IT'S SUMMER BREAK!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeehaw!!!!!!!
SUPER excited for summer break. I love summer. Summer mornings, summer nights, summer afternoons...i'm a little embarrassed to admit out loud that I revert to my natural body rhythms during summer break. I stay up late until I am truly sleepy enough to go to sleep without "help"....(Zquil is my friend)...and sleep until I wake up! It is glorious and so much less stressful than trying to force sleep at a proper bedtime....I LOOOOOVE waking up when my body is ready to wake up, to the sound and feel of the fan blowing, feeling rested and ready for action! (I do still wake up to call the Chief and wake him up, but getting to snuggle back in and go back to sleep is even BETTER!) Of course, when fall comes and school starts, I have to then endure the pain of adjusting my sleep habits and taking out stock in Zquil again. But that is weeks and weeks away!!
But wait.
Some people around here have real jobs, in which they must get up, get dressed and leave, and said people have an infant that will be left in my charge, and infants have no concept of summer hours. Hm, guess we will see how that goes!
I'm not sure why I feel so excited about summer. The eternal optimist in me, I suppose. The ever hopeful heart that beats in my chest. When I stop to think about it, every hard dramatic traumatic thing that has happened in the last few years (like, 5 maybe?) has occurred during the summer. And if it wasn't something dramatic, it was something that was a pain, like moving. These past handful of summers have not lived up to my summery expectations in any way.
And yet every spring, my lil ole heart pitter pats a little faster, my blood gets some zippity do dah going on, the heavy grey clouds of winter dissipate and the sun shines right into my soul!
Tomorrow is June first, and I think it is probably irrational to fear June, but now that I am forced to acknowledge her imminent arrival, that is my reaction.
Now, that sounds somewhat contrary to what I JUST said about thrilling to the beat of summer. However, "June" and "summer" are separate entities in my thought process.
As a refresher, my baby duck 4 died June 11, 2012, and my daddy died June 12, 2013, and for two Junes in a row baby ducks 1 and 2 had June birthdays completely overshadowed by loss and death and funerals, and Father's Day was as well. So ya, I actually am afraid of June, and can't help but wonder if we are all going to live through it.
I have a bunch of projects lined up for this summer, and i'm not sure why! Even with school stuff behind us for awhile, I still have a pretty full schedule. I still will be caring for Audrey for at least 8 hours a day, and keeping Natalie entertained and NOT in front of the computer 24/7 all summer! Then there are plans with niece Brittany and here three littles. BOYS! We have to keep 2 energetic messy loud boys,(in other words, typical normal little boys) an infant and a 2 year old, AND a pre-teen entertained! The reality is, I won't have more time for blogging, or writing, or long hot afternoons reading, or getting my life all organized and lined out so that when school does start again...for the kids as well as myself...it won't be so hectic....
Not complaining...just sorting out fantasy from reality...I love aaaaalllll the kiddos, and we shall have fun!
What I WILL have to figure out how to do is paint the ENTIRE house, inside and out!
We are under construction...or destruction, depending on the moment.
The chief has been talking about new windows for a couple of months now, and has been longing for a new storage building/shop for months and months and months. I didn't really know we needed new windows, except the previous ones did not open and that was a pain. Just a little over a month ago, Mr. Big Chief calls to tell me that someone in going to be coming by to do an estimate on a new storage building, and the next thing I know, well...the siding is being ripped off my house and windows are being removed, and i'm writing a lot of checks.
This whole thing was supposed to have been all done in a week, but it's been a month now. I kind of
expected that, having already lived for 49 years, and have had a lot of life experience. Always, always expect it to take longer and cost more.
