Fact #2: Last night we went to the Mystery Escape Room. It's an entertainment venue where you're "locked" in a room (not really because it's against fire code), and you have to work together to solve a series of puzzles to escape. You have one hour to get out. We participated in beta testing for the Terrorist Warning room (I'm not a fan of the theme - I don't think terrorism should be a source of entertainment - but it ended up not being as horrifying as I thought). We didn't get out, but there were a few glitches (hence the testing), and we got a really good discount for being some of the first occupants. It was really fun. Go if you ever get the chance.
Fact #3: I'm struggling with school right now. I feel like it's taking me away from my family, and I don't want to do it anymore. There are some classes on the horizon that I am absolutely dreading. I don't know how I'll ever get through them. The degree feels so far out of reach. Fifteen more classes, and I can only handle two, at most, a semester. Some of the classes I need to take are so time-consuming (due to group meetings, sometimes twice a week) that I will only be able to take one at a time. My thoughts are:
- I can do this. It's okay for a goal to take time. I shouldn't give up just because the end result is far away. Scotty took eight years to get his degree from start to finish. I was lucky to already have junior college under my belt. Fifteen classes will add up quickly.
- I shouldn't put my family on the back burner for school. It's more important for me to enjoy my time with my children while they are little. This phase will be gone soon. I don't want to look back and struggle to remember their childhood because I spent all of my spare time studying and doing homework.
- If I take a break from school, I don't know if I'll be strong enough to come back and finish. It might be harder later. It's now or never.
- I really want to know what it's like to function as a family without school interrupting. We haven't yet experienced life without one of us in school.
Fact #4: This summer, my wardrobe consists primarily of cut-offs. I made a sorry attempt a couple years ago at wearing colored skinny jeans. They were cheap, so I added a few pairs to my wardrobe. Then everyone stopped wearing colored skinny jeans, and I never looked okay in them anyway, so I admitted defeat and chopped them all off into shorts. I haven't hemmed them because I have four needy children, and I'd probably end up drop kicking my sewing machine out of frustration. So this summer, I kind of look like the Hulk. I don't think I'm ever going to have a well-dressed summer. I'm always in "clothing survival mode" in the heat.
Fact #5: Last weekend, Scotty did the Spartan Race. I sat this one out. At the beginning of the race, I felt really sad that I wasn't participating, but around the three-mile point, I was really glad I didn't try to do it. I'm in no shape to attempt such a feat. Friends are always asking if I want to do another one someday, and the truth is, I don't know. I want to be capable of doing one again, but I feel like this isn't my season for racing - especially to that extreme. To prepare for last year's race, I ran 15-20 miles per week and went to the gym at 5:00 a.m. at least four days a week. I can't do that right now, and if I were to do that, I think my family would suffer.
Fact #6: Things we've done this summer:
- Lunch at the park (at least 15 times. No joke).
- Day camp for Cub Scouts (my first Scout camp!)
- Swimming at Grandma's house
- Blessed Eva
- Piano lessons and taekwondo for Nicky
- Jungle Jim's
- Chopped 6" off Daisy's hair
- Doctor appointments
- Speech therapy for Zoe
- Board games with friends
- Hung out at a reservoir
- Mowed my grandma's lawn each week
- Watched Master Chef
- Spent 2 nights in a condo in Midway
Fact #7: I realized this morning that my kids haven't asked me a single time this summer if they can play on the computer. This was a surprising discovery for me because my kids LOVE to play on the computer. I was patting myself on the back a bit because, look at me! I've kept my kids away from the screen for three weeks! But then I realized that the reason they are staying off the computer is because we just got Netflix, so they are currently preoccupied with a different screen.
Fact #8: Some of our friends, whom I would consider "shared interest friends," meaning we like a lot of the same things and usually trust their recommendations, have been begging us to watch Doctor Who, so when we got Netflix, episode 1 was one of the first things we watched.
Have you watched Doctor Who?
Have you?
Because all I can say is WHAT.THE.HECK?
I told my friend, "I'm sorry. Doctor Who isn't going to happen. This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen!"
She laughed and said, "You have to give it a few episodes."
So we gave it about eight episodes, and it was still stupid. So she said, "You have to give it a season."
We didn't give it a season.
Maybe we'll come back to it someday (multiple friends have now encouraged me to keep going, but they won't let me skip to season 2. They say we have to watch all of season 1. I'm not sure how anyone has made it through season 1).
Fact #8: Our family has developed a fanship of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Scotty and I enjoy the books as much as the kids (with the exception of Daisy. Daisy hates everything).
Fact #9: Recently I've been seeing a lot of articles online that argue that Powerpoint presentations are not an effective teaching tool (here is one example). I am so happy to see this! When I was in junior college, people were just starting to use Powerpoint. By the time I graduated, Powerpoint was everywhere. In my pre-kid job, I attended numerous trainings on everything from autism to punctuality, and most of the presenters used Powerpoint. I have always felt like the quality of presentation goes down when the presenter is relying on slides (not to mention that it has never worked for me visually), and I am so relieved to find that this is a common opinion - it's not just me! (I am, however, contemplating using Prezi in my upcoming Sunday school lesson - just as an experiment - but I intend to use it more as a discussion guide than to present information).
Fact #10: Thanks to jDawgs, I now know that sauerkraut is nothing to fear. In fact, I have a jar of it in my fridge. It's good stuff. Embrace the sauerkraut! Everything will be okay!
5 comments:
The heat is killing me dead and then boiling my corpse. It's the worst.
Also, I feel you on the clothes + heat problem. I just want to wear a t-shirt and nothing else every single day. Which, apparently, is not inline with my office dress code. Hrmph.
xox
Also, re: your schooling (and this opinion coming from someone who also took 8 years to get a bachelor's degree, but did it without also caring for 4 children), it is SO VERY VERY HARD to go back after you've stopped for a semester or two. Also, many many studies show that children are more likely to value higher education and attend to completion if they saw their parent working towards a degree. And the stats are even higher if the parent who was attending was their Mom. Hang in there, my dear! And if you need to downshift for a semester that's okay too.
xox
The Hulk line... I am still laughing about it and I read this post hours ago.
Hang on! I promise you, you CAN do this school thing. It is HARD but you can do it! The time will pass whether your in school or not. Go Britt go! (When I started finishing my degree, Haley was 1. I had Jake while I was in school and then I was pregnant with Nathan when I graduated. So you have every single ounce of my empathy. It IS hard. But you CAN do it!)
I'm proud of you.
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