Um, what now? It’s MAY?? How did that happen?
Also, thank goodness. I’m not sure how much more winter (or pseudo-spring) I could withstand. Some days it’s sunny and warm and other days I need a heavy winter coat and mittens.
Two weeks ago John got notice he needed to book a last-minute trip to Europe. Neither of us was expecting to inject another trip into his travel schedule, but so life goes. This meant he ended up being away for a chunk of last week; he texted me the minute he landed in London that he was SICK (capital “S” sick) and then a few days later I got SICK. By the time he got home we were both SICK – ugh. But now we are mostly through to the other side and it was just lots of aches and runny noses and sore throats and fevers…but NO VOMIT. (I can handle just about anything if it doesn’t involve vomit.)
At the tail end of the illness, one member of the family had a hammock accident; more on this below. It was an inauspicious end to April.
Now it is May. Here’s hoping for sunshine, clear bills of health, and many Happy Things.
THE COOL BLOGGERS WALKING CLUB: THE FINISH LINE
Our month of daily walking went fast! A huge round of applause to everyone who participated or cheered us on from the sidelines. Having that little nudge to go for a walk each day was a big boost to my routine in April. (I have plans to bring this club back in October so if you missed it this time around, I will give advance warning the next time!)
This post by Colleen shows all sorts of vantages from her daily walks.
As always, there are so many fabulous photos from Engie on various walks with Hannah – and solo!
Joy spotted some gorgeous spring blooms on her post-run walk through local botanical gardens.
And look at all those happy stickers on her walking chart!
Lindsay shared this photo taken on one of her walks – the signs of spring are all around. Budding trees and babbling brooks; I think there’s a poem nestled in here somewhere?
Sophie has been walking in Australia; being part of the CBWC inspired her to walk to her local coffee shop last Saturday morning, instead of drive! She also wrote a larger recap on her walking experiences which left me smiling from ear to ear -…she spotted kangaroos IN THE WILD on one of her walks. Like that is no big deal (it would be a very big deal in rural Canada, let me tell you).
Melissa also joined in from Australia and paired the walking challenge with a cool photography project.
Jacquie (of dog fence and Saturday-morning-walks-for-9-years fame) continued the CBWC challenge in PARIS!
She was fortunate enough to snap this picture of Moulin Rouge just before the iconic windmill sails collapsed.
The second picture she shared was especially relevant. The name of this statue is Le Passe Muraille, translated as The Walker Through Walls.
We saw this same statue on a walking tour of Monmartre back in 2019 and our tour guide said the legend behind the statue goes a little something like this…A man discovers – quite by accident – he has the unnatural ability to walk through walls. He starts off with small misdemeanours but gets more and more brazen in how he uses/abuses this superpower. His audacious escapades end with him pursuing unseemly activities with a married woman; as he goes to escape her husband’s pursuit, his ability to walk through walls suddenly vanishes and he is trapped forever, mid-stride.
Here is a different angle from our own visit to this statue.
On my final walk of the month, John and L kept me company; this walk included our first frog sighting of the season!
FUNNY CONVERSATIONS
One afternoon last week the kids were sitting down at the table eating their post-school snack and L started to run through the various injuries in his class. A sprained thumb (cheerleading injury), a BADLY broken arm (trampoline accident), a torn hand tendon (impaled on a broken kombucha bottle; this one sounded horrific), another broken arm. Just in his class!
Then this happened.
A: Penny* in my class broke her arm this week.
Me: How?
A: She fell off a cow.
Me: SHE FELL OFF…A COW? Why was she ON A COW?
A: She was riding it.
Me: But people don’t ride cows!
A: Well…Penny does.
*Penny is not her real name, and apparently Penny lives on a farm. But still. Riding cows? I can imagine the look on the face of the intake staff at the hospital when Penny showed up with a broken arm. A bike accident? Did you fall off a trampoline (or hammock, see below)? Nope…I WAS RIDING A COW.
THE IRONY…OH, THE IRONY
Okay, this ISN’T a happy thing, but I wrote out the above conversation a week ago because I wanted to note things while they were fresh in my mind.
And then…
The kids were swinging each other (aggressively) on my beloved new hammock…and now one has a broken thumb and an unfortunate hiatus from spring soccer before it even started – the accident happened less than 24-hours before tryouts.
One happy thing? It wasn’t worse. Because of positioning, thumbs are often dislocated (this wasn’t) or require surgery and/or pins (this didn’t). I’m trying to see the silver linings. But this close to the summer season sucks.
