Sunday, August 10 - Wednesday, August 13

The week has been a blur of orientation, with me on campus 11 hours each day. All went well, but I'm glad it's over for another year. 

I have no memory of the specific days of this week. I think on Sunday we played Splendor (Lucia has taken it upon herself to push for more family games, which I appreciate), and we played again on Monday. I never ever win Splendor. Never. It's a family joke, how consistently I lose this game. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorites.

Tuesday, after I got home, I went to the pool by myself while Andrew and the kids were at XC. I floated for a very long time and then read my book (The Perfect Storm--an oldie--which I got at last week's book sale). It was very very nice to relax after an absolutely crazy-busy day. What wasn't so nice was actually trying to get to the pool, since Farrah was outside and refused to come in. I eventually managed to lure her into the basement door by tossing some crackers in her path.

Wednesday, Andrew and Greta did a shorter run than Lucia and came home from the park, and we tried to go to the pool but it had closed due to an imminent thunderstorm. 

The big news this week was, of course, Taylor Swift's new album announcement. Lucia and Greta stayed up late to watch the countdown, and texted me frantically the next day to preorder them the CD/poster combo, which I couldn't even respond to since I was in the middle of running slides for an event with 1,000 students. (Andrew ordered it for them when he got home.) Then there was ANOTHER countdown, a mysterious one, Wednesday evening, which resulted in the big reveal of four limited-edition CDs with lots of fancy extras.They each selected one and turned in a punchcard so I'd pay for them. 

The truth? I'll always say yes to anything TS. Merch, CDs, future concert tickets. I owe TS my life. That's not an exaggeration. If we hadn't had those mortgage-payment-expensive tickets to the Eras Tour in Toronto, I almost definitely wouldn't have gone to the ER that horrible November day for my very minor discomfort, since I was determined that if there was something amiss, I wanted it to be addressed in plenty of time so our plans to go to the concert wouldn't be derailed. That motivation was 100% responsible for me getting a diagnosis a month, two months, many months, earlier than I would have otherwise. So thank you, TS. I am happy to give you my money. 

In the midst of this week, Nutmeg turned six! Her birthday was August 12. Happy birthday, little bun. She got a strawberry with her salad, and we gave her a new tunnel to play in, one with several different chutes and openings. She is currently molting, and when I can, I swipe at her with the lint roller. 

We are winding up this week now, and next week is the kids' last week of summer vacation. I feel the usual August melancholy, even though I know it's going to be a great year of school and XC and musicals and activities.