After that fun and hectic summer I was looking forward to the peace and quiet that comes with the start of school.
That was a little joke. It wasn't peaceful. Or quiet.
Leaping from summer straight into the school year lived up to the proverbial frying pan and fire. Suddenly we were getting up early, rushing to make lunches and shower and get dressed and not forget things as we rushed out the door, me included. I am still working at the kids' elementary school this year - I said kids plurarly, and I guess I meant that in the past tense for two of them - I still feel like Wonderful Wasatch belongs to all of us even though Emma's been the only one there now for a couple of years. With all the time I've spent there doing PTA and volunteering and now working, I feel very possessive of the place. So yes, I'm working this year, but the powers that be decided that they wanted to use the budget they have for less computer-lady time and more one-on-one kid intervention time. They asked me if I wanted to have half my job be in the lab and the other half be with small group teaching and I said no thank you. So now I just have half my job, which is just dandy with me. I know that having a job at an elementary school will never be big bucks, and then cutting it in half makes it almost a joke, but the schedule still works really well for our family. I am surprised at how busy I still feel even though I work about 12 fewer hours a week. I think it's partly because I still have to do the same things at work I did last year only in much less time, so work has felt pretty dang frantic. Also, the time I have off is mostly in little chunks, so though I'm super grateful to have the time, it feels full and quite rushed. I know that has a lot to do with fall itself - a lot happens at the start of a school year and then holidays and suddenly...happy new year.
One event that totally kept me running this fall was that my dear husband had surgery - bilateral inguinal hernia surgery, NOT lapriscopic. We decided to get it done over Labor Day weekend. I was so glad he got it done - he's had an inkling, then a suspicion, then positive confirmation of these hernias for a long time now and it was getting steadily more painful for months. The Yellowstone trip was not super comfortable for him, I'll tell you that.
And speaking of pain, it turns out that hernia surgeries are incredibly painful to recover from. I feel dumb that I'm the one reporting this information since it wasn't me that it happened to, but from what I had the pleasure to witness, I can vouch for Troy. Hurts really really bad. For a really really long time. Troy was just basically out of commission for many days and even weeks. I mean, he was up and around, but very uncomfortable and not able to do many things for quite some time. This put me on double duty, which was fine - I was so happy he had the surgery. I got a little tired though for sure!
Since Troy had surgery just before Labor Day weekend, I didn't plan much for the kids and the poor things got pretty bored. We had a little incident though that provided a long day of entertainment on Labor Day itself. I found a baby hummingbird on the sidewalk - alive and covered with nits. I could not just leave it to die. And I paid dearly for that choice. We got it to drink some sugar water but it was clearly struggling to live. Dang you google, and also bless you. I quickly found out what one is supposed to do with injured birds. There's a sanctuary IN OGDEN that is open 365 days a year and takes all birds. Well, sounded like an outing to me!! I loaded up kids and bird and drove away. The bird place was super cool and we actually learned a lot. Such as, it's illegal to keep a hummingbird. So we did the right thing. I even donated some money to pay for hummingbird food, which, it turns out, is more expensive than feeding an eagle for the same amount of time. Sugar water really won't nourish a hummingbird - they need bugs. And babies in captivity eat this crazy food imported from Germany, so it was pricey. We had a fun day together and it sure took up some time.
Also in September was the Avenues Street Fair. Our school's art teacher is quite involved in that, and she asked if I had any current kid art to submit to the local art show so I gave her something Emma had done in the spring. It's a piece based on the art of Klimt and I just love it. And guess other people did too because she won a first place ribbon and a gift certificate to an art store. She was so tickled.
In early October we had such a treat - a group of high school friends got together for a backyard camfire, dinner, and a private concert from the guys, who were in a band together in high school. They used to play a lot together, but one dear friend got very ill and had two liver transplants over the past seven years or so and they were on hiatus. Happily everyone is healthy and well and they started practicing again. What a treat to sit around the fire, eat tasty grilled chicken, and listen to some very fun live music.
As September drew to a close, we had to visit the pool one or two last times. We are very lucky that the pool managers keep the pool open as long as they possibly can. No Labor Day closures for us! And it was a nice warm September. We probably went 10 more times that month. The very last visit was super fun - Romney invited some school friends along and had a swim then pizza and a movie later. So happy when my kids are happy with friends.
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