slow down!

I thought I was busy from about mid-2000 thru mid-2001. During that time I had a 3 year old and a baby. I was working full time. And I had (still have!) a wonderful husband whose job at that time required him to be overseas for 28 weeks out of that year (including weekends). I made it thru and lived to tell the tale.

However, this first week of school is about killing me! I am so thankful that I DON'T have to go into an office every day. Here is goes:

Monday: cook dinner (yes, that was the first thing I did). drive AM carpool to high school. drive Abby to grammar school. go to yoga (OK, that was fun!). go to the grocery. put away groceries, shower, have lunch, relax for about an hour. go pick up Abby. go pick up Maggie (who stayed after school for a cross-country meeting). go home. take Abby to violin lesson. collapse.

Tuesday: Tuesday actually wasn't so bad! take Abby to school. go to the gym. come home, finish laundry, and relax for a bit. get Abby from school. go pick up Maggie and another girl from cross country practice (at UNO campus, not exactly convenient!). come home thru rush hour traffic. collapse.

Wednesday: drive AM carpool to high school. drive Abby to school. come home for a quick work-out. shower and go to Bible study (first session of the year!). go to the post office. go order new shoe inserts. go to the mall to pick up something. grab some lunch. go pick up Maggie and her friend (2pm dismissal for staff meeting). go to pick up Abby and allow Maggie and her friend to visit with their friends who stayed at grammar school for 8th grade. drop Maggie's friend off. pick up Chinese food. go home. (note -- we were actually scheduled for an orthodontist appointment which got cancelled. rescheduling that was involved as well!).

Thursday: get up extremely early to fit in some exercise. drive Abby to school. go to car dealership -- AC not working when car's not moving, brakes are making squealing sound. get shuttle back home. finish laundry. iron. take Tom's car to the grocery and drug store (thanks to Tom for working from home that morning!). get call from dealership -- problem is with the fan for the AC (or radiator or something, although the car never was overheating) which needs to be ordered and renders the car undriveable. also needs new brakes. call Enterprise and order rental. hitch ride from Tom to get car. get home, have lunch. chill for 45 minutes. go pick up Abby. chill for an hour. go to cross-country parent's meeting. go to high school parent's club meeting. go to high school open house. visit each of Maggie's teachers/classrooms. come home, collapse.

Today (so far and what's coming next!): take Abby to school. go to yoga. come home, make dinner (well, I'll eat it for lunch!), shower, and relax. then I'll go pick up Abby, drive to pick up Maggie and another girl and take them to City Park for cross country practice. Abby and I will stay and then bring everyone home about 5:30. about 7:45 out again to pick up at least one of Maggie's friends and take them to the back-to-school dance. thankfully she's got a ride home!

Tomorrow morning cross-country has time trials, so we'll be at UNO for 7:45am. Piano in the afternoon.

Sigh. I'm so thankful for carpooling, Tom being in-town and able to work from home Thursday morning, yoga class, Bible study, and God who's in control when everything else is falling apart.

Have a great (busy/relaxing?) weekend!

previous first days.....

1st and 4th grade:


2nd and 5th grade:


4th and 7th grade (can't seem to find 3rd and 6th!):

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

Maggie's made 8th grade (at high school), Abby's in 5th grade (upper school at her grammar school). EEKS!

Winding down the summer.....

Thursday is the first day back to school for both girls. Maggie will be starting at high school, Abby will be entering 5th grade (upper school) at her grammar school. Where's the time gone?

Aside from the fact that they were just at each others throats (ahem), we've had a pretty enjoyable last couple weeks before school starts. Finished cleaning out all the dressers and closets. Saw 4 more movies -- Dinner for Schmucks, The Other Guys, Charlie St. Cloud, and Eat Pray Love.

We enjoyed lunch with one of Abby's friends and her family -- the mom is from Taiwan and cooked for us -- what a treat! Their older daughter is going into 10th grade, and she and Maggie were able to find at least something to occupy them both. So it worked out to be enjoyable for all of us.

We visited the Southern Living Idea house (I'd gone with my mom while she was with my aunt) as well. We were able to visit with my aunt as well, which made for a nice way to spend a day.

And the girls both enjoyed visiting with their friends on Sunday -- Maggie went to Laser Tag and Abby to a roller skating party.

