27 August 2023

 Thankfully we've been getting a little more rain at the ranch in the last couple of weeks and so the Colorado River Toads have come out.  I was caught off guard on Monday when I noticed this fellow under my plant stand having a staring contest with my little metal toad that normally sits on the plant stand.

Phil was working on Tuesday and our evening was fairly normal other than I had a stake temple and family history committee meeting.  We're planning a stake-wide event next month, I feel like I always have my hands in a lot of different projects!  The kids were excited for a half day on Wednesday which was nice as I like to have them home early.  We didn't have anything else going on and Dad was home and the stars aligned so we had Family Home Evening Wednesday night.  At this stage in life we pretty much do it whenever we can fit it in.  We had a lesson from Come, Follow Me and then the kids voted unanimously to play Monopoly.  Why?!  We have a whole closet full of interesting unique games, but they had their minds made up.  I had them promise me, specifically Arlo, there would be no fighting and certainly no crying (Arlo, I'm looking at you).  Well we only made it 5 minutes before the bullying started (thanks Helen) and we got an hour and half in before the tears started to roll.  Sigh.  Maybe in adulthood they'll remember that Family Home Evening was a fun time of bonding and not the stressful brawl that I often feel like it is! I won by the way.

Phil was working on Thursday so I was grateful that my mom was available to watch Jude while I had a dentist appointment.  My appointment was kinda cruddy if I'm honest, usually the hygienist reminds me to floss more and then she cleans my teeth and we're good.  I go home with just enough guilt to re-commit to better flossing and the rest of the cleaning is pleasant.  Not this hygienist, she used the WHOLE cleaning to berate my oral hygiene.  Ok, I'm not totally gross, I promise.  I have a permanent retainer and it is near impossible to floss my front bottom teeth in any meaningful way because of a bar stretching across the back of the teeth and it was those four teeth that set her off.  Listen lady, that retainer has kept my teeth straight for almost 10 years, #TotallyWorthIt.  Anyway, I left my appointment, cavity free I might add, but pretty deflated.  I picked up Arlo and Jude from Nana's house, Arlo enjoyed being able to walk over there from school, and we headed home.  

The girls had band practice until 6 and then they drove across Tucson where Felicity had a hair appointment.  She had mentioned to me that she wanted to cut her own hair based on a TikTok she had seen...uh, no ma'am, that's a terrible idea.  I told her I would make an appointment with Jessa at Cutting Edge Salon where I've been going for years. She killed two birds with one stone, getting a really cute butterfly (whatever that is) hair cut and in the process she talked to Jessa about shadowing her for her senior exit project.  

Friday was my "off Friday" and I had it filled with things, as usual.  I met Leona first thing in the morning for some girl time.  We had smoothies and chit chatted for an hour and a half.  Then the kids had dentist appointments and I needed to go grocery shopping for the neighbors.  Phil took the kids to the dentist and I did the grocery shopping.  Everyone had a good report from the dentist, except Arlo.  Ugh, he's almost twelve and I guess I need to be brushing his teeth for him! In the evening Arlo and Helen went to visit their dad and Phil and I went on a date and grabbed dinner at Oreganos.  We had a nice time.  He worked an overtime shift on Saturday so it was just Felicity and Jude and I, except Felicity had band practice all morning and then went to a birthday party in the evening...so really just me and Jude.  Goody!  I set out early and went to Joann's for some fabric for a new quilt, I stopped at the fire station and said hello to my sweetheart, and then Jude and I did our family's grocery shopping.  I was happy to be back home when I was done.  I did some chores and worked on my quilt.

On Sunday I got to sit in on Cienega Ward's Relief Society meeting and enjoyed the lesson and when that was over I hopped into our sacrament meeting.  Phil had volunteered us to be in the nursery second hour, so we hung out with eight  two-year-olds, ours included.  I think Jude needs to play with kids his own age more often, he was STRUGGLING with sharing and navigating a room of other little kids...he doesn't have to share his toys at home.  We survived and enjoyed the rest of our Sunday.  We picked the kids up in the afternoon and got ready for another fun-filled Comaduran week!

