Monday Afternoon Weekend Wrap Up

My life has been stressful lately, or I should say more stressful than usual. As I'm sure you are all aware, The Boys have busy lives which involve my transporting them hither and yawn. Over summer they are still taking Tae Kwon Do, and on a swim team. They love both, but it takes a great deal of coordination and time to ensure they get where they need to be when they need to be there.
Thursday was a weird day with Farrah and MJ passing just days after Ed. It was also a day when The Boys' Opa had surgery to remove an adrenal gland. The surgery went well and everyone was confident that he would be home resting by Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, his recovery was not as smooth as expected and he didn't end up coming home until Sunday, but all is good now! What that also means is that I worked from home because Oma was not available to watch The Boys. They swim for 90 minutes every weekday, in the mornings, ususally at the same time as I have meetings at work. The pool has WiFi, so I am able to do actual work from a picnic table poolside, but taking conferrence calls while the background noise is splashing and giggling of little kids is poor form. So I spend swim parctice working, listening to calls, and when I have to say something, quickly running out to the car. The rest of Thursday was spent locked in the playroom/office at home while The Boys continuously whined about wanting to play with neighbors and friends, but those conference calls with kids in the background would still be a problem, so they continued to whine. Thursday Night was Tae Kwon Do, and The Boys are now in the same class, which shaves 30 minutes off of the time they are at the studio on oany given day, AND because they are now together, I have an hour to myself, instead of watching one while the other is in class. This coming week, I'll be walking for that hour, with my camera. Last week, it was all I could do to just get everyone there on time...
Friday is my normal day to work from home, and again with swimming in the morning, hooked to WiFi. The Dude took The Boys to Tae Kwon Do, but that is only because he didn't want to tak them to the swim team carbo load immediately following TKD. So I did some laundry, got caught up on e-mails, and called in a pizza order to pick up on the way. Hung out at the pool while The Boys swam some more and ate pizza. Visited a bit with the other parents and got home right at bed time.
Saturday morning came REALLY early, got all packed up and headed to the swim meet. The Dude drove seperately because he had to work. Just as well since he acts like a hermit with a bad attitude when he is there. I timed the first shift, The Boys swam great, I managed to pack lunches this time, so there was considerably less whinning, and we all had a ton of fun. Both Boys won heats, and their free relay teams came in fist. The oldest decided to have another mom write on his back in sharpie, "I EAT RUBY HILLS". Ruby Hills is the name of the team we swam against, but I think it was a bit of double entendre on his part. Even though he is only 8, he's always loved boobs. Who would write such a thing on another kid's back, something she probably wouldn't write on her own kid? It isn't unusual to have writing on your back if you are on swim team, but usually the words are limitied to "Go Sharks!", or "Eat My Bubbles". Of course The Dude thinks it should say, "Smell My Bubbles." My only reaction upon seeing The Oldest and the writing on his back was, "You are your father's son." I was in no hurry to leave the pool after the meet as everyone had defected early, and traffic was jammed, AND I had to haul all my crap out with only the help of two young boys who whined about having to leave at all. I swear, they'd just as soon live in a tent at the pool and turn into merboys. Spent the late afternoon and evening trying desperately to recover from heat exhaustion. It was only 104, while Sunday was 109.! Ended up in bed at 9:00, and felt WAY better in the morning. Then the news of Billy Mays passing - totally random and weird.
Sunday was my nephew's Birthday Breakfast, with Eggs, Pancakes, English Muffins, Fruit Salad, Juice and Coffee, and his cake was a stack of donut holes - it was the cooles thing! And really the only free slot they had between soccer and baseball that day. It was a fun way to start Sunday! Came home and The Dude wanted a nap, so I took The Boys out back and set up the slip-n-slide. They helped me dye a bunch of shirts that were destined for the rag bag with stains. I'll get photos onece I'm done with the final 2 later today or tomorrow.
Becauser Opa only came home from hospital yesterday, I told Oma that I'd work from home today to give her them a break. Only I forgot that my new laptop was due to arrive this morning. The Dude agreed that he's be home so that I could go into the office at 9:00, and he'd take the boys to swim. He called at 8:45 just when I'd decided that he probably wasn't going to show and was dragging The Boys to my office to tell me that indeed he couldn't make it in time for me to get to the office, but would call me and pick up the Boys for swim. Guess what? he didn't do either, so I got to the office and begged my cube neighbor to sign for and lock up my new laptop. Then I left the office and drove The Boys to swim. I had 3 calls during swim where I had to actually speak, which meant I was running in and out to the car. My dad was there to pick up my nephews, and kept talking to me, which was nice, but didn't help me concentrate on my calls. Also had a call on the way home from swim, and another once I got home. The boys whinned (but not much) about wanting to play with neighbors and freinds. I feel bad that they don't get a real summer like I had a s a kid, but I need my job, or we'd be living in a box, or in a tent at the swim club, which again they'd prefer. I also feel under a great deal of stress in trying to juggle all of this without letting it get to me.