UGH!!!!!

So this summer has been a HUGE pain!

Don't get me wrong, I've had some really awesome and fun moments. We've even managed to cross some Summer Bucket List activities off. I survived my kids' going away to their first ever youth camp and I finally got their room separated to make more of a separate bedroom space for each. We went to Seattle (crossed some of the Seattle activities off the list) and we're getting ready to go camping later this week to Friday Harbor(getting to cross more of the activities off the summer list and a few off my Lifetime List). I faithfully went to Ladies' Bible Study and met some wonderful new friends (another cross from the summer list). We also went to Carnation's 4th of July festivities,  and to Centralia for Grandma's birthday. Matt started a new hobby (making holsters out of Kydex). Liz made and met a personal goal to beat one of Eli's XBox games (Lego Pirates of the Caribbean) and Eli wanted more than anything to turn 13 (he did that... last Friday!). We're still working on his getting his own Facebook page, but hey... he's getting there. We've gone on family walks, gone out for ice cream, fro-yo, and Krispy Kreme all while laughing hilariously as a family and making people stare at how crazy we are. It's been a GREAT summer!

But then there has been some parts of the last two months that have made me wonder what I was thinking not going straight to the job hunting and avoiding the summer at home. None of them could really be helped, but every bad thing has been exasperated by the dilemma that is our home. Our apartment is a serious challenge and it's getting REALLY old at this point. (Remember... 4 people all over 5 ft tall, 2 dogs, and a lot of memories in an 800 sqft apartment.) With the weird weather we've had, there's been more than a a little mold/mildew problem and when we go to clean it, it triggers migraines for me and sometimes Eli. And then there are the problems with my eyes.

I either got a piece of glitter from one of Miss Not-So-Lil-Bit's numerous cosmetics or a hair sliver from Matt shaving his head into my contacts (both things are so easy to miss no matter how hard you clean!) and it seriously irritated my eye and that turned into pink eye. No contacts, no sunglasses, and because I can't wear my sunglasses that meant no driving. AND my eyes have been so irritated that there was at least a weak where there was (GASP!!!!!) NO READING!!!!! (Plus, I read faster than the average audiobook pace, so I can't stand to listen to books. Torture, I tell you! Pure torture!!! ) Did you know that pink eye (like so many other childhood type illnesses and afflictions) tends to take longer to heal in adults? I'm on the 2nd week of eye drops and the 4th week of irritated eyes. (Please don't get me started on why it took so long for the eye drops... it's a hot button topic for me!)

That also meant that my goal of blogging more was set aside for a large hunk of summer. Here it is with 15 more days before my kids reenter the world of public education and I realized my last blog post was at the end of June when the first migraine sidelined me for a week and a half!

So here we go for a whirlwind adventure. I'm going to try hard to keep ya'll posted the next few weeks of our summer activities and then I'm going to try to bring you along as I eneter the big bad world of finally growing up and being an adult and get a job.

For now, I'm going to go huddle in the blankie-couch cushion fort in the living room and read now that my crew has decided to at least pretend to be asleep in order to give me peace and quiet. Dude... I thought my kids were loud and obnoxious as toddlers? Nope! I miss those days because even on their rowdiest days, I could still look forward to nap time!

SMOOCHIES YA'LL!!!!!