I reserve judgement until final outcome, but let me tell ya, I am not crazy about the experience thus far. Beyond the noise and the mess and strange male faces popping up in my windows at random times...this guy we "hired" is trying to get this business going on the side. He actually has a "day job", and he ended up all up in my life because he did work for one of the chief's co-workers. It was sort of a handshake type deal....a remote handshake at that, as the chief spends most of his time on distant locations with bad cell service, which makes the whole process all that more interesting. So first regret, not getting an actual written contract. The terms have changed a couple of times over the course of the month. The prices for materials have been noticeably more than what we were orally quoted. And frankly, I just don't like this guy much. He is a strange loud cocky little man. He talks a lot, has a sailor mouth, and is just full of all kinds of bull! I don't actually know how many children he has, or ex wives, because it changes every time he tells it. He informs me, every single time I see him, how smart and talented and hard working and all around wonderful he is, and what a fabulous break he is giving us on cost, which immediately makes me suspicious about all of those things. He constantly talks trash about women, white people (HELLO??? What color and gender do I look to you??) black people, and pretty much anyone thats not him. So ya. I don't like this guy. But that's just a personality disfunction, at least in my opinion, and not a reflection of the actual quality of the work. I shall reserve judgement on that, as I said, until it's done. I'm not sure that the stucco on the shed should be cracking already, but what do I know? We did have all of that lovely but unexpected rain! There are a few things that just don't look right to me, and when I question, he tells me "That's the way the boss said he wanted it.", but when I ask "the boss" about it, he is unaware that that is what he said he wanted. That is a whole other adventure, The Chief supervising this process from hundreds of miles away, on remote locations, with bad cell service. Fortunately, much of the time that one guy is not here, just his crew. The downside of that is that his crew doesn't speak much english, and I don't speak much spanish, so when there is need for communication it gets interesting. However, Savanna knows some spanish, and has figured out how to use her phone for translation purposes, so on the occasions when these fellas do something, say for example, stucco over the dryer vent, she can communicate with them about it. (By the way, this has been A LOT of hard work for them, and they work steadily for hours and hours at a time. Gotta hand it too them for that!!!)
When they are all done (supposedly this weekend), then it will be my job to paint. I have been asked a few times why we didn't get already colored stucco, and i'm a little confused about the answer to that, but as far as I can figure out, it would cost a whole bunch more for already colored stucco. Apparently, stucco isn't big around here...although, I believe it's about to boom, as numerous people have stopped by to ask who is doing our stucco work, they would like to have it done too...and if we went to New Mexico we could get the stuff to color stucco much much less expensive and more readily than here.
In any case, our stucco is cement colored, and my job is to paint it. The whole house. And the shed. And also INSIDE the house. The new windows aren't the same size as the old ones, and there is some drywall work to do inside. Originally, this guy and his crew was supposed to do that work too, but in the course of things "the boss" told them to forget it, he would do it himself. I don't know when he supposes he will have the time or energy to do that, but anyway....there is at least one window in every room of the house, which means dry wall work in every room in the house, which means painting in every room in the house. So I have my work cut out for me! You know, in the odd minute or two I have between tending children and feeding the family and whatnot.
Probably, I won't be writing blog post much more frequently.
It is too bad that my children object to their business being put on blast in public forums, because if they didn't, I would have a lot of interesting stories to tell, including some boy-girl drama connected with this whole house project.
I might mention that my pot that I bought for my birthday...a pot that I have been wanting for about 3 summers now (a big one) and finally got, and that I put a beautiful hibiscus plant with coral flowers in, became broken during this adventure.I had it less than a month. And also, my scentsy warmer. Well, accidents do happen, but I just felt like throwing that out there. I might also mention that while we do have a new storage shed, it is full of supplies and equipment, and all the stored stuff is in the backyard, and it all got rained on more than once. so i may not have anything left worth storing. Guess the chief will have plenty of room for workshoppy stuff!
My "little children" days ended long ago, and just a couple of years ago, there was just myself and Savanna to look after. Now my life is full of young children again...children who should not spend the whole summer glued to electronics. I could use some fresh ideas on how we can keep them entertained. Ages 5,4,2, less than a year, and 10. All ideas appreciated! Anybody??
