Where the White Things Are: Shaina Day, etc.

It's the kind of week where it feels easier to copy excerpts from my journal than to write new paragraphs about our latest activities.

Monday, June 3rd: It was so windy today! Maddening! I didn't do any yardwork. But I did get up at 5am to go to physical therapy/workout session with my friend Camille. The exercises I did for my legs were very targeted at my weaknesses, and now my left glute/hammy is super sore again. Running with the XC kids this afternoon was rough for the first mile or so.

The electrician came today to fix the car charger that was falling off the garage wall. While he was here, I did some work inside the house, then when he left I took a 30 minute power nap. When I got up, I called Mom as a reward for my diligence. I love my Mom so much. We talked for 2 hours. I can't wait to visit her soon!

The first swim practice of summer swim season was cancelled tonight due to the city pool not being ready. We weren't sad about that because of the 25mph sustained winds that were a-blowing. And it gave us time to read/catch up on family scripture. We listened to 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon at the dinner table and talked about them.

Wednesday, June 5th: Wow, I completely forgot to write in my journal last night! That is a strange feeling because usually if I don't write it's a conscious choice (like on Fridays and Saturdays). It was so windy yesterday, ugh. I didn't go outside until cross country practice (off-season conditioning). My left hip and glute are still super tight and sore, so starting the run was a slow process. Then we were blasted by insane sustained 25mph winds the whole time, first as a side wind, then as a headwind, and then as a sidewind on the other side once we turned around. It was still fun to run with those awesome kids--shared suffering forges bonds like nothing else.

I did a bunch of cleaning yesterday morning and then enjoyed a nice long piano practice session where I dug into some hard music. It is such a huge challenge learning how to move my fingers around the piano keys! When I'm in the right mood, it's super satisfying; when I'm in the wrong mood, it's frustrating. I was in a MOOD yesterday, and then this morning my period started. I can't believe that PMS still can trick me into feeling like a bad person. It surprises me almost every month when I'm extra grumpy and then my period starts--even though I know when my period is coming. Ridiculous.

Anyways, this morning once everyone was at school I ran and did some PT and core work in the barn before grabbing a quick snack and then weeding for over an hour. The piano tuner came again this afternoon to fix the squeaky keys and the dead key that only made noise 60% of the time. I have my piano back again! It's such a relief. I really don't like feeling annoyed at the sound of an instrument I'm trying to play!

Jay had his first driver's ed class at 4pm today. He ran there from Central Park, where he was doing a workout with the XC kids. The building where his driver's ed class is held is only 3 blocks from Central Park. Small towns are the best! I love that Jay is getting more confident and comfortable finding his way around town independently. Running is great for that. So is driving...

Day 2 of summer swim practice was dryland again tonight, since the city pool is still having issues. Rose went to a young women's activity at the church right after swim practice. So busy!

Thursday, June 6th: Life with teenage kids just keeps getting busier and weirder. All right now, I am reminding one kid to change underwear, teaching another kid how to shave, and teaching another kid how to drive (although so far I have outsourced the teenage driving sessions to Jeff). My current life is packed with strange new parental experiences. I hope I'm raising my kids alright. I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark, making everything up as I go.

Today I decided to take a rest day from running. I did manage to do an hour of weeding before it got too hot, but it still made me so sweaty! Adjusting to hot weather is always a rough road. I just need to acclimate, but I can't because lately we've had a few hot days interspersed with a few cooler days, back and forth, back and forth.

I practiced and played the piano for an hour this morning. It was one of those days where I felt like I was always going to be stuck at the same skill level in general and the songs I'm working on feel just above my abilities. Hard things are also satisfying though, and I have felt this way about piano music before. Sometimes I have learned the music; other times I have had to admit defeat. The line between those two is where my practice occurs, and I never know where I will land!

I did not write anything on Friday and Saturday, June 7th and 8th, but trust me, they were full of running, sweaty yardwork, piano, and driving kids all over town, just like the rest of the week.

Sunday, June 9th: Today was Shaina Day! I laid in bed until nearly 7am and felt happy when I got up. After breakfast, my family sang "Happy Shaina day to you, happy Shaina day to youuuuu! Happy Shaina day dear Shainaaaaa, happy Shaina day to you!" It made me laugh. Jeff even hung our birthday banner from the mantel. I had four gifts to open: a new Garmin heart rate monitor, a pair of running shorts with ducks on them, a running tank top with ducks on it, and a pair of running socks with flames on them. I thanked my sweet husband and kids, and decided to start working on the next level of self confidence that it will take to wear a running outfit covered in bright yellow rubber duckies outside of my house, hahaha.

After I opened my gifts, Jeff cleaned up the gift bags and reminded the kids, "now remember, it's Shaina Day all day today, so that means clean up after yourselves so your mom doesn't have to walk on crumbs!"

At church today, our Relief Society meeting was interesting due to a very vocal visitor telling us about her worship altar with crystals and pinecones on it, with mild swear words in the mix and an admission that she didn't believe in our church. A bit draining, but I was proud of the women in the room for riding those waves with kindness.

Jay drove us home from church today! It was his first time driving the van, and my first time being in the car while he drove. I sat in the back clenching my fists and taking deep calming breaths, while Jeff sweated it out as the amazing patient brave instructor. Jay did great! A few tire squeals during acceleration and o e curb hop on a turn, with constant drifting towards the right of the road, but he is doing well. It was his longest drive yet (about 4 miles with 5 stop lights), and his first of many times driving home from the church.

