These last few months have been absolutely chock full of crazy. Summer has a way of doing that to us, right? One moment it’s May, and your kids are itching to be free from school, to do nothing at all, but mostly to “sleep in”. Which is a crock of shit to most parents when their children wake up at.the.exact.same.time.every.day.of.summer. But you know, they can’t help it, they are still larvae. My youngest is 9, my oldest will be 13 in a month. She’s finally sleeping more. But God forbid you speak to her before she has had her hour and coffee. ALSO YES THIS ME, I didn’t ask your opinion. Morrrrreee coffeeeeee alwayssss.
Anyway, summer was full of things like “sleeping in” and actual lazy days, which were cool… for like.. two weeks. We had some camps (thank god, because my 9 yo boy with ADHHHHHHHHHHHD was driving me a little too close to the edge of crazy on the daily), some away, some close. We had trips…even one for us sans kids while they were away at camp. There aren’t enough joyful words to encompass the glee with which I spent a week in Chicago, a few days even blessedly alone. Do NOT underestimate how much parents need time without responsibilities. I had someone staying with my dogs, so I literally did nothing but WHATIWANTED. And I wanted to wander. So wander I did. More on these trips later.
So, this week I found myself sending my children off on their adventure of a new school year *right* before a thunderstorm. I checked the radar, it still said they had 20 minutes. So I sent them off on their bikes and told them to get there before the lightning:) It’s 0.8 miles, ya’ll, don’t send me hate mail. They made it right before the skies opened! Off to 4th and 8th, praise be. #Iloveyoubutgetout

In all seriousness though, I love my kids. I love them fiercely. And part of the reason I retired at 40 was so that I could be here for them more, so that I could give them time and energy and space. And, as I’m learning in therapy, that may in fact be the most important thing to me.
So, now that I can be there for my kids while they aren’t physically here, I expect to be a much better parent. In my own eyes, anyway. Because I NEED alone time to focus! Look what I have done in the last two days since my kids started school. Tell me this isn’t impressive.
- !! Sat down and paid bills. I haven’t done that in like 3 months, which is why there were so many papers scattered everywhere. I blame my children for this lack of focus on my part. No worries, most things are automatic. I mean like the random pediatric dental visit bill leftover after insurance. Those kind of bills. I’m not a monster, people. Although I did get a disconnect notice from the electric company cuz the automatic payment didn’t do the magix it’s supposed to, in order to relieve my brain of one.more.thing. So, I paid that. That was kind of important, since it’s been hot as hell and our earth is dying and probably my A/C isn’t helping it and maybe I’m to blame for the end of the world….you see how nothing get’s done here? It’s got to my kids’ fault.
- Made food. Because cooking brings me ZEN. I’m a math and patterny person. I see rhythm and sense in things other people don’t. I like charts. I like challenging things. Sometimes. Cooking, to me, is less of following a recipe and more about feeling my way through new foods. I try a recipe once, then tweak and figure out what I like and don’t, and it usually looks like some Frankenstein version when I’m done with it. But hey, that’s what’s fun about it, right? I have found that following a recipe FIRST is always a good call. But sometimes I don’t, because I don’t want to pay bills or do what other people tell me, I DO WHAT I WANT. And it’s generally decent. So. I bring you my foodmakes on this blog. I just did this one.

- Gardened. Because this is the first year I have a backyard with decent soil and sun, and I’ve worked hard to learn how to garden. By youtubing it. I didn’t realize it was this easy to learn how to do things. Maybe that’s why so many people think they are experts in public health, plumbing, medicine, dog training, etc. This whole world of videos of qualified and unqualified people teaching you how to do things is nuts! In the mindnumbing volume of people trying to sell me weird things, I did find some actual gardener people who seemed to be just trying to teach people things, and amongst those folks, I learned stuff! So, here are some pics of my harvest last night, along with other pics of my garden. It’s a damn miracle. A YouTube Miracle!




Now, have any of you ever heard of the Peach Truck? For those of us living in the midwest wasteland, there is a company that trucks real, actual fruit from a place where it should be naturally grown way up here. The carbon footprint doesn’t bode well, see guilt about contributing to the end of days. But still. I had to try them. I got two boxes. Cuz…again…see above, I MAY OR MAY NOT TEND TO OVERBUY/OVERDO things I know zilch about. So. Two boxes sounds totally awesome. Until I showed up to get them.
A) It was a bit of a clusterfuck to find the truck. This truck is huge. What was wrong with me? I drove around for ages. I’m not too smart sometimes. B) This was a well-oiled machine. I felt like I was walking into another world, like Germany or the Nordic countries, where everything is uber efficient. This can’t be Indiana. We can’t even fill potholes. …Like, the line MOVED. C) People were nice. I’m still healing from so many people being absolute atrocious humans during the last two years (especially where I lived before I moved into the glorious welcoming city itself) , so this was a blessed moment of hanging out in line with what turned out to be a whole bunch of die-hard peach lovers. People gave me tips on how to use them all. I had no idea. My boxes were 25 lbs. each. I clearly didn’t read the actual description of what I was buying, potentially due to some low blood sugar whilst desperately craving peaches in March or whenever I preordered these… to fight off the scurvy. you know. This is Indiana after all.

YIKES. Fiber for days. I have to say, I am married to a colorectal surgeon, so there are likely to be plenty of persons in need of this fuzzy festival of fiberrific fun (yay alliteration!!!) at his office. So. That’s my plan if I can’t figure out what to do with them. Make other people who are stopped up eat them for me. TOTALLY REASONABLE.

So, as I was saying. I have been busy. Now I am trying to relax my back from nearly throwing it out carrying these peaches back to my car. Next year, I’ll bring a trolley like all those smart people. And maybe clean out my freezer ahead of time.
So, this is what I have accomplished in two days. Today I accomplished yoga, grocery shopping and taking care of these adorable fuzzy ones. No, not the peaches. They are busily judging me from my countertop. No, these adorable guys.


Now, I am going to get these pups ready for the dog trainer, so they can stop being hellions. But here’s what I’m working on after. Post tomorrow will go into what’s on my needles, but here is a sneak, the Tumble Tee by Lydia Morrow. In progress. This is how I write. While knitting. AT THE SAME TIME.

Toodles, more later, friends!
Eileen