The sky was large and in charge all week long, with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, and a variety of colors and clouds during the day. My posterior tibialis tendinitis was also a big factor. I hit the PT hard all week and started feeling pretty good. With sky-high hopes, I ran on Friday to reward myself annnnd... re-learned that tendinitis doesn't go away in one week.
Journal excerpts, interspersed with pictures:
We had an "off week" wherein we had zero cross country meets. Yesterday was our first meet-free Saturday in five weeks! I was expecting to get more done around the house and yard and feel more rested by the end of the week and then do more yardwork on Saturday, but instead I barely managed the minimum functional at-home-work and felt tired all week. Why did our off week feel like more of an off week than a rest week? When I was puzzling over this question, it occurred to me that I forgot to account for the attrition of the past five busy weeks. So instead of a catch-up and get-ahead week, it ended up being a rest and recover week...with 11 hours coaching at six cross country practices for Jeff and me, a full week of teaching for Jeff, and a full week of early morning seminary for Jay and Rose, with an orchestra concert and youth activities in the mix too. Hmmm the illusion of a rest week is fading away...
My parents flew in for a weekend visit to watch Jay, Rose, and Amber race at the Max Jensen Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, October 10th. Just now, as I started writing, I realized that that this was the last cross country meet where all three of my kids ran a race at the same meet. Woah. We all tried to make the most of the day: enjoying our visitors while doing business as usual at a cross country meet.
Each day this week had one Main Project that took most of my day. Monday was Rose Day: she had her first iron infusion and we also picked up her one year supply of contact lenses from the eye doctor. Tuesday was Mow Everything Day wherein I mowed 3+ acres in about 3.5 brutal bouncy hours. Wednesday was Fingerprinting Day for me, another step in the surprisingly complicated process of becoming a substitute teacher (my motivation wanes the longer the certification process drags on). Thursday was the cross country meet at The Gorge Amphitheatre, requiring me to leave my house by 10:15am to help get everything ready. Friday was Housecleaning Catch-up Day, since it was the first day I had time to clean all week. And Saturday was another cross country meet: the Max Jensen Invitational in Richland. Whew! As usual, lots of other things happened in and around these big daily projects, which filled the week to bursting!
Last Sunday evening (Sept 27th), Grampa Dan brought his two dogs over to visit. Amber threw a tennis ball for them and our puppies watched the bigger dogs play fetch. It was a rather idyllic backyard scene with the sunset melting in the background:
