Can't believe it's already the 4th of July -- it has truly flown by. Time to get school shoes for the girls and a couple new shirts for Abby. And socks. You can never have too many uniform socks, no?
Abby DID manage to swim in her swim meet on 19 July. We spent the early part of the day seeing the Transformers movie with my friend and her daughter (who is Abby's best friend -- convenient!). We were perhaps not the expected demographic for the movie (two moms with two 11 year old girls) and I'd not seen any of the previous Transformers (though I do remember when the first toys came out!), but it was fun. Both girls wanted to see it and Lisa had actually seen the other ones. On our way to the movie the AC in my car completely stopped. Not so pleasant in June in New Orleans. However, as we left the movies to head to the swim meet it, of course, worked just fine (which was thankful!). The meet itself was HOT. I made my debut as a timer. And I'm thankful for that because the volunteers were served bottled water by one of the lifeguards throughout the meet -- I drank 5 of them along with the soft drinks I'd brought with me. But I did have fun timing! They set it up so a parent from each team work in tandem for each lane. The guy I was teamed with was a good match for my personality and we didn't have problems with the process. Abby swam four events -- part of the free-style relay 200 yds, 50 yd freestyle, 50 yd backstroke, and 50 yd breast. She didn't win any of her heats -- she jumped up an age bracket this year and swam against 4 12 year olds and 1 11 year old, but she got her personal best time in the breast and was pleased over all which is most important! Meanwhile Maggie got a ride home from the head teacher in her room as Tom was still in Houston. Thankful for the kindness of others! She'd had a good day at work and we ordered pizza when we got home.
Tom came home the 30th. His dad was moved out of ICU to a regular room but will still have iv antibiotics for another week or so for the infection. He's up and about and the family is thankful for every day they get to spend with him. That morning I'd taken my car to the shop for the AC and got a rental -- they offered me a yellow vw bug -- how fun! Brought it home and told Abby she had to go see my rental as it was kinda cute -- she asked me if I were being sarcastic as the last rental we had was BoBo the KIA Borrego which we weren't overly impressed with. She hugged the car when she saw it! And my family made me post a photo on facebook so they could see it. That afternoon I took Abby for swim practice and headed to Walmart -- our church supplied a group of teens in town for Bible Studies a meal and I was the coordinator. The vw has a surprisingly big trunk which was good because I had food to feed 25! A friend was going to bring Abby (and Maggie who'd stayed after work to exercise) home from swim practice, but I finished up early and went myself -- more so Maggie could see the car! Maggie had come down to the pool after running and some of her campers "begged" her to swim with them so she was there playing with them. She introduced me as her mom -- funny to see their little brains trying to figure out how someone "old" can still have (and live with!) a mom! We went to drive home and couldn't figure out how to move the front seat to let Abby in the back (not me, my friend, Maggie, or Abby) -- but Abby's small and flexible enough to climb between the front two seats. Fun!
Friday I took Maggie to work, exercised, and went to the grocery. The Nissan folks tried about times and could not reproduce the AC problem. Lots of apologies. So Tom and I went to return the car :( and get my van back. I'm thankful (and a bit surprised!) Nissan didn't charge us. And, of course, I've still had no problems with the car.
Our weekend has been slow and relaxing. I attended a funeral Saturday of a lovely lady at my church. She'd had lung cancer and the entire time I knew her she was in poor health. I appreciated the eulogies from her sons and comments from friends that shared more of her vivacity and love for God. A lovely woman and while her family is grateful that she is with God, they miss her here on earth. Tom and Maggie cooked supper for us that evening (fajitas and corn on the cob) and we just relaxed.
Today Maggie got up early with me to head to the gym for a bit of running (her)/elliptical (me) followed by yoga. She then suggested coffee, so we went to one local place (closed) and tried a second (open and crowded due to the first being closed!). And then the grocery. Home to bathe and make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (yum!). And relax for the afternoon. Tom and Maggie again plan to cook supper and I've got a pretty good book to read. And am actually updating this in a more timely fashion!
Happiest of 4ths to all!
