a week in review

Would you believe I've sat down to write a post half a dozen times in the last week, but it just never worked out.  Believe it.  It has been kind of a rough, crazy week like that - full of interruptions, and not finishing things, and me just wishing I could take a break most of the time.  I know it was a busy week because I just downloaded pictures from my camera and there are only 25.  Twenty five in one week.  I usually take that many per day.  Of course, I end up deleting at least half of them, but that's irrelevant.  The important point here is that my lack of picture taking is evidence that I just haven't been feeling myself, and when the gloominess takes over, I'm not the best person I could be.  That is frustrating.

So, for the sake of family record-keeping, here's the lowdown on what I can remember from the past week.

Rewind all the way back to last Saturday when I took both girls on an outing with my sisters and mom.  We took them to an antique store.  I know, what was I thinking?  Actually, it turned out okay because they were contained in the stroller most of the time and I kept them where the walkways were wide.  Also, we picked up some old Golden Books like The Little Red Caboose and the Saggy Baggy Elephant, and that made me happy.

We went to a fabric store, where I bought a few yards of fabric for the girl's curtains, and then we attempted going out to lunch.  In a real restaurant.  And, after ten minutes of screaming at the top of her lungs, Mia went to sleep and we (and the rest of the restaurant) ate our lunch in peace.

As if Saturday wasn't exciting enough already, Ryan and I decided to take the girls to the kart races at Cycleland.  It's a place I've been visiting since I was Laci's age, where my dad has raced various vehicles from three-wheelers to go-karts, and where I have fond memories of mosquito bites, red vines from the snack bar, and climbing under the bleachers.  Laci had a blast running, playing, eating, and just a little whining.  Mia wasn't entirely thrilled to be cooped up between my lap and the stroller, but we had a really good time.

There isn't a single picture from any of these things.

Sunday, we had a few friends over and BBQ'd.  I roasted the best chicken ever, which really isn't saying much because I've only cooked one chicken in my oven ever, but it was really, really good.  The weather was beautiful, my girls were well-behaved, and I didn't take a single picture again.

Way back on January 1st, I decided to take one picture of my girls each day of the year.  Sometimes it's a picture of them together, most often it's one picture of each of them, making my 366 photo project into a 732 photo project. Sometimes, the picture turns out really great, often it's just a quick snapshot.  I have plans to put them in a book at the end of the year, and I hadn't missed a single day until Saturday.  And that just put me in a mood.  I know, I know, it was one day.  But in my mind, I was already so frustrated (with too many things to list here) that I just said, "Forget it!"  Then Sunday rolled around and I still didn't take any pictures. And Monday, no pictures again.

Monday was filled with laundry and sorting through hand me downs that will save me from a shopping trip for Laci for quite a while.  Tuesday, more laundry and some banana muffins.  Because when life gives you over-ripe, almost black, bananas, you make muffins.

Wednesday was fun because I got to visit with one of my old friends from high school.  I haven't seen Jana since our 10 year reunion five years ago, which officially makes me feel old, and also, has it really been that long since we sat in the bleachers watching Friday night football games and making up our own cheers?  I guess it has.  And to say she is an old friend from high school really isn't accurate, because I believe we went to kindergarten together, and were in the same classes for most of our 13 years of school, and were always at the same end of the line when we were lined up by height for school pictures.  We lived in the same neighborhood growing up, our backyards almost touching, and we've managed to stay in touch through blogs and Facebook (oh, that wonderful thing called the Internet).  We didn't take any pictures, but here is a picture from our high school reunion where I'm looking much more fabulous than I was on Wednesday, and also much more rested.

I can't remember Thursday (a side effect of having children), and Friday I worked for a few hours.   Yesterday, was "family day" in that my sisters and I gathered at my mom's house so she could feed us.  It is a gift we give her almost every weekend.  My children are entertained by their aunties, and I feel like I get a little break.  Besides, aunties are WAY more fun than mommies.

So, that's been our week.  Some pretty awesome things happened that made me really happy, but there was a nagging gloominess that I just couldn't shake.  At the root of it, I think I'm just sleep deprived.  Laci is now in her own big girl bed (after almost a year of sleeping in the same bed as me), and that hasn't been going entirely smoothly.  And Mia has been having terrible tummy aches off and on that, for some reason, are soothed only by my holding her.  I have never been so thankful for couches that are comfortable to sleep on.  While the prospect of more sleep doesn't look great, I am hoping to feel a little better this week.  I have a project to work on (curtains, if my children will allow me), and the weather is supposed to be in the eighties (my favorite temperature), and well, it's the beginning of a new week, when a positive outlook is a little easier to achieve than say, on a Tuesday.  I started taking my daily pictures again a few days ago, I'm not sure what my plan is for the three missing days, but we'll see if I can stick with it.  At the end of the year, I know I'll be glad I did.

And now, two pictures I did manage to take this week, demonstrating how comfortable the couches are for napping, and also showing that my children DO sleep, but never when or where I would like them to sleep.