Back in a Better Groove

It's been an interesting couple weeks trying to get back to normal life.  Things are feeling a little more normal, but I have flashes of feeling overwhelmed or out of my element even two weeks later.  Sometimes the whole midwest thing seems like a dream, like a big blur of otherworldly happenings that I still can't quite believe was my life for a couple weeks.  I really drove 15-1/2 hours from Missouri?  I was IN Missouri?  When I talk about Oklahoma City like it's this normal, matter-of-fact thing--I mean, we did live there for about four full days--I feel like that sounds crazy because almost no one here has ever been there.  But it happened, even if it wasn't quite ideal or even if the aftermath isn't happening quite like we expected.  We were supposed to be in Massachusetts this weekend and Wichita next weekend, and it turns out none of Jacob's team is going to either one.  Massachusetts was canceled after the Oklahoma City weekend, because it was clear the boys were struggling and needed a break, and while we knew we weren't going to Wichita shortly thereafter, the rest of the team got pulled after more guys went down with injuries in the week after we got back.  There's a case of severe shin splits, two badly sprained ankles, plus Jacob's break, all among key players, so they'd have barely been able to field a team as it was, let alone at a really competitive tournament when they already weren't winning.  I'm honestly SO relieved that we're not going to either place.  The money savings is nice (although our flights will sit as a credit for now), but I truly couldn't fathom on Friday how I would have felt getting up, driving five hours, staying two more hotel nights, and driving back five hours on Sunday, working four days and then leaving again Friday morning and doing it all over again, only by plane.  I can only assume God knew what he was doing because I needed these weekends off so badly.  Last weekend--helpful though it was--was not enough.  So, now the focus is St. Louis in May, and it sounds like we're going to make a heck of an effort to go even if Jacob isn't back yet, just because we all have sightseeing to do--Jacob's target is en route in Indianapolis, and Carter and I have a list in St. Louis itself.  The Knighthawks officially made the playoffs now, so we'll see if that ruins any plans or leaves it all to me again.

We got back from Oklahoma City just in time for spring to arrive for a week, which was helpful since we were coming from an advanced state of spring and coming back to cold crap would have been extra hard.  My hyacinth (I received it as a gift last year and planted the bulbs in the fall) bloomed around the second day of warm weather.  Too bad it didn't stick around very long.

We tried to make the most of the weather by hitting up our first playground.  We went to the Pinebrook Elementary School playground, which we pass all the time but strangely hadn't been to in years.  I remember taking Carter years ago when we dropped Jacob off at his lacrosse training camp for the weekend, so clearly it's been a while.  I can tell we're getting closer to the end of this phase because they have to be a bit more advanced for him to play more than a few minutes, unless he finds someone to take him up on playing tag.  We still had fun, though.  They have a "log roll", which isn't functioning nearly as smoothly as it was the last time we were there and I almost killed myself on it.  He ran himself through a few "obstacle courses" on the main equipment while I timed him, and we played on the bongos and maracas on a music-themed set, then swung for a bit.  Silly kid trapped himself behind this steering wheel on the little kid/accessible equipment...

...and then he beat me in a Connect Four-style game...

I've never seen this one before--you slide the discs up the track into your chosen spot.  Pretty cool.

Weekends since I've been back have involved a lot of catch-up.  It's amazing how when you're gone for two weekends (and more), all the little things you would take care of build up.  Lots of picking up, cleaning up, de-Easter-ing, laundry, bedding changes, paperwork, and errands have filled my time.  I can't even count how many times I've been to Wegmans.  To make matters worse, I had to go to three places last weekend just to buy things for a work prize basket I had to put together.  We had our big Day of Giving on Wednesday, which meant a 14-hour work day (on top of other long days before and after) and building a "game basket" for our student callers to win.  This was the event that made me do a lot of work from the road, and I had so much prep to do when I got back, too.  The day finally came on Wednesday and culminated in this strange photo from our afternoon check-in.  

We managed to hit our goals, but not without a lot of drama and frustrations.  We ate well, at least, but it was a truly exhausting day.  My brain felt so full by the time we left around 9:45.  I could barely function by that point--multitasking was completely out of the question, let alone remembering which folder or file I needed to be in.  I think we're all eager to get past this part of the year because it tends to be rather dominating of our time and energy, so now that we're past the day at least (though not the analysis), we can hopefully get back to some other priorities that have been put off.  

