it known to all partners that I had worked all night.  If I’m going to pull an all-nighter, I want everyone to know about it, darn it.

It was actually kind of peaceful.  I have almost two dozen very active cases right now, and I have partners calling and stopping by and emailing literally every five minutes of the working day, giving me even more.  I even close my Outlook for hours at a time, so I can choose when to answer email, but then people will come by or call and say “didja get my email?” and then give me a new assignment that is needed by the end of the day and I drink a little more from the firehose.  Work is like a game of whack-a-mole – putting out constant fires, on deadline almost every day, and it wears me out.  Then I come home and play the domestic version of whack-a-mole – kids with their constant needs and interruptions, which don’t even end overnight as the baby still wakes up fairly often, even when he just settles down and goes back to sleep he wakes me up and I get that little stress ping from having to attend to something, decide what to do about it, and then settle back in.  All of this endless, relentless interruption just shreds my nerves into tiny little whispy bits of nerve, like a little pile of pencil shavings.  I don’t know if that metaphor makes sense to you (I’m blowing through this update, here, before my littlest Interruptor requires some more food), but anyways the point is that I am being driven totally, out-and-out bats by all of the needy needers in my life who never let me alone for five damn seconds altogether.

All this to say – to stay up all night and work through the wee hours was actually refreshing.  I got to get a flow going.  I got to start a project and finish it without being pulled away, except for an hour here or there (YES AN HOUR SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD) to hold a screaming, teething little baby.  But once he was Tylenoled and Anbesoled and settled, I settled myself back down on the couch, put Parks and Rec on the tv for company, and blew through seven billable hours.  Call me crazy but I’m thinking of doing it again tonight, just to push some actual work out instead of answering people’s phone calls asking about their emails that they sent about tomorrow’s meeting, etc. etc.  Which is all that Monday is going to entail, and I’m already a little sick just thinking about it.

Chuck E. Cheese Hero

Saturday morning after the kids got up and the email got sent, I packed them all into the car and left the Professor to convalesce while I went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  I don’t want to be a martyr, here, but I was all kinds of awesome, especially since I had not slept the night before.  I was patient, I was supervisory without being a HoverMama, I did not yell one time, and I planned the baby’s feedings kind of perfectly.  Gold stars. I brought home Wendy’s salads for the Professor and I for lunch, then spent the afternoon on dishes/laundry/groceries, i.e. shoring up the house.  As you do.

Saturday night we had pork chops for dinner.  Then we all fell asleep at about 8:30, and I slept the night through with a baby who is still, irritatingly, Teething-Grumpy.  So when I say “slept the night through” I really mean “woke up a zillion times because the baby’s face hurts.”  We skipped church today, but I managed to buy some spiderman stuff for Liam’s upcoming birthday, do more laundry, run to Target for an aboveground kiddie pool, blow up and fill up said pool for the boys, make lunch, and do the Professor’s Father’s Day book.  Now I’m writing this, and next I will write up birthday party invites, fold laundry, make dinner, and possibly get set up to bill some hours tonight in the peace and quiet of my house at 3am.  I’m tired just reading this.

The End – Loves and Hates

This ain’t pretty, but it’s done.  I loved having my sister visit, hate having to work so much, love my job even so (if it would just slow down a touch), hate laundry/dishes/groceries, but love that they’re done.  I love this Leinenkugel summer shandy that I’m drinking, loved the nectarine-and-cucumber-and-sunflower seed salad I made for lunch, and hate that it created even more dishes that I now have to wash.  I’m going to go spend some time with the guys I love.  I love you guys, too, but Sunday is for mah boys.  So, without further ado – The End.

*cranberry juice and champagne, nom nom.