BONUS ROUND
- Getting home from evening extracurriculars. The sense of relief that the day is done!
- Outsourcing lunchbox prep. Last Thursday a child complained about not having enough food (it is impossible to get the right balance – I either send too much and it comes home soggy and gross and I have to compost the remainder – or I send too little) so I tasked said child with making lunchboxes for the next day for both themselves and their sibling. I was not looking forward to making lunchboxes and this was the perfect solution.
- Watching L solve his Rubik’s Cube. Or, more often, hearing the click, click, click as he spins it like crazy.
- Freshly-painted nails. My new routine is removing old polish on Friday and putting on a new colour on Saturday. This week it was Lacey Lilac. A keeps receiving nail polish as gifts, and I keep “borrowing” her colours…
- The whole time I worked on Wednesday’s supper, L sat beside me reading jokes out of this HILARIOUS book (Dad Jokes for Kids by Jimmy Niro). I was in stitches.
- Hot coffee, slowly sipped.
- Friday’s.
And that’s a wrap on my week. Your turn. Any Happy Things to report? What’s your most recent injury? Painted nails – yes or no? Thing you’re most looking forward to this weekend? Anything you’re dreading this weekend?
Birchie
Sophie wins CBWC with the kangaroo sighting.
Bravo for having the complainer make lunches since they know how to do it better!
I’m torn on nail polish. One the one hand it’s fun, on the other hand it always chips so quickly and becomes a pain to maintain. All of which is to say that I hardly ever wear it, but I might start at any time.
Elisabeth
I know, right! A KANGAROO??!!
Yes, unless you’re getting fancy salon nails, I think a week is about the max. I find I can keep things looking good for 4-5, and then the wheels start falling off. Hence my little “schedule.” That said, I do have an iridescent shade that I wear and because of some witchcraft or wizardry it does no show chips (or seem to chip easily) and I can often go almost 2 weeks wearing that shade!
Jenny
So many fun things here- other than the broken thumb of course. That is definitely bad, but as you said could have been worse.
The kangaroo- did you ever imagine, when you started the CBWC- that you’d get a picture like that? I was one of the sideline cheerers this time, but I want to join when you do it in October.
About the lunches- you know Laura Vanderkam has a rule that you start making your own lunch when you turn eight! Of course, we’ve never done that in our family. But this could be a new thing for you.
Here’s a fun (or, not so fun?) fact- I’m not allowed to have painted nails where I work. It’s a weird rule that no one really understands or agrees with. I like your lilac color though- very spring-like!
Elisabeth
The kangaroo threw me for a (happy) loop! Just so out of the ordinary for me, but the view from Sophie’s daily walk!
Hmmm. I wonder why they say no to painted nails. Maybe because it can hide “dirty” nails? Or they can look really grungy if not tended to? Still…it’s a head-scratcher!
Lindsay
I’m so sorry you’ve been sick! Here’s to you all feeling better (and no more hammock accidents!) It’s funny, I’ve always been wary of hammocks just because I couldn’t figure out how to gracefully get in and out of them; then, we got our daughter one last summer and I learned just how dangerously versatile one could be as she invented new ways to leap in and test the hammock stand. Quick healing thoughts your way!!
I’m already tired from the weekend and it hasn’t started, but I am looking forward to my daughter living her best life at a dance competition. This is one of those parenting things I do where I know I am not made to be around people this much and small talk and all those things but she IS meant to be there and it fills her cup, so this is what we do.
Elisabeth
I think there is literally NO way to gracefully get in/out of a hammock. I haven’t tried to use it this week, not out of fear for my own safety (to be fair, the kids were NOT using it properly) but because it has been so horrifically cold. I mean, winter is over, right?!
I love how you explain the dance situation. That is so true of so many things in life – we do them for others, knowing it brings joy. It’s all about finding the balance of spending enough time restoring ourselves. I hope the weekend fills her cup to overflowing and doesn’t drain yours too much <3
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I love that photo of L reading with his cast!! That is dedication; you must read, thumbs be darned! Hopefully this is the only injury he will ever have like that, and you will laugh later at how silly it was. I have only ever broken one bone and I was an adult!!!! I have also only had stitches once and if a friend had not MADE ME go to the ER, I would have just bandaged it up and gone home. We are not big hospital people in our family.
Elisabeth
I broke a bone in my foot when I was about L’s age, but my mom didn’t believe me at first so when she finally took me to the Dr and the X-ray showed a break, it was too late to cast it!
