Labor Day Musings & I Survived the First Week of School

I think the first week of school is hardest on the parents. Especially if you work from home and you're used to rolling out of bed and starting work in your pajamas if you want to. When school starts you are definitely up earlier, you are required to get dressed, (well not required, but if you drive them to school in your pajamas you will inevitably have to get out of your car for something), and you get to start your day early.

First Day of School 2014

I found that I was exhausted at the end of every day. To add on top of that I had three interviews back to back. Then to add on top of that I received news that a cousin who only comes to visit every 10 years was going to stop through town overnight and I needed to clean up at least a little.

It was definitely a tough first week but we survived and made it through that first week just in time for our first holiday and long weekend.

Saturday I had a wild night, which is very rare for someone of my age. It started with some fantastic sushi at Azuma for dinner and then we ended up at Red Ox Bar & Grill for an event. We had a really great time, too many margaritas to count, shots and a guy even demonstrated a lap dance for us. Not on me but on a couple of friends and it was all very entertaining.

With all that said, I did not want to do any of the regular Labor Day festivities of barbecues or the beach. I just want to rest, do laundry, do the grocery shopping for the week, all at a leisurely pace. I relaxed most of yesterday and watched a movie with the kids and their dad in the evening. We watched "Blended". Very sweet movie! I'm not that crazy about Adam Sandler but I love him with Drew Barrymore. After the kids cleared out I watched "Masters of Sex." Love that show!

Today I'm washing uniforms and I'm about to go grocery shopping. I'm saving all my energy for the second week of school and to start my bike training.  I'm going to do the Tour de Northside bike ride on September 20 and I want to start riding my bike every day up until then. The tour has either a 6 mile or 9 mile option, but I haven't even done 3 miles since my bike accident months ago. I've already downloaded the "Map my Ride" app on my phone to get ready.  Let the training begin!

First Day of School Tomorrow, A New Year, Another Milestone for Kids

Tomorrow is the first day of school. Both my kids are crossing milestones. My daughter will be in 8th grade, the last year of middle school and my son will be in 5th grade, the last year of elementary school. This fall we will be visiting high schools and middle schools!

It seems like just yesterday they were this young. Here is a photo of them on the first day of 4th grade and 1st grade. Unbelievable that they are as old as they are now! They were 6 ad 9 in this picture and they are 10 and 13 now.

I was having a conversation with my dad today about how time flies and I said, "You, if anyone, should know that at 90." He said, "By the time I knew it I was an old man and I didn't even feel it. Time doesn't wait for you." What an important lesson to us all to get things done now!

By the way, Daddy is back on a roll with his Dicho a Day on my YouTube channel. He shares his nuggets of wisdom in Spanish and I provide a translation/explanation.

So tomorrow is the start of a new school year, a good time to revise resolutions I made in January and to see where I am at so far this year. It's also an opportunity to set new goals for the school year  New things are on the horizon and I'm excited to get started.

Have a great first day tomorrow everyone, parents with kids returning to school and teachers. To quote one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail." "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

Where Did the Summer and Thirteen Years Go

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In honor of my anniversary!

I may have said this before on here, but I will say it again and I'll probably continue saying it my whole life because I can't believe how much I didn't think about it thirteen years ago. My wedding anniversary will forever fall at the start or around the start of the school year. Yes, today is my thirteen year anniversary and it also happens to be my kids' first day of school.

I was feeling totally guilty for never taking a vacation day all summer long and then in the end I decided to just go ahead and take off the last Friday of the summer. I say I took the day off when in fact I logged on to work in the morning for a little while. After that we took the kids to see Nanny McPhee Returns.  Very cute movie but we went to see it for the kids. That wouldn't be my first choice, but they enjoyed it. Then Saturday we took them to the beach and they had a really good time.

I took today off too for our anniversary and for the first day of school. Rey and I decided to go see a movie we both wanted to see. So we took the kids to school, I came back and worked for a little while, took a nap, and then we went to see Salt. Great movie! Action movies with a strong female lead are always a great compromise. We both enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the sequels I'm sure are to come.

Then we had sushi for lunch and I told the Chinese waitress that always sees us there that it was our anniversary, but of course she didn't give us anything, not that I expected anything. But I couldn't help but think how different it is when you go to a nice restaurant and you tell them it's your anniversary. They always give you a little something, even if it's a free dessert. Not so at the Chinese buffet that is a great deal on freshly made sushi. I guess they figure we can just go get some ice cream from the buffet or some flan the Mexican cooks make. Maybe if I told them my blog is a channel for Chinese anti-communists they would have offered me something. I need to remember to mention that next time.

So we've been married thirteen years. We are both very challenging personalities, thus the two children with the challenging personalities. We are not perfect. Who is? We both got into this thirteen years ago really not knowing what to expect. At least I didn't. I'd never been married, he had. And yet here we are thirteen years later for better or for worse and believe me, we've seen a lot of the worse of one another. Two children and two c-sections later we have survived. Yes, I should have come with a warning label!

A few days ago we watched Date Night (yes, we watch a lot of movies, don't judge) and the two main characters, Tina Fey and Steve Carell had the exact same conversation that we have had before. It was hilarious! My husband says to me, "We've had that conversation before." And I said, "Thousands of couples have that conversation."

I have seriously had that same fantasy of taking off and just checking into a hotel room à la Ashley Judd in Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood in my nightgown with a coat and a bottle of vodka in one hand. What woman or man hasn't? But most of us don't. We work out our differences for our children and for better or worse, just like we said in our wedding vows, and we move on. We can't afford to take sabbaticals like the character in Eat, Pray, Love. That's not reality for most of us.

In an age when divorce is always the answer we have somehow managed to hang in there and make it work, and that has made all the difference.