20 August 2023

 I survived!  Mostly.  Jude had music class on Monday and it was nice that Phil was home to take him since I had a lot of tasking and meetings at work on Monday morning.  He put out a lot of little fires for me at home, which I appreciated.  Tuesday he was back at work and I did a stupid thing.  Its a stupid thing I do a lot, then tell myself "that was stupid" and then three or four months go by and I do it again.  I had the carpet cleaned in the house again.  The carpet in our house is old, but it was in good shape until Jude joined us (aided by a cat with a temperamental tummy).  Regardless, I had the carpet cleaned and threatened everyone that Jude was not to eat or drink ANYTHING outside of his high chair in the kitchen.  We'll see how long it lasts, I'm not optimistic as after two hours the cat has already thrown up on it.  Why do they make cat food bright orange?!

Wednesday was busy, busy at work and then in the evening I participated in conducting a training for a new leaders in the single adult ward.  Phil wanted to go with me as he was gone so much last week and was heading into a four day stretch of work this week.  The training went well and when we were done Phil and I had a "date" which means we went to dinner after the training.  We went to Bison Witches on 4th avenue since it was open late.  We were quite the pair, in our Sunday clothes, having just come from giving a church training, sitting in a campus bar enjoying gourmet sandwiches and a Diet Coke at 10 PM.  I sure do love my sweetheart; here's a cute picture of him that pretty much captures him perfectly.

Phil worked overtime Thursday, Friday night, Saturday, and then his regular shift on Sunday.  The kids and I managed.  Jude, he struggles to "get with the program".  On Thursday he was overly tired and refusing to take a nap.  I finally took him to his room and laid him down and locked the door.  He screamed and screamed.  About 15 minutes in I checked on him via the baby monitor and he was still beside himself mad, so I used the microphone feature on the baby monitor to tell him it was ok, that he needed a nap, and to get back in bed.  I asked him calmly a couple of times to get back in bed before he came over to the camera, looked at it suspiciously (not knowing exactly where my voice was coming from) and turned the camera off.  Heaven help me!

My Friday was a working Friday and I was super busy both at work and otherwise.  I had to do my neighbor's grocery shopping and do some food prep and other prep for our Stake Relief Society activity.  For added fun, Jude locked me out of the house by turning the deadbolt when I went to get something from the shop.  I panicked for a minute, tried to coach him into unlocking the door, then I tested some of the other doors and was luckily able to get in the back door.  I will be making sure to take my phone with me if I go outside.  

On Saturday we had our Relief Society activity in the evening, but our presidency was there earlier to set up.  We offered multiple enrichment classes, a service project, and then a dinner and keynote speaker.  I gave a class I titled "Ministering for Introverts, Procrastinators, the Overly-Busy, and Everyone Else with Good Intentions".  Haha, we talked basically about overcoming roadblocks to effective ministering.  I think it was a pretty good class, I taught twice.  The rest of the evening was lovely and we were very pleased with how many sisters came.  Here's a video clip I used in my lesson, it made me laugh out loud so I thought you might enjoy it too and can maybe relate:

 I was BEAT by the time I got home after cleaning up after the activity and then turned around and had to be back at church at 6:15AM for a Stake Committee meeting.  I was able to catch all of my ward's meetings after which was nice and in the afternoon the big kids went to hang out with Nana.  I hope next week is a little less crazy and I get to see my husband a little more!

13 August 2023

Jude had his first music class of the semester on Monday and he really enjoyed that with Daddy.  It was nice to have Phil home, although I feel bad there is usually a pretty long list of things I'd like help with when he does make an appearance at home.  The girls had afterschool band practice until 9, so I don't think I saw them all day on Monday!

Phil was working overtime on Tuesday and didn't get much sleep as they had to work a fire in the middle of the night up by the mine.  They put the fire out and went back to the station only to get called back when it reignited.  That's the way that goes sometimes!

Wednesday was the best day for our family to celebrate Helen's 15th birthday.  Her actual birthday is on Saturday, but she'll be visiting her dad this weekend.  We took the whole crew out for dinner at Red Robin, one of our favorites.  Jude was a little unruly (a lot unruly), but otherwise we had a great (albeit expensive) time.  We came home and opened gifts and had cake.  I think Helen was a little disappointed she still didn't get a phone, but I'm holding out as long as I can.  One day I hope the kids will understand my anti-kids-having-phones-early policy.  I can't believe Helen is 15!

I did a lot of running around at lunchtime and after work on Thursday.  I picked Arlo up off the bus and he had a follow up appointment with the psychiatrist to check on his new meds.  We showed up, told the doctor everything was working great, and then we were out of there! I bought the kiddos an ice cream cone for being so good at the appointment (the incentive was mostly for Jude).  Jude made a huge mess of his ice cream so I had to hose him and his car seat down in the front yard before I let him in the house.  In the evening I attended the parent meeting for Helen's drama class.  More fees!

