It’s 6:30 am on Friday. John is already downstairs on a work call, Indy is sleeping, Belle is nestled in a cabin at camp (with pre-primary to Grade 2 girls, GOD BLESS HER SOUL), and I have hot coffee on the table beside me.
I almost always finish writing Happy Things Friday posts on Thursday, but yesterday was full to overflowing and I chose to do Happy Things instead of write about them!
What a bizarre week.
Until Monday morning, I had no idea that day was a civic holiday (Natal Day in Nova Scotia). This has thrown my sense of time completely off kilter. Every day this week I thought it was at least one day earlier than it actually was…
But, people got where they needed to go by the time they needed to get where they needed to go.
And people needed to be a lot of places!
I know I’ve written about this before, but we’re at a unique stage in the parenting journey. Both kids have more commitments and they’re rarely going to the same place. It can feel a bit dizzying to keep it all straight, but, for the most part, I love it.
It’s delightful to have the kids occupied with interesting things; I’d take that over them being bored and cranky.
Let’s talk Happy Things.
SWIMMING AND ICE CREAM AND SUPPER
Yesterday was perhaps the fullest of all the days this week. There was so much going on!
We capped off the afternoon by visiting a local waterfall that has a deep pool for swimming, little cliffs that are perfect for jumping, and a series of smaller mini-waterfalls and ponds that are a blast to play in.
Let the record show, I went swimming! And the water wasn’t half bad. Not only did I go swimming, for the first time ever, I also went jumping. Multiple times. And John took pictures so there’s proof. I’ll report back with those at some point!
We had Indy and one of his friends with us, and stopped for ice cream on the way back to dropping the friend off, and then were spontaneously invited to stay for supper and sat on their front porch and ate delicious fajitas and talked for hours.
It felt like a quintessential summer day. Heat, sunshine, water, ice cream, friends, eating outside, and plenty of spontaneity.
THE SOUND OF SILENCE
Belle really needed a new dresser for her room. Years ago, when we renovated her room, she downsized to a small storage unit that fit inside her closet, but it was never going to be the long-term solution.
John offered to take both kids to Halifax to get a dresser at IKEA and to take Belle to the mall for a return. They were gone for a big chunk of the day and I revelled in that silence.
This was the longest time I’d been alone in a home of any sort since prior to March 7th (the day we left on our Euro adventure).
I got SO MUCH DONE!
TENNIS ++
Indy wasn’t signed up for tennis this week and it looked like all the lesson slots were full. But, I sent an e-mail to the club anyway and not only did they have space for him in lessons, he was invited to help teach younger age groups their lessons.
He was so happy! The first day, he discovered an older friend (who he adores) was also volunteering and the two of them spent most of the day together at the tennis courts.
From there, John collected him to go fishing with friends. They came home empty-handed, but lots of fun was had by all. Indy was tuckered, but had truly lived his best life all day.
Next week he’s already scheduled for lessons, and I’m hoping he’ll still be useful for morning volunteering because that… really frees up my schedule!!
SUNDAY JUMPSTART
I had some administrative tasks to do for our business and I had been putting them off (to be fair, I needed John’s phone handy to receive a security code, so I had to wait until he got back from his trip to Europe).
Anyway, I blitzed through so many nuisancey things and it felt good to go into the actual work week without so many loose ends hanging over my head.
FRIENDS, GAMES, LAUGHTER… AND LEFTOVERS
Sunday evening, we had friends come to visit. They live in Germany, but own property in Nova Scotia. It was a fun visit, as it always is. They’re lots of fun, had oodles of questions about our trip, and most of the visit was spent in raucous laughter. We only see each other once a year, but pick up immediately where we left off.
Our kids love to play games, as does this family, and we played games and everyone tried desperately to win and it was great. I’m pretty sure I won… but who’s keeping score?
Bonus, we had leftovers. We’d made devilled eggs and Caesar salad and coleslaw and roasted potatoes and John had BBQ’d a whole bunch of meat. Everyone ate generously, but we still had plenty left over which was wonderful for the week ahead. I mixed and matched things, made wraps out of leftovers, chopped up a little of this and a little of that and added veggies to make a salad.
I adore leftovers.
REFLECTIONS ON OUR TRIP
We had a few chances to share stories from our trip this week. At one point some dear friends came to visit. They’re in their 80s and have health challenges, but are like surrogate grandparents to my kiddos.
They always come bearing treats—homemade cookies this time. They peppered us with questions about highlights and lowlights and Did we ever feel unsafe and What was our favourite food to try. They kept asking things in a way that showed they were fully engaged and genuinely curious.
