Summer Stress

It's summertime, and I'm an elementary school teacher.  This is supposed to be the most wonderful time of *my* year.  But in reality, my summers always seem to suck.  Hard.  Two years ago, mom had her first bout with the MRSA and a pick line... 12 weeks of daily antibiotic infusions.  Last year, I flipped out and broke Shanni's heart... long recovery.  This year, Minerva was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma... healthy one day, terminal the next.  Right now she's doing ok... cuddly, social, but definitely not herself and needing lots of special care with feeding and the litterbox.  We'll see.  And I am nannying (is that a verb?) for my friends/neighbors across the street three days a week.  I adore their son, and when they asked me I didn't hesitate for a moment before signing up.  But it's 60 hours a week, including sleepless overnights.  It is exhausting and stressful and boring.  Don't get me wrong, we play and run errands and swim and wrestle and eat and stroll and generally have a great time together.  But when he's not awake, there's nothing really to do because I'm not at home (and he won't sleep here. Tried that.)   And at night, I can't sleep for anything... between the quiet buzz of the monitor, the worry that he's going to wake up, and the uncomfortable couch (which is somewhat less uncomfortable than the guest bed)... I am not sleeping at all.  Overall, not the summer I was hoping for.  But I should know better by now :P

Anyway...enough whining.  I've been trying to pack my Monday and Friday as full of creating as possible.  Here's what I've got this week. 

A pretty little Michael's frame I made to show off our ultrasound pictures.  They deserved something a little nicer than the front of the fridge. :)

A Zach and Kenzie layout.  They've been in Utah for the past 3 weeks and I'm missing them like crazy.  But they should be with us Friday. Hooray!

That's all for now.  I have a special Thursday off, thanks to a long holiday weekend, and I'm going to enjoy it!

Real

Happy Monday.  Just stopping by to share a layout I created this weekend about my niece Mackenzie turning 9.  This LO did not come easily... I had the design in mind before I started, but I really struggled getting the colors right.  I was sticking with turquoises and yellows and white, but then when the title came along, the pink entered.  I had to go back a few times to work in that pink throughout - even reworked the circle flower 3 times.  I think I'm ok with where I ended up.  I also want to thank Piradee Talvanna, who posted so honestly on her blog about how she was struggling with a LO of her own.  It is so comforting and encouraging to know that even professional scrappers sometimes struggle with getting a page *just right*.  So thanks, Piradee. :)   And Happy Birthday, Blondie! Love you!

Yardwork's Done!

Why is it that I didn't break a sweat, pull a weed, or truly even lift a finger (other than dialing the phone to call the landscaper) but somehow I feel accomplished?  I'm sitting on my back patio, delighting in the perfectly edged lawn, neatly manicured shrubs, and freshly pruned trees feeling like, "Aahh...look what I did!"  Um, no, ya lazy bum, you called Aurelio and he did it.  You paid 75 bux and two bottles of water so you could watch it all happen through the kitchen window. 

But hey, regardless of who deserves the credit, it's still checked off my to-do list.  Nice.

Wal-ography

For us, as I'm sure for most, the weekend means grocery shopping at Walmart - a chore I utterly loathe.  Today, I was reading through some photography tutorials and decided to bring my camera along for the ride.  Here's some of what I captured at the store and in the car.   My favorite is the Starbucks barista named, according to his apron, BodyBuilda.  You'll see.

Hope you worked a little fun into your weekend.

Missouri?!

So this morning, Shanni and I were casually talking about how two of her work colleagues had recently had their debit card numbers stolen.  Her friends were checking their accounts online and found random charges in random places.  Apparently, the thieves hack some store's system, steal the numbers, and create fake cards with magnetic strips coded with your card number.

All this talk of banking reminded me that I should check *my* account to make sure my summer paycheck was deposited.  Being a teacher and all, that big hunk of a paycheck is what gets us through til August.  I login, see that the money was deposited, but also see that earlier this week the bank had to auto-transfer $300+ from savings to checking.  Hmm...  Scrolling down through my account activity, I discover three charges, each for over $250 at three different Walgreens all in one day.  Bastards!  I've been hit!

Now this *should* have been enough for my bank to red flag.  Maybe given me a call or sent an email or even automatically put a block on my account with a notice for me to contact them.  I mean, who spends that much money at Walgreens in a year, let alone one day, and at three separate locations no less.  Then I notice the ultimate.  These Walgreens are in MISSOURI. How can I, with only one debit card linked to my account, simultaneously spend money in Arizona and Missouri? Did you notice, bank, that there were no, I don't know, gas station charges? hotel charges?  rental car fees?  plane tickets?!?

Needless to say, the card has been shut down, the account is on block, and I need to go in on Monday and fill out a bunch of fraud paperwork as well as a police report, since the theft was over $500.  Moral of this story:  these thefts are on the rise, so watch your account c a r e f u l l y.  Clearly, your bank might not be doing a good enough job.

So Happy

I know it's early, but how do you rein in this kind of happiness?   Getting it out on paper...

130

One perfect heartbeat, 130 beats per minute, 7.5 weeks.