I was off on Friday and did all my running around in the morning.  Phil was working so I didn't have help in the evening and decided to skip the Copper and Navy scrimmage game.  The girls said it went well and they enjoyed being in the stands again.  I'm hoping to attend more football games this year, we'll see how that goes; I wish Jude was a more "go with the flow" kid!  Phil worked on Saturday too, picking up an overtime shift.  Helen and Arlo went to visit their dad and Felicity had a choir banquet and then a birthday party.  So it was just me and Jude all day.  I'm sure its taking years off my life!  Phil worked his regular shift on Sunday, so it was another 72 hour stretch without him.  Felicity is enjoying her new calling as the ward chorister which left me alone with Jude in the congregation.  I used to fight him crawling under the benches or climbing over them, I NEVER used to let the other kids be so disrespectful, but now I'm like, "well, at least he's quiet".  Forgive me!

06 August 2023

 We've been back in school two weeks for Arlo and a week and a day for the girls and already we have a day off.  Go figure! On Monday, I enjoyed having the kids home as they ran defense for me with Jude while I worked.  Work has been stressful lately.  Two of our business units merged and in that merge my position and my supervisor's position are now being filled by our counterparts in the other business unit.  I've very fortunately been able to continue managing the project (with its very large number of team members) that I had been previously, with expanded responsibility; its a lot of work.  I'm grateful to still be able to work from home though and am hopeful that things will quiet back down a bit. 

Even though I had extra help in the house on Monday, Jude still managed to sneak into the bathroom and flush ANOTHER toy down the toilet.  UGH!  Just typing that causes my blood pressure to take a little jump.  Luckily for us when Phil got home from work on Tuesday he was able to take the toilet apart and remove the toy (a little plastic flag that goes on top of the Fisher Price Noah's Ark) thus saving us several hundred dollars in plumbing fees (again).

Phil was back at work on Wednesday and I had a little bit of time in the afternoon to make Jude some new onesies.  He is still routinely taking his diaper off and peeing on things so we have to keep him in a onesie almost all of the time, sometimes snapping them OVER his pants.  It is getting harder to find them in his size since he's at a "should be getting ready to potty-train" age.  I'm not ready to tackle that one with this super stubborn toddler yet!  So custom onesies it is

Phil worked over time on Thursday, so we had to do without him again.  In the afternoon Jude and Arlo came with me to grocery shop for our neighbor and Green Valley Fire was at Fry's getting signatures for the annexation.  We stopped to say hello, and Jude got his own fireman's hat.  Phil worked his regular shift on Friday so it was a three day stretch without him this week.  I met with the special education team at the middle school to discuss a path forward for helping Arlo with his ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia.  All his teachers had great things to say about him, it also seems his new ADHD medication is helping to relieve a lot of his symptoms.  We decided that an IEP wouldn't be the best option for Arlo, in other words he doesn't need to leave the classroom, missing instruction time, for special ed services.  I'm comfortable with the decision, especially since private tutoring is going so well.  We're going to meet again next month to discuss a 504 plan which would give Arlo classroom accommodations to help him, which he does need.  This might look like getting longer to complete work, more reminders, sitting at the front of the class, etc.  I will say that Arlo has loved middle school so far.  Fingers crossed it stays that way!

Phil had a short stint at home on Saturday so we took advantage of the opportunity and went to see "Go West" at the theater as a family. The kids love the older Studio C so they naturally wanted to see this and it just so happened to have a limited number of showings in Tucson.  We took Jude with us because I stupidly thought he would sit with us and eat popcorn and be mildly interested in the movie.  He was not.   He immediately was climbing all over everything and walking up and down the aisles.  I was secretly praying nobody else would come into the theater, but they did and I couldn't handle Jude being a distraction to others.  Phil graciously took Jude out into the mall to play in the kids' area.  The movie was as expected, hilarious in some places, ridiculous in others, and overall rather juvenile.  Fun was had by most.

Phil was back to work on Sunday and the rest of us enjoyed church.  We had a pretty relaxed afternoon, and Jude enjoyed playing with his Tonka trucks in the living room.  When I asked him to pick up his toys, he wanted to do it with the front loader...it was painfully slow, but it got done.  We are ready for another week. 

