A Little Louder Please

I can't believe how silent I've been. I had intended to achieve momentum on my postings but oops. It's been an eventful summer. All is well. I'm a bit drained from MTWTh swim lessons for Taran. It's paid off though and he is quite the fish. It's scary sometimes to have him so comfortable swimming around in such deep water on his own. I don't take my eyes off him for a minute. Tovi loves the water too and will blow bubbles and put her face in so we are planning on starting her on lessons at 2. I didn't learn how to swim until I was 7 so it's odd in some ways to be pursuing this with my kids at such earlier ages but I enjoy the water and they are receptive so...

I have not managed to return to work and am on the fence about how I feel about it. Honestly I don't have time to work with my current schedule but... I still think about several projects I really want to tackle and can't let go of that. My manager has been great and said let him know my plans and he doesn't mind if continue my work hiatus.

I love my neighborhood but good grief I don't know how some freaks infiltrate it sometimes. Fortunately no problems nearby but around the block a ways there was a domestic dispute with the parties throwing "buckets of urine" at each other. Who stores buckets of urine in their house? The household has more problems including an elderly parent that attempted suicide with a shotgun in the driveway. At various times the utilities have been turned off so I'm guessing it's a matter of time before foreclosure occurs. Sooner rather than latter please. And further away a neighbor was arrested for statutory rape of a 12 year old patient (he's a chiropractor). The creep was a total predator and his victim was not the first. He used to cruise through our neighborhood in his hummer most evenings and it turns my stomach to think of him scouting out some of the nearby houses that have teenage girls. He unfortunately plead to lesser charges so he is out but at least he lost his license and his house is up for sale.

I had a heartbreaking experience with the loss of my sister-in-law. She died suddenly while we were visiting her and other family. Her health was poor but her heart failure was totally unexpected and shocking to us when she was fine all day long and then in the evening suddenly lost consciousness and never regained it. I miss her. She had it tough but gave so much of herself to my kids.

I visited Michigan for a whirlwind 4th of July vacation. It was great to spend some time with my family and especially to get the cousins altogether. I also had a reunion of my junior high gang. There were 8 of us that used to eat lunch together. 6 of the 8 of us met up for the weekend. The other two were home with newborns so that was an acceptable excuse. It's funny how to me we all look the same. I think we are all way more mellow in our later years.

Okay last bit before I go to bed. I reluctantly decided not to do the Chile trip this October. I REALLY wanted to go but it seemed a bit too much to take the kids for such an extended trip and not worth the plane fare to stay briefly. So... instead we are tagging along with Connor to Hawaii. He has a 10 day stay to do some work on the Big Island. We are going to visit some relatives on Maui and Oahu the week before and then I'll entertain the kids while he works the remaining time. It's insane how expensive travel is even with Connor's ticket and lodging covered and the mainland to island tickets free with miles. It just all adds up. It will be nice to see family and to be away for the last gasp of summer.]

Okay enough, now I'm going to read my Friends Pages.