BEDROOM OVERHAUL
The IKEA dresser got made and I don’t have before/after pictures, but Belle made a video and it was so fun to watch. I know nothing about compiling videos, but she has interesting transitions of before-and-afters.
She moved her bed, downsized things she no longer needs, and found a place for that new dresser which offers a lot more storage. She converted her old dresser into a beauty station with all her hair and skincare products. (She has a lot more of those than her mother does.)
It feels good to change things up and it’s been a few years since anything major has changed in her room and it was fun to have her spearhead all of the updates!
The deal on the dresser was we would buy it, but she had to have a major hand in building it. And she did just that. It takes a lot of time and effort to build things from IKEA and she did an excellent job! It feels like a valuable life skill both literally and also more generally in terms of reading directions and having patience.
BAKING IN BULK
August is going to involve quite a bit of company. All of it family (sometimes the most difficult form of company!) and back to back. Literally. There will be something like 24 hours between groups arriving.
While I don’t want to do too much preparing (and worrying) now, I’m trying to do a little bit of cooking every few days. I’m going to make a curry for the freezer. And I made a double batch of energy balls and banana bread for the freezer (and divided it up for each group of company, so I’ll have things to pull out each week).
AIR CONDITIONING
It has been hot and it has been humid. And I am generally completely oblivious until I step outside to take one of the kids somewhere and it all but slaps me in the face. Yikes!
I don’t think I’ve ever been more reliant on air conditioning than I have this year.
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- I have been loving jotting down a specific point of gratitude each day, but Kel (from Kel me about it) has taken things to the next level and is blogging about her response to each day’s gratitude prompt!
- Coffee (well, Earl Grey tea for me) with Joy. We’ve been like ships passing in the night—as she so aptly put it, “summer has a very different vibe”—and she’s gone most of the rest of the summer visiting family. It was such a delight to sit and connect for an hour and get caught up on each other’s lives.
- It’s garbage day. I always love knowing things are reset in that category of house maintenance.
- Non-drowsy allergy pills. My allergies have been SO bad lately and I just have to take an allergy pill each day to not look like a bloodshot zombie. The fact these medications exist is such a blessing.
- Cold water. This goes hand in hand with air conditioning, but it has been such a relief to have cold, clean water this summer.
- A long visit with a friend who is going through a dark valley. I’m reminded again and again about the importance of support networks and love and compassion and joint healing through all sorts of ups and downs in life.
- Church. It is so good to be back at our church!
- Misery likes company. Yesterday I hopped in our SUV (which has to have a complete brake job completed on Monday morning, and recently required two tows and a new battery and related part), and noticed a sizeable crack in the windshield. Earlier in the day I had talked to Joy, who recently had her oven AND her washing machine die in a 24-hour period. And Jenny came back from her son’s wedding to: a leak, a broken hot water heater, a carpet that was ruined by her cats, AND AN OVEN DOOR THAT SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED (which unfortunately turns out to be a known phenomenon). Now, none of these very annoying, very expensive issues are Happy Things. But it is reassuring that adulting is just one unrelenting string of minor—and major—catastrophes.
- Silly text messages with Belle. She sent me a single heart. So I sent back two. Then she did three. So I sent four AND a kiss. I love how we kept trying to up each other with heart emojis. The final trio is an inside joke that refers to my father-in-law’s surprisingly active emoji use and he so often has some iteration of a heart, prayer hands, and smiley face. It CRACKED Belle up.
John is still on his call, Indy is still sleeping, and I still have coffee in my mug. I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend—I hope! It will be the last low-key weekend until the kids are back to school, so I’m trying to savour a few slow mornings.
Happy weekending, friends.
Your turn.
- Tell me some Happy Things from your world.
- Have you ever jumped off a cliff into water?
- Have you ever built something from IKEA?
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Ha! I like how I made the “misery likes company” section of this post. Continuing on that theme, Angie’s boyfriend’s house was stuck by lightning (!!!) which has caused them all sorts of problems. And another friend’s AC broke, which is obviously the worst of all these problems.
It sounds like you’re really having a nice summer! Yes, it’s amazing when the kids get older and you don’t have to micromanage every playdate and activity. It feels good to know they’re enjoying their summers (while you happily watch from the sidelines).
Good for Belle!!! Putting together Ikea furniture requires patience and problem-solving skills. And I like how she made a video of the process.
Good luck with your upcoming hosting! Sounds like you will be well prepared for all your company.