30 July 2023

We are officially fully back to school.  The girls had their first day of seminary on Monday and I'm hoping they set a goal to actually show up on time this year!  Phil was working at the fire station so I held down the fort.  Arlo had tutoring after school and its going really well.  I'm very pleased with the progress he's making and he loves to go.   We did get a little bit of afternoon rain on Monday and Jude had to go out on the front porch and check it out.  We have had a slow start to the monsoon season so I'll take any rain we can get.

I have to brag on my Maggie girl.  I was taking the recycling out to the street and as I was headed back to the house I realized that Jude had followed me out there and had walked almost to the gate, but there was sweet Maggie, right by him to keep him safe.

Speaking of Jude, I cleaned the family room, so he promptly went over to the toy box and dumped the toys just to lay in the mess...this is why I can't keep the house clean.

When Phil got off of work on Thursday morning he headed to his nephew's fire academy graduation ceremony.  He's obviously very proud.

Not my image, scanned from a purchased print Ziemba Photographic Arts

In the evening Phil and I along with his mom and his brother's family attended the family night for his nephew's graduating class.  It was neat to watch the demonstrations and see all the things they had learned during their academy.  The highlight of the evening was last demonstration where three firefighters approach a gas fire, protected by a wall of water, and get close enough to turn the gas off.  Typically a captain will lead two recruits in the demonstration; however, Phil and Kirby got to take Quaid through the demonstration: three Comadurans.  It was a fun night and great to see a wonderful legacy continued.

Not my images, scanned from purchased prints Ziemba Photographic Arts

I was off on Friday which meant I had a ton of chores and appointments to keep.  First up, I took the girls to the orthodontist.  I picked up my new retainer and the rest of our time was for the girls to get their braces installed (applied?).  If you recall from a couple of weeks ago we had an orthodontist visit and decided to start Helen with braces and reinstall Felicity's to fix some shifting she's had.

Our Saturday was occupied with "have tos" and other chores and Phil got called out on a wildland assignment.  Tis the season!

23 July 2023

Back to school week for us.  Arlo had his first day of 6th grade on Monday and he was up and dressed and ready to go when I crawled out of bed to wake him up for the day.  He said he loved his first day of middle school.  We're trying out some new medicine and he said that went really well.  In the evening on Monday I drove to Tucson to have dinner with Leona.  It was cloudy and windy at the ranch, but no rain, in fact no rain until I got on I-10, but then Tucson was a river.  I avoided Wilmot and Craycroft because I head that motor boat was the best way to get down them.  I took Alvernon across to Broadway instead.  It was crazy, and you know how us Tucson drivers get when it rains!  I had a great time with Leona...she's my person.  Other than my spouse the only person I could say ANYTHING to.  I'm so grateful for so many years (24 to be exact) of friendship.   Look how cute we were last century!

Tuesday it was so stinking hot!  I got in the truck in the afternoon to get Arlo off the bus and the truck said it was 127 degrees!  Even after I started driving it only dropped to 118.  In the afternoon beautiful clouds came up over the Santa Ritas and passed right behind us.  

I had a meeting at the church in the evening for the Stake Temple and Family History committee.  Phil was working overtime on Wednesday when we actually did get our first real rain.  Jude watched from the window in the family room...or I should say he watched from inside the window frame.  

The girl's had their first day of high school on Friday.  I can't believe it, I have a senior and a sophomore.  I heard there first day back was a success and its looking like it'll be a great school year.  Phil was working another overtime shift so he wasn't home to hear all about it.  It also meant I didn't really have anyone to watch Jude when the kids wanted to go see Indiana Jones after school so I gave them money and sent them to see it without me.  They must have enjoyed it because later that night I caught Arlo watching Raiders of the Lost Ark.  

Phil had a busy evening at work and got to put out a garage fire.  He was playing engineer since he was filling in for someone else and enjoyed getting to play.  They run so few structure fire calls that they like to take a picture when they're all done mopping up.  I heard the home owner was grateful they got it out so quickly.

Phil stayed at work until about noon on Saturday and when he got home we drove down to Benson for his aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party.  It was a lovely party and we enjoyed getting to see so many family and friends.  I even got to meet a few people I hadn't met yet.  I wish we'd taken a few more pictures, but here's a cute one of the boy Comaduran cousins.

