on the upswing?

So, I'm feeling like things may be on the upswing here. (Jill, was it you that said you didn't like that idiom because it implies a downswing to come? I'm blissfully unaware of any downswing at the current time...)

I knew this day was coming. It's been on my calendar for weeks, possibly months. I've had nothing but enthusiasm for summer vacation. Yet somehow, I felt a bit blindsided yesterday. Maybe it's because I'm not a fun mom and I didn't have anything special planned. (I read about Tasha's neighborhood water fight and pizza party and had to hang my head in shame.)

But here's the thing: I knew that Jill was coming over for Creative Friday and bringing Landon & Whitney along, so I was thinking -- hey, that sounds like a celebration to me! And I made mint brownies. Does that count for anything? At any rate, I quickly felt overwhelmed by the noise, the chaos, the sheer presence of them all. That came out of nowhere. And it better skedaddle just as fast, because we have a lot more summer days to spend together and hopefully fill with fun.


Luckily, I had Jill here to commiserate with, and I'm convinced there's not much better than that (especially if you throw mint brownies into the mix).


I'm not sure why, but I kind of like this picture Jill took of me cutting up my magazine tear sheets. (It could be that I'm headless.)

Marc's parents came in the afternoon to take the boys to Salt Lake for a grandparent sleepover. So they did get to celebrate! Thank heavens for grandparents. Mim brought me an article she had cut out of a magazine, a follow-up, if you will, from a conversation we had on Memorial Day.

I love that Jill took this picture. That's just funny. And true.

Incidentally, my new visiting teacher came on Friday morning and we spent the whole time talking about how to be fun and involved grandparents. She's pretty new at it, so I told her she had definitely come to the right place. I told her all the fun things that Marc's parents do with their grandchildren and she was hanging on every word. My kids are so lucky to have these relationships!

It was so liberating to only have one child to put to bed, and since it was the youngest child, we were free by 8:00! Have mercy! Marc put Eva to bed and I went out for Chinese food for a little at-home date.

Be prepared to receive something special. Now that's a fortune. And here's my other one: Don't give up. Your problem gets better next month. Sweet!

We watched a great movie -- The Lives of Others. It's a German film that won the Oscar for best foreign film. It takes place in East Berlin in 1984 and shows how artists/writers/etc. were under constant surveillance by the secret police. One of those things that blows me away by how difficult some governments make things on their citizens -- and so recent, too! It is really well done and has a touching ending.

This morning Eva and I did some errands together. She's my go-with girl. We did have to go to Costco, though -- why can't I seem to make an across the board policy to never go there on a Saturday??

As soon as I got the Costco items put away, I had to leave for a hair appointment. 2 months overdue, yikes! I got 3 inches cut off and some blonde put back in for the summer, not to mention attempt to cover my increasingly numerous grays. I feel like a new woman.

Here's what Eva said when I got home: (oohing and aahing)

E: Mom, why did you get your hair cut? Because it was crazy?

M: Well, yeah, I guess it was getting pretty crazy.

E: Yeah. Why is it cute now?

Huh. I have no response to that, but I'm pretty sure it'll never look like this again, not on my watch anyway. Marc said, "That looks like a style." (I'm always complaining that I never have a style.) Now if only I could make myself spend 40 minutes every day keeping that style...

Sharolyn (my stylist, recommended by Jill) is really a delight to converse with for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Quite often, I come away from an appointment feeling like my soul has been fed, and how often does that happen? Today she told me about a book she read where 3 women are given the opportunity to go back in time to any 3-week period of their lives, and they can then choose to return to their current lives or lose all memory of their current lives. For the life of me, I can't imagine when I would want to revisit, but it makes for interesting ponderings. What would I change if I could?

Bottom line: I'm feeling much better than I was a few days ago, and I'm holding onto it for all it's worth.