When we got home, Jeff and I went into our closet, closed the door, and kind of collapsed onto each other, agreeing that teaching a kid to drive IS SO HARD!! Not being in control of a moving vehicle is one thing, but relinquishing that control to someone who we know doesn't know what he's doing is a new level of terrifying! Haha.

This afternoon, I played the piano and then watched a K drama. Jeff and the kids made my requested dinner of squash gnocchi while I lounged in my room like a queen watching a show. I made sure to thank everyone for the dinner, and they were very sweet.

After dinner, I turned to Jeff and said, "you must be tired!"

"Well you do this way more than I do!" he replied. (I noticed he did not deny his tiredness.)

"And that's how I know that you are tired!" I told him. Haha.

Once the kids had cleaned up the kitchen (including wiping the counters and vacuuming up crumbs), we played a family game of giant jenga and had family prayer. I love my family. It was nice to have a Shaina Day. I feel appreciated and refreshed.

Rose practiced French braiding my hair diagonally during family scripture on Monday night.

Rose's handiwork. She has potential! Jay and Amber in the background, both draining every last drop crack me up.

Jay is still loving his hard-earned VR headset. Amber figured out how to mess with his virtual reality world by sneaking up behind him and moving her hands in front of his goggles to mess with the invisible digital items in Jay's game. We all laughed our heads off at her creative mischief.

First world problem: I prefer to play the piano first thing in the morning after Amber catches the school bus, but lately the sun has been screaming through the crescent window across from the piano, making it nearly impossible to read music in the bright light. One time I wore my sunglasses to play the piano, but it wasn't perfect. Usually I just wait till after 9am when the sun angle moves...

On Friday I solved my first world problem like a champion. I climbed up onto a high stool and reached way up over head to put an old tension shower rod across the gable opening and hung a blanket on it. I was sweating profusely by the end because it was such a delicate process, reaching that high above my head into the blazing sunlight while balancing on a narrow kitchen stool. This simple fix blocked the bright sun and saved my piano practice! Our five year plan is to get a shade for that window--it was the only window we didn't get a shade for because nobody can see in or out of it since it's so high up! Figures.

Ghost or ancient battered piano? My poor old piano, gifted to me by a sweet friend years ago, has been going through a lot lately. The day after the piano tuner left for the second time, this key stuck. I wasn't about to call the piano tuner for a third time in four weeks, so I wiggled the key, blew on it, and hoped for the best. It works a little better now. I want to learn how to tune and repair pianos now! It's fascinating and it would be a super useful skill.

I wrestled this ill-fitted landscaping tarp on top of the tomato row to control the weeds. Our two cherry tomato plants on the left have pretty much given up the ghost. I'm trying to figure out if I should attempt replacing them. Also note those massive prickly bushy weeds up above the tomato bed.

View from up top after a very sweaty exhausting weeding and rock removal session on Saturday: those big weeds are gone! We're working on peeling up the remaining rocks and two layers of crumbling old landscaping tarp so I can groom this ground into some sort of flower garden someday somehow. This flowerbed is much bigger in real life than it looks in pictures.

All week, Jeff's dad Dan came and worked on building a grape arbor over the top of this random wooden platform that was left in our side yard. It has grapes growing up the four pillars, but no top. We asked Dan if he would use his woodworking skills to build the top onto it for us as 5 years' worth of Christmas gifts. He did an amazing job!

It is finished! Now we just need to figure out how to tie those saggy front two grapevines back up onto the pillar and train the grapes over their new arbor home. Oh, and probably seal/stain the wood. Maybe it's not all finished after all, haha. At first we thought we might get rid of this random structure, but it even has power running to it--with a working outlet--and it will be beautiful if we can keep the grapes alive and let them grow into a leafy fruity canopy over the top.

When I went into the middle school sports storage room to put away a few late track uniforms this week, I discovered that someone had dumped two dozen soccer balls right up against my track storage locker doors. That room is so crowded and really stresses my semi-claustrophobic inner-neat-freak out quite a lot. I moved the soccer balls and still could barely open our storage locker due to that random wooden contraption blocking one of the doors.

Having a drinking fountain in our barn workout room may never get old. I love it so much. It's just so convenient!

I put all of the chairs up to give the Roomba free reign, and Rose found a spot to sit on the couch without moving anything. I always hope that my family will take the initiative to put the chairs back in place when they get home, but they left them up for 36 hours this time until Jeff put the living room stuff down and I put the kitchen chairs and stools back down.

Amber's closet was another house project I tackled this week: it may not look that bad, but it was a horror show with all of the heaps of clothes. On Saturday, I lassoed Amber into sorting her socks while I sorted her clothes. We threw away an entire trash bag of too small too gross clothes, and filled a second trash bag of too-small clothes that are nice enough to give away.

The finished organized closet! Part of the motivation for this project was to test the waters and see if Amber needs an actual clothes dresser to replace her plastic drawers. The verdict this time was: not yet. She really wanted to keep the plastic drawers right where they were, so we left them there.

Amber and her best friend forever, Kamila. They don't go to the same school anymore, but they see each other every morning on the school bus. Kamila had a birthday party on Friday night so they got to play and play mini golf.