My Sunday was very busy.  I was in the Colossal Cave ward for Sacrament and Relief Society and then to Vail ward for another round of Relief Society.  I took a little cat nap when I got home in the afternoon.  Phil took the girls to seminary kickoff in the late afternoon and I got a cute picture of Jude napping on the couch.  He almost never sleeps outside of his bed so I had to snap a picture.  Phil picked up a back half (8PM to 8AM) overtime shift Sunday night, not realizing it was Sunday when he agreed to it.  We are tracking really well to our 10 year retirement plan, seven months down, nine years 5 months to go!  Everyone is full steam ahead with school next week.  We're praying it cools down a bit and we get a lot more rain!  

16 July 2023

 This week was a bit of a reprieve from that last few.  It was still busy, but Phil was home for four days straight...yes four! That makes everything a little easier.  On Monday the girls officially started band camp.  They came home each night tired, dirty, sometimes a little sun burned, and sometimes a little (a lot) cranky, but they had a great time.  Helen is loving that the new director is allowing trombones on the field.  The last director made all the trombones march baritone, which I took a little personally and still don't understand.  They both have really positive things to say about the new director and are excited about their upcoming season.

Photo Credit https://www.facebook.com/vailschooldistrict

Monday was also Felicity's senior check in.  She needed a schedule change since the new band director asked her to join symphonic band instead of having an empty period.  By the time we got checked out it had taken us an hour...it was painful, but not as painful as all the fees we paid this year.  Phil was working Monday so I held down the fort and Arlo helped me; he did a great job babysitting Jude while I was helping Felicity with her senior check in.  I can't believe she's a senior.

Phil was home on Tuesday morning, but not before Jude found the hidden tube of Destin and smeared it on his face.  Why do you keep buying it? you ask, well the kid is prone to diaper rash so we need it, but its hard to keep accessible but out of his reach; if he finds it, he's applying it...everywhere.  Helen had her check in on Wednesday and Arlo picked up his laptop, Phil handled both for me so I could work. Our Summer is all but over, we've completed the check ins and did our back to school shopping, we have new backpacks and lunchboxes, we are ready.  In all we paid $605 for Felicity to participate in marching band, symphonic band, and choir and we'll still have a choir booster fee to pay and $580 for Helen to do marching band, an early childhood development course, and drama with a drama booster fee yet to come.  Sigh, I'm grateful we can provide these opportunities for our children, but I'm sad too.  I'm sure the high fees make participating in fine arts cost prohibitive for some families...children shouldn't be priced out of the arts.

On Thursday Arlo had a psychiatrist appointment to see if we can't figure out his medications to help relieve some of his ADHD symptoms.  He is doing great in reading/writing tutoring and he enjoys going and when he gets home he likes teaching me all the things he's learning.  Phil wanted to come with me to the doctor's appointment so we had to bring Jude too.  He has had a real explosion of words over the last couple of weeks, repeating everything we say and retaining quite a bit of it.  There was a water feature in the doctor's office and he kept saying "fountain, its calming" over and over.  When we were done we stopped at a Great Clips so Arlo could get a haircut and I took Jude over to the nearby McDonalds to play in the kids area while we waited.  He loved the slides and the climbing and the whole experience.  He played with another little girl who was about 5, and then when she and her mom left it was just Jude and a couple of unaccompanied tweens.  I sat at the table reading and glancing up from time to time to check on Jude.  I noticed the two girls were kept running out of the area pretending to retch and acting weird, then they were going back up into the play structure.  I thought to myself it was weird.  Then I saw they were recording Jude with their phone...now my mama bear senses heightened.  As I stood up to investigate they came running out again pretending to gag and carrying on.  When Jude came down behind them his pants were soaked and he had something running down his leg into his sock...it was poop.  I was mortified.  He had a runny bowl movement and made a mess of himself (a big mess) and I'm sure the play area too.  Then I saw the girls, who were maybe 12 or 13, were filming us!  I was embarrassed, disgusted, concerned to get Jude cleaned up and pretty much frantic because I didn't have a diaper bag with me on top of someone documenting it.  **Warning, here's the part where I don't do the right thing and I accept your disgusted judgment, I hope eventually you'll find it in your heart to forgive me and we can still be friends**  I picked Jude up while trying not to get it on myself and ran him out to the truck.  I didn't attempt to stuff my obese self up into the slide to wipe it down, or make a futile effort with a wet non-absorbent paper towel to clean the play structure, I didn't tell anyone either.  I ran from the restaurant with him dangling at arms length proclaiming the obvious "I pooped, I pooped" over and over to everyone we ran past.  I was relieved to see Phil and Arlo walking up as I buckled my gross toddler in the truck.  I was so embarrassed.  I felt so self-conscience that I and my child were being recorded in an awful parenting predicament.  It is true, in this world when someone is in distress there is rarely a person willing to help, but almost always someone to catch it on video.  I did wrong by just leaving the McDonalds without telling anyone or trying to clean up any mess he may have made myself, but I wish those girls would have brought it to my attention as soon as they noticed he had a problem.  I wish they could have helped him down from the play structure and let me know he needed attention instead of laughing, pretending to gag, and filming the whole ordeal.  When I retold the story at dinner the girls tried to console me by saying, "oh mom, they probably only have like 100 followers on Instagram and post 50 times a day, nobody is going to notice or care".  And yet oddly I don't feel any better!

