Summer, where’d you go?!

I’m not really sure how I’m already staring down the end of summer here. I had so many grand plans of what was going to happen during this time... and while a lot of it DID happen... a lot didn’t.

Let’s focus on what did happen to start. 

1. Both boys attended camp through the town recreation department and both boys LOVED it. We’re already planning which camps to partake in next summer.  

2. We made it to the town beach many afternoons. Moving here, I had no idea that there even was a town beach, or that we could acquire a parking pass for $30. We’ve definitely gotten our money out of that one! 

3. I finished 3 quilt tops and some other random odds and ends... which feels really good since I was in a pattern of starting, but not finishing! Lightening the load in the sewing room has really helped me focus on where I want to go both career-wise and hobby-wise.

4. I took the boys on vacation to North Carolina with some friends and their kids. I drove them down (and back) and spent a week in between. And I LIVED TO TELL THE TALE. Amazing. Actually, the whole vacation was amazing and I am so much better off mentally for doing it. (Even though I was absolutely terrified.)  

5. I read. A lot. More than I’ve read during any summer in recent history. And it felt amazing! Sadly, I feel like my boys have read less and watched more tv and played more video games than during any summer in recent history... but soon that will all change when school is in session. (Right?!) 

Now... what didn’t happen.  

1. Work. Even though I had them in camp for three weeks at the beginning of summer... I didn’t get much done. I feel that this past school year was more traumatic than I gave it credit for and I needed that time to recover. Also, I underestimated the amount of time it would take to get us set up with new schools, new pediatricians, new vets, etc. While I scaled back my workload significantly, I still wasn’t as productive as I needed to be. So here I am with deadlines looming and a LOT of work to get through. Any tips would be welcomed on how to work faster and smarter.  

2. Keeping up on social media. I’m notoriously bad at keeping on top of this stuff... but I thought that by limiting it to a few accounts would help. At the end of the day though, I realize there’s only so many hours in a said day and when I spend the majority of them entertaining children... this gets lost in the shuffle. Hoping to set this straight in September. HOWEVER, I did decide that a focus on blog posts is better for my soul than anything else... so I think that’s where I will return first. 

3. Laundry and other chores. Oh well, right?! (But really, I can’t wait for school so that my clean house stays that way for more than a second when I actually get around to it!) 

4. A daily schedule, weight loss, or figuring out what I wanted to be when I grow up. All of these fall under the category of “would have been nice” but I was really hoping to make some forward progress on any of these... instead of backwards progress. Sigh. I’m trying not to beat myself up on these (hence, the reason they are grouped together) but still... it’s hard.  

I still have June and July “By the Numbers” posts to put up... but for now I’m going to try to unpack the car from vacation, wade my way through the dirty laundry, and find my countertop under all the piles of STUFF. Wish me luck!