So tomorrow starts the school things -- Maggie has registration tomorrow. On Wednesday Maggie goes for orientation and Abby gets to meet her new teachers. Thursday they both go back. So check back in a couple/few days for photos!

back to Mali -- 30 January, back on land

After thoroughly enjoying the 2 days spent doing nothing on the pinasse trip down the Niger River, the cars met up with us at a small village. As usual, we split into the three vehicles. Two of which encountered no outstanding problems, but one had a bit of difficulty (of course it was the one with both our "leaders"!). First, they got stuck on a sand dune. The other two drivers helped get them out of that and going on. Then, they managed to get lost and, after turning around, they had a major tire blow-out. And, of course, were without any cell coverage at the time. We did manage to meet up with them again before reaching Segou. We were staying at a hotel at which we'd enjoyed a meal on the trip to Konsango. The rooms were very nice with large bathrooms (considering we'd spent a week without running water, this does not mean they equate with the Ritz, but that they were spacious with hot water etc.). Nice dinner at the hotel with a early night for me as I was still battling a cough. Dad said I didn't keep him up -- he's a deep sleeper, thankfully!

As an aside -- a note on travelling with my dad. When I first became interested in the trip it was largely due to my dad's enthusiasm the previous year. Those of you who know him know that he's not loudly enthusiastic, but I could tell how much he both enjoyed the experience and how much it touched him. I wanted to share that. When I approached Tom with my interest, his first thought was that he'd hope our girls would one day want to travel with him -- quite frankly, I hadn't really thought about travelling with my dad at that point! Over Christmas 2009 when we went shopping for my gifts, dad helped me with choices and knowledge of what I'd be doing -- sleeping pads, water sanitation, etc. He's told me that while he was thrilled that I was going with him, as a parent knowing the environment, he did have some concern. Being a parent myself, after experiencing the trip I appreciate the concern, although I am an adult (hee hee!). He's also told me that he enjoyed seeing the expressions on my face during the trip, especially when situations were similar to what he'd experienced the previous year. And it was great for me to have a "safe" environment in the evenings to escape to -- I'm a person who really needs to have quiet and solitude to re-group and it's difficult/impossible to do that if you're always with people you don't know so well.

The next morning we were heading back to Bamako. The car that had had problems the previous day was still having problems, so we repacked with all the luggage on top and put all the people into the other two vehicles. Beginning to look like a Mali bus (this is a photo of a mock-up of a bus, the real ones are even more crowded!):

All three vehicles made it to Bamako. We went back to the restaurant "Relax" (popular with the expats -- we'd been there when we first got to Bamako a lifetime ago!) and had some lunch. Anna'd received an e-mail from our travel agent that she'd secured flights home for us a day later than originally expected -- not the best of news, but good to know when we'd be heading home. That evening (31 January) a celebration/farewell dinner was planned as about half the group was heading home then (as dad and I were originally scheduled, sigh.....). Stay tuned -- we're almost back to New Orleans!

Vanity......or ode to shape-ups?

I believe we all have something we are vain about. Personally, I don't care if my hair is growing white highlights, I go to the grocery and run other errands after my trip to the gym, before the shower, my house is not neat, my car is certainly not clean (inside or out!), and I still own (and wear!) clothes that I've had FOREVER.

BUT, I do care about something, and that is my fitness. A combination of health and weight maintenance, but I exercise almost every day (unless I'm really sick or we're travelling or something similar). I usually don't succumb to those "get fit quick" schemes, preferring to stick with the tried and true (yep, I STILL have my original Jane Fonda workout ca. 1984). I've never owned a treadmill or a stationary bicycle. I do own small handweights and MANY videos/DVDs. And I just bought a pair of shape-up shoes. While we were in North Carolina my mom bought a pair at Rack Room (instead of paying $120!). The next day I was shopping with my sister and decided that I'd try them out as well. And then I wore them to go walking the next morning. It took a while for me to get used to the "rocking" motion, but I quickly noticed different muscles working -- particularly my calves, upper inner thighs, and rear end. MMmmmmmm, I thought, perhaps there's something to these shoes? The next day I could "feel" that I'd worked something different and wore the shoes again. I've now worn them at home a couple times walking (on the flat ground here rather than the hills of North Carolina!) and continue to feel the different muscles working. Whether or not these parts of my body will become "toned" is still up for debate, but I am happy with my new shoes............