I was off on Friday and did my grocery shopping and the neighbor's grocery shopping.  We picked up Arlo's new prescription and did some other running around and chores. In the afternoon I took all the big kids to the orthodontist.  Felicity and I needed new retainers, unfortunately because Felicity went so long without hers after it broke, she had some movement in her teeth and needs to go back in braces for a little bit until they're straight again.  Helen is going to start braces too.  Arlo still had five baby teeth, so we deferred his treatment until the rest of his baby teeth fall out.  Lucky for me, my teeth didn't shift so I just got a scan for a new night-time retainer and the orthodontist congratulated me on my retainer compliance.  When we were done the girls went one way and Arlo and I went home where he was picked up to go visit his dad for the weekend.  Phil and Jude and I went over to the high school to watch the band exhibition where the marching band showed off what they had learned at band camp all week.  It was great, they really sounded good for as small as they are.  I snapped a picture of both girls in uniform and it brought so much joy and pride to my heart.  I loved band as a kid.  If you know me you probably know that.  I loved marching band especially in college and I love that I can share that with my girls.  

Phil was back to work at the fire station on Saturday and Felicity helped me clean out her room and Arlo's room in anticipation of the new school year starting.  While cleaning out Arlo's closet I found some left over bubble solution from a long-past Easter basket and refilled Jude's Mickey Mouse bubble wand; he was in heaven for the next couple of hours.  

Sunday was busy.  Phil worked an overtime shift so he didn't come home in the morning and I had a 6:15AM stake council meeting on the east side of Tucson.  After that our presidency met and then we gave a training to the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society presidencies in another ward in our stake.  Felicity stayed home from church really sick which kind of came on suddenly, so gratefully my mom picked up Jude and took care of him for her until I got back home at about 1 o'clock.  Arlo starts school tomorrow morning, 6th grade, middle school.  The girls go back on Friday, Helen as a sophomore and Felicity as a Senior, where did the time go?!  Happy 2023-24 school-year-eve to us!

09 July 2023

We survived another week!  Phil was on the beehive fire in Rio Rico for most of this week.  They spent a good majority of their time as back up support and did a little work cutting back vegetation to create lines so the fire couldn't leave the area they had it confined to (away from structures and people).  They camped out at night and he had enough cell service to call home in the evenings.  It was HOT this week in the desert, I'm glad I didn't have to be out in it!

I had the day off from work on Monday and it was pretty busy.  I picked up my quilts in the morning, I'm really happy with how they turned out.  I had a twin size and four baby blankets, now I have five quilts to bind, not counting my farm quilt which I still haven't bound yet either.  At least I know what I'll be working on for the foreseeable future.  Arlo had tutoring in the morning and in the afternoon we had a plumber over because the toilet, sink, and tub weren't draining in the kid's bathroom.  Several weeks ago Jude flushed something down the toilet, we know not what it was.  Phil took the toilet apart and he snaked everything and got things flowing again, but it was never quite right; like the tub gurgled when you flushed the toilet.  Well it backed up again.  The plumber snaked it and got it running again, but said there was still an obstruction so they would have to come back with a camera to fix it right.

Since Jude has been sleeping in his big boy bed he's been sneaking out at night and crawling into our bed.  Most the time we take him back to his room, but this week he managed to sneak in undetected since dad wasn't home all week.  I realized it around 4:30 in the morning when I had been nudged to the edge of my otherwise very large bed.

