Crashing and Burning Back into Blog Reality

1. There is no intro to this post. You and I both know I’ve gone MIA for way too long. There’s no graceful way to reenter the blog atmosphere. Buckle your seatbelts, folks. It’s gonna get bumpy.

2. I’m sitting here on September 4th, going “where the flip is summer?” I mean, I vaguely remember the children meandering around here asking for food, but why can’t I remember what else happened? I literally have my calendar next to me to prove summer took place. Let’s start in June…

3. My last meaningful post was on June 21st, the day before our vacation. For the first time in Cooper Vacation History, we rented a lake house at Lake Keowee in South Carolina as opposed to a beach condo on the ocean. I’m a beach girl and we are a beach family, so we weren’t quite sure what to do with ourselves at a lake house. It ended up being very fun. Different, but fun.

4. We went to Columbus, OH over the 4th of July to visit my brother and his family. While we were there, we got to see CHICAGO (the band, not the city). I was that person in the audience who sang every song from beginning to end, swaying in the sea of middle-aged men and women, reliving the 70’s and 80’s.

5. The very first “45 record” I ever bought with my own money was “If You Leave Me Now.” That was 1976, before cassette tapes, kids.

6. This was the second time I saw Chicago. The first time was 1985. You’re the meaning in my life…you’re the inspiration.

7. Right now, I feel old.

8. But the guys in Chicago are old-er.

9. Shoot, they were old in 1976.

10. Jason Scheff, the lead singer who replaced Peter Cetera, is a P90X2 cast member. We share multiple connections.  That’s why we’re so close.

11. The a/c went out in my car during the hottest week of the summer. It took three days and cost something like one million dollars to repair it.

12. I finally started using my new MacBook Air. Can you tell how much more awesome my blog posts are? They practically write themselves.

13. My kids attended a combined 8 camps/retreats/trips over 8 weeks.

14. There were neighborhood children and/or contractors here almost every day we were in town, and some days we were not.

15. We attended approximately 27 birthday parties. (slight exaggeration)

16. We spent 2 days at a water/amusement park.

17. Just because you can wear a bikini doesn’t mean you should.

18. Despite all that, I have one particular child who continues to say, “I have no life.”

19. I have no idea what children with “lives” do, but it’s not this.

20. I started seeing a therapist again. (no exaggeration)

21. I think everyone should go to therapy, at least sometimes. It’s like that super-wise friend you can always count on, and never have to feel badly about dumping your problems on. Of course, you pay a lot of money for this friend. But still..

22. Let’s see…the kids had a dentist appointment at the end of July. (This is so interesting—you can see now why I had no time to blog.) (and why my child says we have no life.)

23. Oh! Oh! Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that for the first time EVER, I took a beach trip with my two sisters, my sis-in-law and my niece! Despite my attempt to call the week at the Lake House a vacation, I still need the beach. We laughed so hard, I lost my voice. It was, by far, the highlight of my summer.

24. I turned 45.

25. Elijah turned 12.

26. We discovered Elijah is allergic to yellow jackets.

27. We discovered our internet filter does not block animated games with the words “naughty” and “hottie” in the title.

28. I now have a high schooler, a middle schooler and a 1st-grader.

29. I spent the entire month of August getting them ready for and/or transitioning them into 3 schools, which consisted of the following: buying hundreds of dollars worth of school supplies, buying hundreds of dollars worth of new school uniforms, going to 3 orientations, getting 3 hair cuts, trying on 38 pairs of shoes, replacing one lost retainer, getting 2 teeth pulled for braces-prep, attending 2 parent nights, meeting with various school staff over various school-related issues and packing a lot of lunches.

30. Beginning September 12th and running for 8 weeks, I’m hosting a neighborhood-wide Bible Study called “The Scoop on Balance.” I’ll be teaching on balance.  Stick with me…this is deep.  I’ve been wanting to do something like this since we moved here over nine years ago, but the timing never felt right until now. There are 328 homes in my neighborhood, so it could be big. Or it could be small. And I’m totally cool either way. Pray for me, if you think of it.

31. I went to the American Idol Tour Concert Friday night! It was fun. For me. I learned that I should ask my children before I commit them to something OTHER than the high school football game on a Friday night. Especially, something requiring reserved seats and lots of money. Apparently, American Idol has gone the way of the dinosaurs. My kids have no life.

32. Over Labor Day Weekend I hosted 12 out-of-town family members to celebrate my Dad’s 89th birthday. We swam and ate and laughed and ate and ate. It was special to celebrate another year with my Daddy in my house. Every year, I pray there’s another. (Yes, his cake says “98” because any man who wears a hat that says “Old Fart” deserves to get teased about his age.)

33. After they left, I sat on the couch for 3 hours, followed by a little post-company clean up, followed by absolutely no talking, followed by sleep.

34. And that brings us to today where I have already fielded 2 calls from the school nurse because one of my kids has a stomach ache and one call from academic support over missing assignments. I just consumed seven slices of smoke gouda and am about to head out for a run.

There. All caught up.

I promise the very next post will be the one where I tell you the results of the wedding dress fiasco. And then I want to show you pictures of my house renovations. And, at some point, we will continue with our Better Balance in 2013 series. Hopefully, before 2014.

 

I missed you.  Is everyone doing okay out there?