Lisa's Yarns
I am so glad it’s May. I have mixed feelings about the “it’s May already” vibe… Kind of like how people tell us “I can’t believe Taco is already 3?” to which Phil says – “Really? I’ve felt every day of the last 3 years.” I say this sort of in jest, though… I don’t like winter and I don’t like early spring so sign me up for May and what is to come!!
I do not wear nail polish ever! I see women with the nicest nails and think – oh they look presentable/nice but I feel like mine constantly chip and I don’t have it in me to keep them looking nice! I should do something about my toes but will wait until reliably nicer weather arrives. Knock on wood, we haven’t had any significant injuries! One or both boys fall all the time but nothing that requires anything besides snuggles from mom or maybe a bandaid.
My week was kind of a blur with my fast trip to Napa. The time change, the late nights, the stress of moderating a panel all combined to feel just absolutely exhausted!
Elisabeth
I don’t like winter or spring, either. Even though 2024 has been rough for me, I also feel like it has flown by! I think time goes faster now that the kids are older?
I very much hope you have a RESTFUL weekend!!!
Katherine B
My sister in law broke her elbow on Christmas Day a few years ago, trying out her 10 year old son’s new skateboard on their driveway! She was in a cast for 6 weeks and couldn’t drive, which was a nightmare!
So happy to have had 3 lovely warm sunny spring days here in Lincolnshire but it rained again today. May is my favourite month of the year.
Elisabeth
That is a NIGHTMARE! And on Christmas Day. I will admit, now that I think of it in these terms, having a child break their thumb is far more convenient than ME breaking my thumb. What would I do if I couldn’t drive for 6 weeks??!!!
May seems to be a blogging favourite in terms of month of the year! I’m partial to mid-September to mid-October, but mostly because May can be so hit-and-miss where I live. It can offer lovely weather…or it can rain every day!
Suzanne
I am so sorry you were so sick! Illness is no fun!
And a broken thumb – yikes! So glad it wasn’t worse, but that sounds pretty awful.
Love that color nail polish! I painted my nails for the first time in a LONG time, and they lasted a whole three days. Womp womp. That’s with two coats of color and a top coat. Why am I so hard on polish?! I would wear it all the time if it lasted longer, but it just isn’t worth the hassle.
Elisabeth
I find a week is the MAX I can get out of my home “jobs” and some colours are especially susceptible to cracking and peeling. It’s only since I’ve started telling myself it needs to come off at the one week mark that I’ve been doing it more regularly
Melissa
My MIL was horrified when I commented one day that all kids break something. She looked at me and said “None of my children ever broke anything.” I seriously thought it was completely normal because I and my three siblings all broke our arms, and my brother and my youngest sister broke theirs twice. My son broke fingers twice and toe once and had two lots of stitches, because would always throw himself impulsively into everything. My daughter dislocated her elbow when she was a toddler, pulling against G and broke her tibia and fibula skiing, which was a pretty bad injury. My latest injury is my foot, which might be a stress fracture, I’m having an MRI on Wednesday. This sounds like we are all very accident prone, doesn’t it? I hope the thumb heals well. Once they’re in plaster it’s generally all good though.
On happier subjects, thanks for organising CBWC. I’m glad it was just the thing you needed. And that colour on your nails is so pretty.
Elisabeth
Wow! That is a lot of injuries. I do think certain families – generally the very active ones, like your family is – are more susceptible to injury. A dislocated elbow as a toddler – ouch. And this pesky (stress fracture?) you’re dealing with is no fun!
I do think about injury when I ski because it feels like if it happens it’s likely to be bad? That said, we all want to have fun and accidents happen…
Hope your foot is feeling better so very soon <3
Sophie
Aww Iām happy my kangaroo pic brought some joy! I grew up in a big city (Melbourne) where a random sighting of a kangaroo would have been rare and exciting! But happily where we live now it is pretty commonplace. š
I love your nails! I never wear polish because I feel mine chips within a couple of days, but perhaps I need to get better quality polish, because I love the idea of a weekly ritual!
Elisabeth
I use very cheap polish and I wonder if I would have better luck with more expensive brands? I’m too frugal for that…!
Commonplace and kangaroos do not belong in the same sentence for me, but we see bald eagles ALL THE TIME (daily), and I know that’s atypical for many people and while I am in awe everytime – they’re so majestic – it also feels decidedly commonplace.
Rachel
OMG, a Kangaroo sighting?? Amazing! I love the roundup photos – thank you for giving us all the motivation!
A broken thumb – oh no! I dislocated my thumb when I was 12 and thankfully did not need surgery either. I told everyone I got in a terrible hitchhiking accident. 12 year old me thought I was so funny. I hope it heals quickly and the cast isn’t too itchy.