I took the kids back to school shopping on Tuesday afternoon.  We shopped for shoes, clothes, the whole nine yards.  The girls were pretty much able to do their own so I could help Arlo.  Jude got to hang out with Nana while we were gone which made it that much more productive.  We had a good time and got it done in one afternoon so I was happy.  We enjoyed some fourth of July fireworks from the front porch as we could see several displays in a few different directions.  It's been a long time since I actually took the kids somewhere for Independence Day...maybe next year.  The plumber came back on Wednesday with a camera and found whatever it was that Jude flushed, we couldn't really tell what it was, but he was able to dislodge it and send it on down the pipe.  Yay!  Felicity had a band leadership meeting at Golf N' Stuff  in Tucson in the evening and had a great time getting to hang out with some band friends and getting to know her new band director.  

My mom took Helen out Thursday for her birthday (which is still a few weeks away) and I heard they had a great time.  Jude and I hung out and I figured out how he was getting to things on top shelf of the family room.  Heaven help me.  Phil made it home Friday afternoon with a week's worth of dirt and facial hair.  We were happy to have him home again.  Felicity attended the second half of "rookie camp" on Friday afternoon to meet the incoming band freshman.  She looking forward to her last year marching and as the flute section leader.

Phil turned around and went back to work on Saturday morning at the fire station and the kids and I enjoyed a nice quiet day.  I finished the binding on my legacy quilt that is a gift for our nephew who is graduating from fire academy later this month.  I LOVE how it turned out.  It's made from duty shirts that were his dad's and his uncle's.  Phil was very sweet and obliging and let me take pictures of it with the fire truck.

We went to church on Sunday and I've all but given up on keeping Jude from crawling under the pews and then climbing over them during Sacrament meeting.  I never would have let the other kids act like that, but with him, he's at least quiet while he does it.  He'll learn to sit nicely someday, right?  Felicity accepted a church calling (assignment) on Sunday to be the ward chorister, so she'll lead the music on Sundays.  I think its a great fit for her.  In the evening we went over and had dinner with Kirby and Brook and crew, Jude loved playing with his cousins.  At some point in the evening he managed to kiss the grill and came in covered in soot.  He's always an adventure!

   

02 July 2023

It was a rough week for this mama.  If you're just joining us, Phil and I have been planning for retirement and have a ten (now 9 1/2) year plan, a big part of that plan is he wants to earn as much as he can in the next three years since his pension payout (for the rest of his life) will be based on his three highest paying years.  He's topped out this year--meaning he makes the maximum amount for his position, so its a good time to start working on the "high three". This is especially a good time to start with the Green Valley Fire annexation of Sahuarita, there should be good overtime opportunities for the next three years.  It all looks good on paper, and the calculator, but the reality is that he is gone a lot.  Since he works in 24 hour shifts when he picked up overtime on Monday and Wednesday in-between his regular shifts on Tuesday and Thursday it meant he left the house on Monday morning at 6:30AM and didn't get home again until Friday morning at 8:30AM.  The troublesome problem with this week was the girls were at FSY all week and Arlo was at Young Men's camp all week so it was just me and my buddy Jude.  All week. 

On Monday Arlo had his first tutoring session with Saguaro Literacy Solutions.  I heard that he worked hard and had a good time.  I'm grateful we're making strides at helping him with his recently diagnosed learning disabilities.  It was a bit of a pinch with Phil gone because I had an important work meeting from 10-11 and Arlo needed to be at tutoring at eleven.  I had Felicity drop Arlo off at tutoring while I did my meeting and then when she got back and my meeting was over we all went back to pick up Arlo so we could get the girls to the University of Arizona for FSY check in before 1:00PM.  It was tight, but we managed.  The girls were registered for FSY, a church youth conference, this week and were gone from Monday morning until Saturday morning.

On Tuesday morning we dropped Arlo off at the church to head to Stake Young Men's camp.  I was a little worried about Arlo going for four days without Phil going too, but the adult leaders said he did great and when he got home Arlo said he had so much fun.

