Dreams where you find yourself in a quasi-medical
environment as a part-time patient and sometimes employee: I don't
remember much of the dream although I have some images of people that I
was with and some of the events that transpired. Everything was an
institutional brown beige, there were few other colors in the dream.
Sometimes it seemed as if I was caring for others with physical
disabilities, but as the dream progressed, it became apparent that there
were some mentally disturbed people in the building as well. I had no
sense of freedom during the dream. At no point in time was I free to
leave, a woman that I had worked with before was there. Her hair was
different, I made a point of saying hi to her several times. She greeted
me back, but there was a tension that I didn't understand in her voice.
Key highlights in the dream were: helping someone who was vomiting,
having an IV stuck in my arm, and feeling as if I had something to be
guilty or ashamed of when I spoke with the woman I had worked with at
another dream job.
Days where you make a plan the night before and nothing goes the way
you think it will: My plan to get up early, ride our bikes into the
farmer's market and enjoy gluten free muffins and smoothies did not
materialize. The girls slept in, they had cereal for breakfast, by the
time everyone was dressed and on their respective bikes, it was almost
eleven-thirty. I'm a morning person, if I don't capitalize on the first
few productive hours of my day, it goes to hell, and I have no one to
blame but myself. The farmer's market was closing down as we arrived.
We had smoothies at a small store downtown, and when I was riding past
the old grocery store, I saw a sign for $7 haircuts. I really like my
hairdresser, except I saw a money saving opportunity, and wasn't sure if
she could get me in before my Tuesday interview. The result: a haircut
that took about a third of the time it normally would. Sub-par, but good
enough for a $10 experience which is what the cut cost after tip.
The girls had gone ahead to hit the beach while I was getting my hair
cut. On my way home, I saw my husband driving. He said that the girls
wanted to go to Oconomowoc days, I rode my bike to the park, met the
girls, and we ate insane quantities of fair like food. On our way home,
we stopped at American Aquatics which is a very small swimwear store not
far from our house. It's tucked back on the edge of the woods, the dead
end street has almost no traffic, and I'm surprised the place has
managed to stay in business despite some good swim teams in our area. At
the store, we found suits for everyone. There are two schools of thought
for women's swimwear sizes: one goes according to the 'traditional'
clothing sizes, while the other goes by torso/chest size. There are pros
and cons to both. Your best bet is to try things on regardless of what
the tag says as different lines may be larger or smaller in varying
areas.
For $132 my family came home with four performance suits, two pairs
of goggles, and some free water based tattoos. My daughter really wanted
a swim cap, it's going to be way too large for her small head, but we
told her that she could get it if she biked down to the store on Monday.
For once, the girls jumped right into the pool, and started swimming
their laps. The new suits fit really well. The girl behind the counter
gave us a 10% nice family discount which I really appreciated. My new
suit is a navy and red reversible TYR, and I stuck with the A3 goggles
as I've had good luck with them in the past. We were all starving when
we got out of the pool so we stopped at the grocery store. My family
bought several pounds of fruit, I bought a big salad, and I made the
girls eat some baby carrots with peanut butter before starting in on the
fruit to try and counter some of the junk they had consumed earlier.
We had planned to attend a baseball game with my niece and
brother-in-law. The game started at 6:35 and my sister said that we
would be the only people at the diamond if we arrived at 6:00. I knew
that wasn't true, but didn't argue. The parking lot was full, we had to
park across the street at a local grocery store and walk to the game.
Fortunately we saw the first pitch, that's important to me for whatever
reason, and the rest of the night was pretty much our family eating
crazy amounts of ballpark food. The pulled pork was fabulous, brats were
okay, my youngest had a hot dog that she thought was very good, and the
lemonade had real pulp in it. I scored a free bag of cotton candy from a
concession guy near the end of the game. The Mallards put on a great
show, a walk off single in the bottom of the ninth brought in the
winning run, and it was pretty cool that the players were willing to
stand in line and sign autographs even though they had to be roasting in
their uniforms.
After the game, my oldest daughter wanted to meet the catcher. I got a
great shot of the two of them standing next to each other along with
some Twitter handles that I collected from other players. The crowd was a
madhouse. Lots of screaming girls, sweating guys, and general lack of
organization. There was some poor calling on the part of the umpires,
but the game went to the Mallards anyways. Watching college ball, and
minor league games, you really get to see the game up close without
parting with a lot of money. A couple of cool game highlights: a broken
bat flying across the infield, almost hitting the pitcher. The
Woodchucks reliever getting called on a balk which gave the Mallards an
opportunity to score. The amazing diving catch by Mallards center
fielder, and the stellar pitching of Mallards starter Foss. It was also
fun watching with other baseball fans, although the guy in front of me
was a heckler, which I did not care for.
We didn't get home until very late. The family slept in this morning,
and I'm glad that people had fun. I don't mind being spontaneous, but
it does bother me that the girls ate garbage pretty much the entire day.
They did get a fair amount of activity, but I wish the day had been a
little heavier on the fresh fruits and vegetables. We met my daughter's
former assistant soccer coach, and several other people we knew around
town. Next summer, I want to be part of a sand volleyball team. I'm not
the greatest, but I was watching some matches, and I think I'm at least
as good as the worst players on some of the teams I saw. Swimming is
still going well. Now I can do the tumble turn at the end of the lane, I
just have to work on being more fluid and less flustered. Having a
performamce suit helps, I'm not distracted by water tugging at my halter
ties, and it is a much more comfortable swim.
Performance suits tend to last longer, fit better, and glide through
the water without drag which is something I appreciate. Looking back, I
wish I would have saved my money when we were in Florida, but I'm also
happy with the way that I look in traditional swimwear, and I don't want
to discount the confidence factor either. I can wear one of my new tops
as a workout piece, and I have a pair of black workout shorts that can
double as a swimwear bottom, those have come in so handy this past
summer, I'm going to keep watching for them to go on sale so I can pick
up another pair. Still on my wish list: a pair of bike shorts, a couple
of three quarter length shirts, and long sleeved tees that fit. The last
time I was at Target, I bought two $6 camis, they run longer than the
Ann Taylor tops, but the fit isn't quite as good as the $20 ones, they
are also not available in petite extra-small which is why I tend to
shop at Ann Taylor.
Moving forward: the girls are getting ready to go back to school.
Depending on how this job interview goes, and I hope I am offered the
position, I am going to do some things differently this year. First:
have the girls pick out clothes the night before. Secondly: refuse to
bail them out of situations. If they have a clarinet at home that they
need at school, too bad. Ditto for lunches and footwear. Third: the
girls can pack their own lunches, but I want to see them before they
walk out the door to make sure there is a balance of real food as well
as the junk. Fourth: if you can't get up in the morning, you have to to
bed when mom thinks you are ready. The girls have gotten into a bad
habit of sleeping in and being really crabby when they get up. I don't
have to deal with their attitudes, and I'm not going to. I hope this
year starts out on a more positive note than past school years. So far
we're behind on supplies, but still have the rest of the week to pick
them up. Yesterday was a much needed family day, which was a great way
to officially start our week.
Until next time,
j