Spa Day

Yay! Summer's nearly over, and not a moment too soon... I'm not sure if it's the guilt from the neglect of my children over the summer months or the loss of the blissful routine we fought hard to develop, but I'm sick to death of endless summer days with nothing for the kids to do while I'm at work (and really, with camp it's only been 3 weeks of boredom for Grace and 2 for Jacob, but that's been plenty for all of us). I actually stooped to bribing them today with cash to take a bike ride into town for treats at the coffee shop. Kids these days.... bribed with cheesecake and chai to actually get off their butts and do something. Sheesh!
We had a decent summer, with a super nice camping trip (Jake did all the prep, and it was blissful!), with 30 miles of bike riding thru the woods and along Lake Michigan and Thai food waiting in town; it doesn't get any more ideal than that! I wish we would have done more bike riding, but I suppose there's plenty of time for that as the weather gets more temperate for long bike rides.
Tracey and I did another "spa day" yesterday: 31/2 hours of pure aerobic bliss (or hell, depending on your perspective...), that started with an hour of Zumba, an hour of Boot Camp (that would be the hell part; the instructor took one look at us and let us know that we could "drop out" at any time... as IF! I can barely walk today after the Bosu, the sprinting, the jump roping, the stepper, the stairs, the ab crunches, and the weight lifting.... but I'll be 'a Gol Danged if some skinny 20-something was going to see me limp out of class like the fat, middle aged gal I am!), a 1/2 hour of sweating in the sauna, a dozen of so laps in the pool, and a few minutes in the hot tub. I felt empowered like I haven't in a long time; I could barely tie up my yoga pants afterwards, I was so sore and tired-- but completely happy! I might be chubby and dumpy now, but I see now that underneath lies the heart and body of an athlete who can kick butt with the best of 'em.
p.s. I've lost 10 pounds, and probably gained a ton of muscle in the past month and 1/2. I am limping slowly towards the muscled body of my dreams... hooray! Now, if I could only do something about my crappy hair...

Home Again...

The summer of camp has officially ended-- let's hear a yippity yahooey for no more barfing kids, itchy bug bites, and sore throats! I have never been soooooo glad to see a sickly group of kids go home to their parents, more than I could keep track of.
For you epidemiologists out there:
What kind of stomach bug results in one dramatic urp, and affects almost 20 kids? Nothing I've ever heard of, that's for sure... but when scads of kids turn up after unleashing the One Big Barf and want to sleep in the sick room, it'll not only have you scratching your head in wonder, but beseeching the heavens for what you've done so wrong to be denied sleep for 6 days and left to clean drippy piles of vomit hither and yon.

I got to help restrain an angry 8 year old who repeatedly called me and another counselor "bitches" as we dragged him thru camp, which would have been mildly entertaining if everyone wasn't so upset about it. I wasn't sure if it would have been appropriate to say "no, I'M the bitch, but SHE'S the HO"... (ba dum dum!); for a kid with such a broad vocabulary, I thought he'd see the humor in it, but I'm not so sure anyone else would have.
I got mr. monkey boy calmed down after he unleashed his rage by violently smashing his head into the chest of the director (she has a nasty bruise on her, ahem, mammary gland-- shall we say...). Maybe I have a special connection with the emotionally disturbed... not like that's too hard to fathom.
Jacob and I caught the creeping crud that circulated thru camp all week: sore throat, nasal drainage with congestion, etc and etc. Jacob got a nice rub down before bed tonight with Vics, the humidifier with eucalyptus oil, and some cold medicine-- boy! I missed babying my own kids (who are too damn tough to come looking for cough drops while at camp, god bless 'em!) All I can hope is that my immune system kicks in before Monday, when I have to return to the Real World of Work. Sleep would help, but I've grown accustomed to sleeping with one eye opened, listening for late night retching.
It's soooooooo good to be home!

The baby chicken's first eggs

RIP Laptop

Argh!
I've had my new laptop a grand total of 5 months, and I've already killed it.
The dog splashed a very small amount of coffee on the keyboard yesterday (less than a couple tablespoons-- but don't ask how... the dog's been acting crazy lately), and now the computer's dead-er than a doornail. Boo.
I hooked up my geriatric desktop to the internet, but it's jammed with Grace's music and sloooooooooooooooooow! (and a fairly crappy computer, too.)
I'll check if the laptop will startup on its own tomorrow, and if not, I'll take it in to see if it can be repaired.
I hate it when perfectly good stuff gets wrecked, as if I needed further proof that we are always one small coffee spill away from certain disaster.