Musings on the summer thus far...
Well, school's been out for a month now, and I'm not sure what I've accomplished. Sure, a lot of the time has been taken up with issues of moving (and the whole house is STILL a maze of boxes, though it's liveable), but I'm a little frustrated that I don't seem to have fallen into a good routine for the summer. Part of what's made it all so random and chaotic is that Jeff has been working at Dominos practically every day. Theoretically he should get Sunday and Wednesday off (sucky days off, really, since they're not back to back), but in the past week, he was called in on both of those days off because of various instances of shorthandedness. So, most days, he's around in the morning for doing varous chores, but he leaves for work between 4-6pm and doesn't get back until 12-1am. That means I'm watching the boys through the evening and getting them to bed. And, because it's summer (and I may be secretly concerned for Jeff, or at least wondering when he'll be back), I often stay up until midnight myself, so I'm pretty tired.
Still and all, while I haven't gotten my "to do" list done this summer, we have managed to have some fun here and there. I've really loved the fact that we're in Maine and I can give the kids a great childhood including some of what I remember from my own (and a lot better weather for the most part). Some of what we've done together:
1) Several trips to the local library (which is fabulous, including two train tables, a playhouse, and scads of toys in addition to books)
2) A trip up to the summit of Mt. Agamenticus (Mt. A for short) which is just gorgeous -- wide open, beautiful views, great parking, totally free, and only about 10 minutes from the house.
3) Some beachcombing on a couple beaches including a quaint little harbor near the house.
4) A long weekend up to my parents' place including a daytrip to our camp on Big Lake where my brother and SIL were. The boys loved that-- they adore being on the beach and wandering through the woods. I only wish Jeff had been able to take the time off to come with us.
5) An evening at the drive-in in Saco, about 40 minutes away. We got to see Brave, which was excellent (sadly, not my favorite Pixar film, but I probably had unrealistic expectations considering my love of the genre/setting). The boys loved that too, and we'll probably go again this Sunday to see Batman. I'd only ever been to the drive-in once in my life before this and it's great-- at $15 for the whole car, it certainly beats paying a sitter!
I've also had fun cooking, especially now that I have my "gadgets" back. Still no KitchenAid mixer, but if all goes well, perhaps I'll indulge in that for my birthday THIS year instead. At least I got my Dyson and new breadmaker. I tried out the Breadmaker when my brother was here a couple days ago and it worked beautifully on a whole wheat herb bread. I want to try Challah and a cinnamon raisin buttermilk bread next, but we currently have a lot of bread in the house, so it will have to wait. Not to mention that the pizza dough I often make is kind of superfluous while my husband is working at Dominos! Tonight I mixed up the base for my second batch of ice cream in the ice cream maker: Chocolate Hazelnut Gelato. It's made with nutella, so you just know it will be good. I made a vanilla chocolate chip batch when my brother was here-- yummy. After this, I'll probably try a sorbet-- something without cream anyway, and then lay off for a bit so I don't gain a hundred pounds. It's nice to experiment though.
So what's left? Well, I certainly hoped I'd be doing more writing this summer. I do have a lot of pieces in various stages of completion, and there's a half-dozen manuscripts ready to go to agents or publishers once I figure out where I want to send them, but that's the grunt work I need to be doing: researching places to send my stuff, and composing those all-important submission letters. I also need to be spending time planning curriculum for next year. Thankfully, I have daycare for Robbie set for next week on Monday and Tuesday mornings while Max is in summer school (Max goes m-t-w from 9-1), so I should be able to get something done. I'm going to be in Virginia for a week helping to run a German summer camp from August 19-24, and I have a good bit of lesson planning to do for that, too. I enjoy it, but it takes time. Thankfully it's been much cooler the past couple days. Last week when it was so hot (yes it got hot even way up here), it was hard to focus on doing anything. We have a small portable AC unit, but it really doesn't do a lot. Right now it's gorgeous, and may even get to the 50s overnight, so I'm loving the Maine summer overall-- I can take a lot if it just cools off at night.
And now I've rambled enough, and better get a little more work done before bed. (Mostly of the putting-away-laundry variety). Sadly the bedroom is not in very good shape because the closet doesn't have a pole or shelf yet. Jeff has a very long to-do list of handyman chores and that one isn't very high on the list. I know I could do some of those things myself, but darnit, I have my own list.