So from Tuesday morning on it was just Jude and I.  We had fun and we had a couple of less fun moments too.  Every other Wednesday I host a directorate-wide webinar at work.  My role is to organize the webinars and then I do a welcome and introduce the topic and speakers and then I turn the webinar over to them to present.  They're about an hour long and for 100+ people.  At the end I'll come back on and moderate the Q&A portion and then close the meeting.  I always try to over prepare because they have such wide visibility and they get recorded and posted to a repository so people can go back and watch them again.  I had everything ready, my script, green screen in place, I even put on makeup.  I had a guest moderator, a center manager, so I just needed to do the welcome and the intros.  The bios for the participants was four long paragraphs.  We did the pre-show tech check and I had turned my camera and mic off while a timer on my monitor counted down until I went live.  I had given Jude a snack and started a new movie in the family room and I figured I was golden.  40 seconds before I go live he comes clunking into my office (the kitchen) in a pair of heels.  I jump up and take them off him and beg him to go back to the family room, his response, to start a temper tantrum.  Full screaming, arms flailing, feet kicking.  I'm pleading with him to be quiet while I keep watching the timer over my shoulder.  At 20 seconds I scoop him up and literally run him to his room and close the door.  I come running back to my desk and slide into my chair just in time for my camera and mic to come on and go live.  I am an obese middle-aged woman.  I was out of breath.  Very out of breath.  I struggled hard through the introduction and reading the bios trying not to sound winded.  It felt impossible.  In my head it sounded like a mix of over-emotional on the verge of tears and in great pain, physical or emotional it really didn't matter.  I finished the third paragraph and the tightness in my chest and overwhelming urge to gasp for air is subsiding when I hear Jude approach from behind.  He has his arm outstretch and he's saying "is that mama?" pointing at my monitor where I'm being spotlighted.  I seriously considered skipping the introduction for the fourth panelist, but I muscled through while Jude continued to ask "is that mama?" on repeat.  He got close enough that his chubby disembodied pointing hand appeared behind me and then his face.  I was mortified.  Listen, at the height of COVID it was pretty normal and we all got used to seeing the occasional kid, spouse, or cat butt in our meetings...I also know which of my colleagues own yappy little dogs.  But, we have mostly returned to the office and it has been a privilege (and blessing) for me to be able to continue to work from home with the understanding my job has my attention for nine hours a day.  This is the first time the broadcast services folks have ever posted one of my webinars on the same day, but there it appeared a mere 30 minutes after we finished, immortalized in the webinar library.  I watched it and was relieved that the out-of-breath-reading was not as pronounced as I had felt it was while it was happening, although you could tell I wasn't my normal comfortable self.  I was able to laugh about it later in the day, so I guess I'll keep Jude awhile longer.  In the afternoon I went grocery shopping for the neighbors.  They said they were OK with going a week in-between trips since we weren't home last Friday, but I guess they weren't afterall, so I made a trip on Wednesday.  I asked about taking them again on Friday for the normal shopping trip and they said they'd be ok until next Friday.

I was happy to have Phil home on Friday morning and we enjoyed time together since it was my "off-Friday" at work.  Arlo got home in the late afternoon from camp.  He was filthy and a little sunburned but said he had so much fun.  It even appears he came home with all his stuff.  We dropped Jude off with my mom around 5PM and met Phil's half-brother Rick and his wife Mindy for a double date.  Arlo got picked up for a weekend visit with his dad so we didn't have to worry about him.  We had a fun dinner at Red Robin and then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie.  I thought it was great we really enjoyed it. It was a super fun evening.

Phil was back to work for his regular shift on Saturday and I had to pick the girls up at the U of A by 7AM.  They had fun at FSY and said it was a neat experience.  They had a choir that Felicity joined and she was picked for a solo at their performance Friday evening.  They weren't allowed to record it so I guess I'll just have to take everyone's word that it was beautiful.  We went out for breakfast on our way home. Phil got home in time for church on Sunday and helped me wrestle Jude in the pews as always.  During Sunday school I got a call from our neighbors and assuming there was an emergency stepped out to take it.  Nope, no emergency, they just wanted me to pick up some groceries for them and I had forgotten to bring their trash can back up from the street (I take it out Thursday night).  While I was in the hallway on the phone with them Phil came out of Sunday school on the phone too.  He was being called in to go on a wildland fire assignment.  We left church early, swung by the neighbors to bring up the trash can and grab her "oh-so important" shopping list (three gallons of water (even though they five sitting on the floor already) a key-lime pie, ice cream, and some bananas).  Phil packed up a few things and left.  He was going with a crew to Rio Rico to help with the Beehive Fire.  He called me Sunday evening to say they were predicting a 7-10 day assignment...so I guess I won't see him next week either!  Oh, well.  The summer is winding down and the girls will have band camp week after next and then its all downhill from there.