At the end of the day tomorrow, the boys will have completed their first full week of the 2020-2021 school year. Brainy Bird has just 252 days until his last day of high school. I find myself praying everyday that our schools stay open.
The boys left a couple of hours ago to stay the night with their dad. The house is really quiet.
All four fur kids are snuggled up on the bed with me. They are already fighting for position to sleep the closest to me. Potatoe knows that the command “sleep” means that he should go lay down at the corner of the bed with his pillow and blanket. My guess is that he will stay there just long enough for me to fall asleep, and then we will join the snuggle struggle. This will mean that I will eventually wake up with Potatoe literally on top of me, as Storme has already wedged him into the spot closest to me. Trooper is snuggled up next to Storme, and Pumpkine is trying to find room on the other side of me without falling off the edge of the bed.
Brainy Bird’s major focus right now is his school work and his college application process. All of his grades are good. He says that his favorite class is Computer Science, which is no surprise. His least favorite class is his Government AP class, yet another semester of cramming in as much information as possible for the AP exam. Judging by how much he talks about it; he likes his English IV AP class. There is a great deal of discussion about literature in this class, and ultimately this is a study of human behaviors, which has always been interesting to him. He was kidding me yesterday about Luke Skywalker being the “go-to” example for a flat character.
Little Chirp’s grades are near perfect so far. His major focus is on making the seventh grade basketball team. His dad found him a private coach. He has lessons two days a week, and I am already impressed with the results. I also like that the coach comes to our house, so Kyle can have his lessons early while I finish work, and Chance works on homework or goes to his afterschool activities. This means that we have all of our family time together when we are all done with our different activities.
On the home front, the whole reason that I have the cats inside is that they are stressed about the home renovations. Cats do not seem to embrace change. Right now, our entire back patio and a good portion of the roof of the house is torn off. I debated for an entire year on what to do with the DIY back porch that came with the house. The DIY electrical was the scariest part. We did in fact find a hot electrical line tied to nothing, just waiting to execute someone. The worst was finding that all of the boards to the outdoor room they had built were completely rotted out. The only thing holding the structure up was the hardy plank on each side of the wood beams. I am grateful the hurricane did not hit us. This could have collapsed and cause major injury to someone.
Additionally, the kitchen is a mess as we are in the process of painting the cabinets and replacing the countertops and backsplash. This has gone pretty smoothly. The only issue has been the tile being extremely difficult to remove. The countertops were actually grouted tiles. It was like eating off the floor. The tiles were not meant to be in a kitchen, especially not on a countertop. They were deeply stayed and next to impossible to keep clean. It took me an entire year to decide on the paint colors for the cabinets. I was happy when I heard the painter telling the guy working on the outside patio that he loved my color choices, and that they should suggest the same for one of their other customers.
I am looking forward to the kitchen being finished and the boys and I sitting down to our first meal in our “new kitchen”. I am pretty sure that this will be the last house that I ever own. I love it here. The house is filled with love and happiness. I think that it is teaching Brainy Bird that living well beneath ones means is a much happier place to be in life.
Speaking of happy. I have been in extremely happy mood all day today. I think that it is because I actually spent time socializing yesterday. First, we had a virtual happy hour for work. I sipped sparkling water because I knew that I was meeting my friends for steak night. After the happy hour, I met up with three close friends for steak, salads and baked potatoes. Everything was delicious. It felt so good to see so many people that I know out, and to have the opportunity to catch up with them.
The most interesting of all conversations last night is my friend Laurie has started a podcast series. She is the survivor of a double lung transplant. Her story is remarkable. My guess is that everyone of my friends that met her for the first time last night is now tuning into her podcast. I love that Dog Mom (Yvonne) is promoting Laurie’s podcast on social media. One of my favorite aspects of my life is introducing people to other amazing people.
I also made amends last night with a friend that I had gotten into a tiff with. Looking back on it all. I was in the wrong. There is not really any gray area. I apologized with all of my heart, and we stayed stupid late at the bar last night catching up. I had not realized how much this disagreement had been weighing on me until I woke up this morning. I literally felt lighter.
The Texas Governor announced today that restaurants can increase their occupancy to 75% capacity. Most businesses are now open at 75% capacity. Bars remain shutdown entirely. This does not make any sense to me. My sister told me that most bars in her area are simply reopening in hopes that by the time the TABC gets to them, the shutdown will have been lifted.
Yesterday, I felt the most normal that I have felt since the whole Covid nightmare began. We still have a long road to recovery and to truly regaining our normalcy.
I have way too much to get done this weekend on the home front, but I am taking time out to go to brunch with my friends on Saturday morning, play games with the boys on Saturday night, and have dinner with the boys and my cousins that live in Florida on Sunday. All of the chores will still be there next week. I am sure of this.
It is the little things in life…