No.51: If you need me, you can find me on the couch.
tl;dr - I'm writing this post while (very happily) watching football. š I've been up to all sorts of things this week.
My previous post was about how busy I am and that is still true (obviously, because thatās how commitments work) and I am so happy. Extremely busy, and so happy. Every day I see school parents and friends and people I love talking to as I run around from one thing to another. Life is good in September.
But do you know whatās THE BEST?! Being busy during the week and living on my couch during the weekends. Because it is football season and I have things to WATCH. I love starting my Saturdays with College Gameday. It starts at 6am on the West Coast, so I record the show each week and watch it whenever I wake up. Then itās football all day, when Iām not running the kids around. And then Sundays comeā¦ NFL. All day. I have decided not to getĀ tooĀ emotionally attached to any one team, and instead have become emotionally attached to as many teams as possible, so that I can be a fan of the game and not have my day ruined by an interception or a field goal attempt that hits an upright.
[This is only kind of working because I just texted a friend that I am no longer a football fan and am giving up watching the sport forever, etc etc. But I mean, seriously, the Seahawks needed to get their act together.]
More Updates
š“ I was at the grocery store yesterday and was talking to a baker there (I somehow end up talking to every employee every time I walk in that store) and she was so happy about my red hair because red hair runs in her family and her grandkids have red hair and she could tell mine was natural because of its shadeā¦ I couldnāt bring myself to tell her mine is very much not natural so I told her it runs in my family (even though it does not) because she was asking about recessive genes and Phoebe was narrating the entire plot of Parent Trap and it was just A LOT.
š©āš¾ My garden has all died. While we were in Iceland our sprinkers had a malfunction and the plants all slowly thirsted to death and I donāt want to talk about it because I am TRAUMATIZED. After all that work, we got one snap pea. Or sweet pea? WHO KNOWS. One.
š« I spent a lot of time in the elementary school this week. A few hours organizing the library on Monday, a few hours volunteering in the library on Wednesday, a meeting with a teacher about room rep items, a few hours of curriculum nights on Thursdayā¦ I love being this level of involved. BUT! Because I have boundaries (ha!) I did skip the PTO meeting! Progress!
š Other things I did this weekā¦ attended a board meeting for the momās group, went to book club, participated in the first moms circle of the season, went to a kidsā birthday party, rode my mountain bike, hiked some hikes, hosted and went to some playdates, lost my kid for 90 minutes because she decided not to take the bus home without telling us, worked, went to yoga and lagreee and barre classes, met up with friends at the pool, started therapy for myself, went to a therapy appointment with a kid, saw the rubber duck race downtown, had coffee with friends, met up with a new friend for more coffee, dogsat a cute pupā¦ etc. Writing that all out makes it seem like a lot. š¤Ŗ
š Managing kidsā clothes sucks. I had a head cold last week when the kids were in school so instead of doing anything fun I took all clothes out of my younger two kidsā closets and made piles of clothes that were too small and clothes that could still be worn and then made MORE piles from the ātoo smallā section for clothes to store for the youngest kid and clothesto donate and clothes to sell and clothes to give awayā¦ it was too much, and Iām glad I did it because now the clothes are mostly out of my house and the closets are much more manageable.
šµāāļø The best thing about the kids being back in school is that all my stay-at-home mom friends have a ton more availability to bike and hike and do all the things! My calendar is filling up with adventures - itās the best.
š¦ļø It doesnāt rain a lot in Bend. We live in a high desert climate, so it snows A LOT in the mountains and a bit in town, but we donāt get much precipitation. However, I feel like Iām back in Seattle the past week because Iāve had to bring a rain jacket with me EVERYWHERE. [I learned this lesson the hard way - one afternoon I walked Nyla to my middleās soccer practice and got stuck in a rain storm while walking back. Then the rain turned to hail and Iz biked ahead and left me to fend for myself but then Nyla hunkered down under a bush and refused to move and I couldnāt fit under the bush so got SOAKED.]
Things Iām Into
š Books Iāve enjoyed recently: Husbands & Lovers (fiction, multiple points of view) // First-Time Caller (fiction & romance)
š Watching football via NFL RedZone. This is the way to do it for the earlier games, and then I can focus on one game at a time on Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night.
šļøLate to the party, per ususal, but I finally started listening to Amy Poehlerās podcast (āGood Hangā) and itās as great as everyone says it is. I also loved this episode of āThe Dailyā with BrenĆ© Brown.
š©āš» Open tabs on my computer: Smitten Kitchenās pumpkin bread // Gen Z + the algorithm // a recipe for pesto egg muffins // creamy corn pasta my kids might eat // thoughts on Charlie Kirk // the marriage effect // on cold plunging
I feel fortunate to live a life I've designed and love. I hope your kids are healthy and your calendar is manageable and fun and that you can take some time for yourself and that your teams have more wins than losses.
Much love,
Lisa