Summer, summer, summertime

Cruise countdown: 351 days.

As you might have noticed, I have added a ticker underneath our cruise countdown which depicts a goal that is not only closer, but near & dear to my heart -- yes, the back-to-school countdown.

Fifty-two days, eight more Mondays, a mere six weeks until I can stop stressing about what to do with my kid each day & stop relying on others for help. That last part is what drives me batty the most. I *hate* needing other people's help in order to just get through the day, so this summer thing really throws a kink into every fiber of my being. I knew this stress would show up eventually, but I didn't realize it'd get here just a few short weeks after school got out. For the record, I'm eternally grateful to Mimi, my Dad, & Amy for all their help this summer. Without you guys, we'd be screwed. I ♥ you all!

When I'm not worrying about all the things I have to get done each day, I'm obsessing over the World Cup. I love this tournament. LOVE IT.

I'm going to be pretty bummed after July 11, when it's all finished and we have to wait another four years. [sigh] But, Aaron loves it too, so he's started looking into ways we could go to a World Cup in the future. They have already picked the host country for 2014 (Brazil), but we'll have to keep watching for World Cups farther down the line. We would love to experience something like this in person, and since Z loves soccer, I think it'd be an amazing thing for him to see, as well. Maybe one day?

I've recently found an app for my iPhone that has given me a new way to take pictures and feed my photo addiction, while not lugging my beast of a camera around with me 24/7. Taking that thing with me everywhere becomes a hard task in the summer, since I'm rarely in one place for very long, and I'm in my car more than anything. (Texas summer heat + camera lenses = bad.) Example of what I mean from two weeks ago, Thursday:

6:00am - drive to work
8:15am - panicky boss comes in, asks me to go find food enough to feed 10 adults, within 2 hrs
8:30am - drive to grocery store in search of party platters
8:45am - drive to Chik-Fil-A in search of party platters
9:00am - drive to Wal-Mart across the street from Chik-Fil-A to kill time while my platters come to life
9:20am - drive back over to Chik-Fil-A
9:30am - drive back to work
11:30am - drive to designated meeting point to pick up Z from Mimi
12:05pm - drive to get something for me & Z to eat
12:45pm - drive Z to art camp
12:55pm - drive back to work
2:30pm - drive to pick Z up from art camp
3:00pm - drive home
3:25pm - detour, and drive off a cliff

Ok, that last part isn't true, but don't think I didn't want to do just that. Minus the party platters, and that list describes the first two weeks Z was out of school. Needless to say, the thought of driving now-a-days makes me cringe a little bit, but I'm hoping things will die down now that Z's not doing any more camps. Either way, I've been finding a way to keep myself sane by taking pictures with my phone, and though they are camera pics, they still come out awesome. I'm so happy - thank you, makers of Hipstamatic. You light up my life. (cue Debbie Boone)

My first try with the app - this is my computer printer in my office.


In the courtyard, at Z's school while I was waiting for him to get out of camp.


An overpass by our house.


Art camp.


Art camp, v2.0.


Z's painting.


Sweet Hayden.


Precious Ashley.


Baby feet.


A church in our neighborhood.


Dell's solar panel parking lot.


A favorite work snack.


[sigh]


Even weeds can be pretty.

Our right-side neighbors finally took off on their quest to Alaska, so we had new neighbors move in a week or two ago. We have been very lucky to have the same neighbors on all sides of us for almost the entire 10 years we've been in our house, but sadly, I think the lucky streak has come to a screeching halt. The new people have at least 4 cars parked in the driveway and the street at all times, and the cars rotate out. Lots of different people coming & going, which we are definitely not used to. We've been trying not to be a-holes & pass judgement, but then they did this over Father's Day weekend:

Parked partially blocking our driveway.

Not a good way to start things off. They left their car here like this for 24 hours, until Aaron finally had to go over & knock on the door to get them to move it so he could back out. Oh, Scott & Traci, we miss you already. Thank you for never blocking us in our own driveway. On a lighter note, Aaron had a butterfly land on him the morning of Father's Day, and he got some kick-ass shorts from my parents - all good things.

They have skull & crossbones all over them. Sorry for the tiny pic.

Other than counting down days, picture-taking, work, and new neighbors, we've just been keeping busy with trips to the pool & lots of reading.

We signed Z up to do his school's honors reading program this summer, so we've made a few trips to the library already. It makes Aaron & I so happy to see him read & get into a story, and it made Aaron just as happy to see the library so jam-packed when we were there the other day. His words were, "well, it's good to know not every kid out there will turn out to be an idiot after all." Ah, spoken like a true lover of books.

Here's to hoping I can stop feeling so worried about how to balance my son being home & my ever-increasing work load, and I can remember stressing doesn't do anything but take time away from my precious boy. I'll keep trying to get more sleep & running three times a week to get rid of the junk, so I can focus on the fun of summer. Gotta think positively & creatively, because thoughts become things, so I have to choose the good ones.

Three things I'm grateful for today:

1. My Dad.
2. Amy.
3. Mimi.

Until next time, peace & pastries to everyone. xoxo