Your nails are lovely! I had a goal to paint my nails more. So far I did it… once. But my toes are currently lilac as well.
Elisabeth
I was NOT expecting to see a kangaroo, but honestly all the pictures have been equally heart-warming to me. I just love seeing these glimpses of life all over the planet and it’s cool that we were all connected via a daily walking habit.
Stephany
Oh gosh, poor L and the broken thumb. It’s crazy he had to get such a big cast for that!!
Most recent injury was this past week! I woke up on Monday with neck pain/stiffness that didn’t go away until Friday! It was awful.
I used to paint my nails weekly but I stopped doing that at some point and now I’m just out of the routine. I would like to get back to that routine because I miss having painted nails (even if they did only last a few days before chipping, lol).
Elisabeth
Everyone has been surprised with the cast. I think since it didn’t need to be set etc, they just wanted to allow it to heal normally and naturally and might have assumed he’d have a hard time with just a splint? I am curious and/or nervous for the next steps. The cast makes it easy to keep him away from physical activity – well, rough physical activity – but I suspect he would want to jump back in to the playground sports IMMEDIATELY if all he has is a splint. We shall see…still waiting on the consult from a local children’s hospital.
Yes, the chipping thing is real and annoying.
J
A kangaroo! YAY!
I generally take a walk every day, but on Friday and Saturday life got in the way and I thought, WAIT, WHAT ABOUT CBWC? Then I remembered that it is now May, and I felt better. Rest assured, I was back at it today.
The good things around here…my MIL has been suffering mightily with nephropathy pain, so bad one night that she said if she had had pills she would have happily OD’d, just to get out of pain. She has arthritis and pain is not new to her, so this was BIG. It’s been MONTHS. She’s seen several doctors for help, and nothing has worked. She finally saw an orthopedist who gave her some (painful) injections into her hips, and she is now out of pain! What a blessing! She came over for Ted’s birthday party, and she looked 10 years younger, without her face carrying all of that pain. The other good thing was of course Ted’s birthday, and spending time together and having a party. And Maya’s new job. And nice weather (though it poured for the birthday party, unfortunately, meaning no outside seating). Lots to be thankful for around here.
Elisabeth
Ha! I did NOT walk on May 1st and I’m rather glad. If I had, I think I’d have felt obligated to keep on keeping on with the daily walks and that is NOT part of my plan for the year. I still walk most days, but there is something nice about not doing it every day after a month of daily walks.
I’m so glad your MIL has had relief! Chronic pain is just so debilitating in every single way. I’m sorry the rain left everyone indoors for Ted’s special celebration, but I bet it was wonderful nonetheless.
Kate
What a super fun roundup of international walks!! Paris and the kangaroo are pretty amazing. Also, the stickered 30-day goal sheets are just so satisfying to look at.
The kombucha bottle accident sounds truly horrifying and I did have to laugh about falling off of cows. That’s a lot of injuries for one class! So frustrating for L just before summer activities ramp up but you are wise to keep that perspective about how it truly could have been much worse.
That lilac nail polish is absolutely gorgeous!
I’m so sorry you all were sick, and for the last-minute work travel, but definitely agree that as long as there is NO VOMIT you can get through it.
Happy things around here: running my first 5K race since November 2022 (I was 5 weeks pregnant with Victoria at that time!), gorgeous sunny days (sometimes… it’s been rainy and gloomy the last few days), a friend’s wedding plus drinks afterwards with good friends we don’t see very often!
Elisabeth
Stickers are such a big motivator for me. I’m trying to decide if that is mildly pathetic?
Wow – great work on the race!!!! And yay for sunshine and time with friends <3
Marcia from OrganisingQueen
I LOVE LOVE LOVE nail polish and my nails are almost never not painted. The trick is base coat, two coats, top coat and it stays nice for a week. I don’t have patience so I feel like a change after 5 days in most cases except…. like you said, for the colours that are very light and shiny.
Your purple looks gorgeous!
Elisabeth
I really should probably aim for 5 days!
I also need to figure out how to paint the top tips to avoid chipping there. I have watched a few YouTube videos but keep getting polish on my skin, but I know that painting horizontal at the top helps prevent chipping there.
A THICK top coat definitely helps.
San
Oh no, I am so sorry both you and John were sick, but I am glad to hear you’re both on the mend! And then the unfortunate hammock accident and a broken thumb. Ugh. That sucks for L.
You’re spring-y nails make me happy. š As do the pictures and finished trackers of the CB Walking Club š