Because we worked a long day on Wednesday (and Thursday had its fair share of difficult follow-up), we had Friday off.  It ended up being an exceptionally gorgeous day, so I tried to make the most of it.  I had to get up relatively early to get the boys off to school, but then I worked out, went to Kohl's (not much luck but I did get something online to use some Kohl's cash), then had my Day of Giving dinner leftovers for lunch before heading out to take the loveliest walk I could think of on such a gorgeous day--Highland Park.  After that week of warm weather after we got back from our trip, everything started blooming.  But then we had some cooler weather again which seemed to preserve most of it, and then Friday was gorgeous.  Saturday started warmish but ended up cooler, leading into another near-week of below average temps.  Hopefully spring sticks around a bit better after that because it's almost May (!).  

Anyway, Highland Park was beautiful.  I knew the lilacs wouldn't be out, but the flowering trees are probably my favorites anyway.  The pansy bed appeared to be ahead of schedule.  I almost never see it looking this good!

I loved the pale color of this one.  

This was a good time for daffodils as well.  I have many pictures of them from over the years, so I didn't take a lot, but I couldn't resist this one.  

The trees were gorgeous.  Around every corner was something like this:

There were at least two painters there painting scenes like that.  There's usually a lot of photographers there at this time of year taking family photos.  I couldn't bother to wait for everyone to move away from the spot where this tree hangs over the walkway perfectly, so I just captured the blue sky instead.

A few of the azaleas were out, and I tried to enjoy them knowing mine has likely succumbed to fungus and doesn't appear healthy enough to bloom this year.  I guess I will be fertilizing the heck out of it this year and seeing if I can bring it back from the almost-dead.

This is probably one of my favorite views in the whole park, with my beloved two-color tree (left side) and the far distant view.

Here's another example of why that tree is my favorite--two colors on one branch, and that white flower has streaks of pink.  It's amazing to see every year.

So many people were laying out or setting up their picnic blanket in this area.  That brighter bush in the foreground always stands out as well among all the pinks.

The orange flowers are so pretty.  My plant identifier says it is Japanese quince.  

Walking down toward the magnolias there were even more blooms to discover.

Magnolias remind me of my grandma because she used to have a tree in her yard.  These were pretty close to prefect even if some hadn't bloomed yet.  The ones that were open were pristine, with hardly any brown and very few dropping petals.  With all the wind we've had, I felt pretty lucky to have hit this sweet spot.

Pretty sure my grandma's were most like this, with pink on one side and white on the other.

Originally I wasn't sure I was going to go see the tulips as I figured they wouldn't be ready.  But as I drove into the park I saw this bed blooming and figured it might be worth stopping just for this shot.

Turned out there were a few others starting as well.

This bed was super short in height, but most of them were open. 

In the end it would have been a lovely day to walk around anywhere, but the park was a perfect spot to do it.  By the time I left a few clouds were starting to roll in and it was getting a little breezier, but thankfully the forecasted late afternoon rain held off until late evening.  I decided to use the rest of my afternoon to run to the Chili library and pick up two of the last three books in a series Carter and I have been reading on and off for a while.  It seems like most libraries have been purging the books lately (the series is older), so with only three left I did a panicked hold to get one from an east side library and then stopped at Chili to get the other two, just to secure them before everything disappeared completely.  I picked up a giant Slurpee along the way (vanilla and Coke, yum!), stopped to check the Aldi Aisle of Shame near the library, and then met Carter at home as he got off the bus.  I convinced him to come with me to our library to pick up that hold of the third book and then go a few more minutes up the road to one of our favorite playgrounds, Goodwin Park, which is right up by the lake and had that broken-bone-waiting-to-happen log climbing structure.

Carter is holding a rope, but they only protect you a little.  It is scary up there!

We were both trying to be extra careful climbing--soccer season is almost here and I cannot risk breaking anything, ever!  Carter did have fun running around with the other kids and I did some decent climbing myself.  I caught this fun picture of Carter through the "spider web".

Before we left we took a walk to the bridge over the little outlet that goes from Long Pond to Lake Ontario.  I love that little neighborhood and dream of what it would be like to live there and drive your boat or paddle a paddleboard through the water there.  It's so peaceful, even though we could see decent lake waves splashing against the breakwall down the way.

Looking back across at the playground

On Saturday Jacob had to work out with his trainer in Perinton.  It was only in the low 60s, had rained overnight, and it was getting a bit breezy, but we went to find a playground around the corner to kill the hour.  We ended up at the town playground, which wasn't half bad.  

