Skipping Town

I started the day with my Couch to 5K training and was outside, in running clothes, at 6:15am. This is only my fourth session, and so far I have not "seen the light" and discovered the "magic of running." I dislike it as much as ever. The bright side of being out in the neighborhood so early is that the baby bunnies are out too, nibbling grass and hopping around. I look for them, and count them, as a way of distracting myself from the arduous physical ordeal of my thirty-minute walk/run. Today I counted ten buns. So cute. I worked from home today, Andrew went into the office, Lucia did boatloads of geometry, Greta read and did some paper mache. Then they both engaged in some slime-making. Needless to say, the basement has been destroyed, as neither the paper mache nor the slime has reached its conclusion. There's nothing to do but just keep the door closed and let the screen-free summer entertainment continue. As everyone knows, I'm not allergic whatsoever t...

Happy Father's Day! We're usually in NH for Father's Day so it was a nice change to be able to celebrate this year with both Andrew and Dad. The girls and Andrew went for a run this morning, then we had waffles for breakfast. We then headed down to Connellsville for the day. A true Gift for Father's Day was giving Dad the wonderful opportunity to plod through eleven sections of summer geometry with Lucia.  Then Mom made homemade pasta and strawberry shortcake for lunch. Delish. The kids and Andrew washed Mom and Dad's car, we got a tour of Mom's gardens, and we gave Andrew and Dad some gifts. A lovely Father's Day. 

Greta and I went to Trader Joe's in the morning, and then I went to a hair appointment for a few hours (cut, color, highlights--the works). I spent part of the afternoon prepping some foods for our gathering Saturday evening--the usual group of friends came over to celebrate Andrew's birthday. We sat on the side porch and had kebabs on the grill, fruit, pasta salad, deviled eggs, and a cheese platter, and then a burnt almond cake from Prantl's for dessert. It was a fun night. My high school yearbook made an appearance. Farrah grabbed a devilled egg from a tray that was, unwisely, within her reach.

 It was an unusually busy day at work, and I ended up walking down to campus and got to work at 7:00am. Lucia was still asleep; Greta was doing a workout in the basement; Andrew was still in Peru. I spent half a day in the office then walked home and spent the rest of the day working from home.  Andrew finally did arrive home, and tonight we went to Alta Via to celebrate his birthday belatedly. Then we came home to open gifts and have cupcakes Greta made. A few days late, but nice nonetheless. We are still struggling to find our summer footing. I've been so busy this week that the kids have been completely on their own, and the lack of structure is beginning to take its toll (see yesterday's post re: daily Cup Noodles as sole sustenance). To be fair, Lucia has been working hours each day on geometry, which leaves Greta at loose ends. Her work with a math tutor starts this coming week, and hopefully she'll give her a plan for some daily work to do to start seventh-grade math...

Yesterday, I went to work, and the girls occupied themselves at home. Lucia did geometry, and Greta experimented with paper mache. After work we went to the pool for a swim and dinner. That was a nice evening. I worked from home today. Lucia did a bunch of geometry (with Dad's help via phone), and Greta baked cupcakes, which proved frustrating since it turned out we were nearly out of flour, sugar, baking powder, and butter. Then they went outside to swing. The girls had piano lessons tonight, then we went to the grocery store for baking ingredients. Dinner was a haphazard collection of leftovers and meals I pulled out of the freezer. The kids have been eating Cup Noodles every day for lunch. I cannot keep every single ball in the air while I am both working full-time and solo parenting, and cooking has definitely been the ball that has been dropped. There is just no time to make dinner. And when I say "time" what I mean is "the will to do even one more thing after w...

It's summer, which means it's time for daily, or near-daily, posts to Skipping Town. This summer is a little different, because for the first time since the kids were born I don't have my summer days free--I have a full-time job. Just a reminder that last summer, my job search made me so stressed out that I got SHINGLES, which led to a bacterial infection that landed me in the ER. I crocheted so many amigurumi that I alarmed even myself. Memories! And the resolution of all that was that I did get the job I wanted and I now have to work all summer. Yay? This summer, we are still finding our footing with our days. We were all happy when school finally ended--the name "Maycember" is so accurate, and the last few weeks of school were insane. But we all got through it, went to the girls' moving-up ceremony, and then went to Kennywood. Andrew and I drove separately to accommodate a shifting roster of friends to and from. Then Andrew promptly left for Peru.  The girl...

Saturday took an unexpected turn.  At 4:00am, we were woken up by Greta, who'd fallen out of her tiny twin bed and gashed her eyebrow on the corner of her bedside table. Andrew gave her some ice; the bleeding stopped; we decided it was a surface wound and would be fine. In the morning, however, it was very clearly not fine--in the light of day it showed itself to be a deep, terrible gash. I began Googling around for doctors. We decided to go to a pharmacy near our apartment as a first step, to get a pharmacist's opinion (pharmacists in Europe are more doctor-like than they are here). Greta and I were taken into a little room behind the counter, where a lovely pharmacist disinfected the gash, confirmed that it needed professional attention, and directed us to go to a pediatric hospital. The hospital was within walking distance, so we all made the trek--climbing about a thousand steps to reach the hospital. Greta and I went into the ER, presented our passports, and were seen with...

Beautiful as our apartment is, with its artwork and ceiling murals, the bathroom situation puts this Rome AirBnB into the "unsatisfactory" category. There are two bathrooms but only one shower, and that shower is a tiny, tiny, shallow little tray with a shower curtain around it. My elbow kept hitting the handle, turning off the water; the tray overflowed for Mom and Dad. Alas. Our day began with caffe lattes, cappucino (Greta), and pastries at the Cafe Miami. We had a great day exploring the Roman Forum and Colesseum. We'd gotten advance tickets--a necessity--but there were still a variety of lines to go through to actually get in. Ruins generally aren't my thing, but we all actually loved visiting these sites. A couple of weeks ago I'd found at a library sale a book that shows then-and-now pictures of the Forum and the Colesseum, with transparent overlays that bring pictures of the ruins to life by transforming them into what they must have looked like in their t...