He played for a little while, trying to do flips on the rings and playing tag with a littler kid, until they took each other out and the kid's mom swooped in.  The kid initially popping up and said he was okay, until his mom came over and he dropped again.  Oh well.  We took a little walk over to their amphitheater area (where Carter put on a quick show looking for the best mom ever...haha).  He picked me some dandelions as we walked up to catch a glimpse of the cool indoor splash park and waterslide in the community center.  It was quite a view up there.  You can't tell here, but off to the right there was a farm with a hillside full of sheep!

Carter and I went to the Knighthawks game on Saturday night.  It had been a while since I had been there.  They won, and I got to see a couple people from my sports era that I hadn't seen in a while.  One more home game before the playoffs, and the first round game should be relatively close, either Buffalo or Hamilton.  

Sunday was significantly lower key.  After not being able to go to church last week because of a water main break, Carter and I made it this week (Craig slept in and Jacob didn't get ready on time, as usual--and yes, it's infuriating), and Carter ended up staying after for a movie and playtime with the other 4th and 5th graders.  I went to Aldi and Wegmans in the meantime.  Jacob had a team lift at noon, we had a late lunch, and then everyone did their own thing for the afternoon before the boys went out to play basketball in the cool but sunny weather.  I did an easy dinner, and then it was on to the homework push and usual Sunday night dread.  I did install our new smoke detector and fix an item of clothing, which felt like extra victories.

I should also mention that it's been a mission of mine to work out more since I got back from all of our travel.  This week I worked out almost every day.  I'm really just trying to move as much as I can, trying to hold myself to a short bike ride, a sitcom-long elliptical, or one of my 20-30 minute weight training workouts.  If I can pull that off 4-5 times a week, that's not too bad.  It's nothing crazy, but it's more than I've been doing and I know my body needs it.  I came back from all that travel (and all that eating out--ugh) feeling terrible about myself.  I felt fat and lazy and like my clothes weren't fitting right.  Even if my workouts aren't making much of a difference, I still mentally feel better if I know I'm doing something.  I'm worried that this burst of energy and effort won't last, but I'm doing what I can while I can.  I do seem to be a bit cyclical, and usually I'll get a good couple weeks in before I get sick or something else gets in the way, like someone getting COVID and taking over my workout space in the basement.  I just need to ride this wave while it lasts, I guess, and hope the weather breaks if I need the outdoors to keep it going for some reason.  I desperately need better habits, so the longer I can keep this up, the better the chance I can make it feel normal.

I've decided that my new theme word is "inertia", which essentially means that an object in motion keeps going until an outside force is exerted on it.  I'm better off if I just keep moving and keep the momentum going, because the second I let myself sit, I definitely just come to a stop.  Most of the time over these past couple weeks, I have tried to push myself to finish all of my things before letting myself sit and rest.  Clean up that last thing, fold the laundry, clear that pile, get in that workout, and THEN you can sit on your phone and have a snack.  It takes willpower and whatever energy I can muster, but it does tend to make me more productive, reduce my screen time, and make me feel less guilty about the downtime I do have.  All of those things are good and much needed.  How long I can keep it going, I don't know, but it's been a pretty good start.  When I got home from all of our travel, I could feel myself putting off things like I do when I'm overwhelmed or have a little bout of depression, and pushing through has actually reduced my stress overall.  Again, I know this is probably cyclical, but hopefully I can keep it going.

Anyway, May is now only a week away.  Usually it's such a haul to get to this point, and here we are already.  Jacob has about six weeks of school left, soccer is starting soon, Darien Lake opens in less than a month, and we'll very quickly be getting into all of the year-end stuff--two concerts for Carter, plus a baseball game he'll be singing at, and hopefully the art show.  I don't quite know how we got here so fast...seems like it was just October.  And wasn't the new year just a few weeks ago?  Light speed right now, seriously.  We still have a few things to figure out heading into summer--Carter's summer program is shorter and less convenient, and I'd like to figure out a vacation we can afford.  I still feel like I need a full week off to get my life in order--sort through Carter's incoming and outgoing clothes, start shifting around more books and toys, get rid of a bunch of donations and Buy Nothing contributions--and even with my newfound determination I just don't have the bandwidth at the moment.  But hopefully one of these days those things will cycle through to the top of my priority list and I won't be able to ignore them anymore.  Life is a lot right now, even in this relative lull.  I'm trying to be grateful and find the beauty, but time is flying and sometimes it's a lot.  I know I said this a lot during the pandemic, but apparently we're still just going through one day at a time...or maybe one week at a time since they're going quite fast enough themselves...