The Saturday 7

1. We spent 4th of July at the pool as per usual.

It was the perfect day for swimming, even if the pool is as warm as the air. Justin's parents and brother even stopped by in a converging of the families. The kids had a blast swimming with Grandpa and Uncle Jesse.

Many moons ago we always did fireworks at Niki's, but we haven't the past few years. It's no skin off my nose since I hate them anyway. (#anxiety) We found some leftover sparklers from last year in the garage and let Lena and Levi play with them at home until it started raining, so we're not total duds.

2. In an effort to spend less time on my phone this week, I broke out a 1,000 piece puzzle. It was maddening - way harder than other puzzles I've done. And it hurts my neck to bend over the table for long periods of time. I'm too old and out of shape to do puzzles. Is this rock bottom?

3. Of course, I'm too much of a millennial to just sit quietly and do a puzzle. I had to listen to a couple audio books to entertain myself. The first was a recommendation from a friend: Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams. It's a spy novel set in the 1950s throughout Europe and Russia. I liked it, but probably would've enjoyed it more if I'd read it instead of listened to it. Try as I might to pay attention my mind wanders while listening and this wasn't the kind of book that you can zone out to. I missed a few important details. Haha. When I had finished that book but not the puzzle, I went to Overdrive to seek out another one. I usually just put "fiction audiobook" in the search parameters, and browse until something strikes my fancy. This time, the book When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton jumped out at me. Some friends and I were just talking about her books and I've never read anything by her, so I borrowed it without even reading the description. Lo and behold, it's a spy novel set in the 1950s - this time in Florida, Cuba, and London. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first. You can read my review on Goodreads if you're interested, but I only gave it two stars. It just didn't entertain me and I didn't like the ending. Again, I wished I was reading it instead of listening to it - that way I could at least skim over the boring stuff. I'm a bad millennial because I just don't love audiobooks . . . or podcasts for that matter. #oldfashioned

4. The girls had a sleepover with their lifelong friends Presley and Harper on Thursday. They went swimming, got pizza, watched Princess Diaries, and did makeovers - as one does at a sleepover.

The girls having friends over is hard on Levi, however. They understandably don't want their little brother tagging along, but he just wants to be involved. I felt bad enough by Friday morning that I let him give me a makeover since the girls wouldn't include him. He may just have a future in face-painting. I wonder how lucrative that is . . .

Tiger

Puppy

At this point I would be remiss if I didn't recommend my favorite make-up remover trick: coconut oil. It took off all that black eye liner on my nose in a jiffy!

5. The plan was for Presley and Harper to sleep here on Thursday night, then for my girls to sleep at their house on Friday night. Lena was so excited about the "double sleepover" that she was literally counting down the hours. They had a blast together on Thursday, but by Friday morning the anxiety started setting in. She ended up crying most of the morning, following me around the house saying "I don't want to go." Nothing I said changed her mind, so I finally said, "You don't have to spend the night. But you have to go for a couple hours this afternoon." Justin and I had made plans for the afternoon that we couldn't cancel so Kelly had agreed to watch our kids. Even that didn't pacify Lena though. She just kept crying and poor Harper just sat around with nothing to do because Lena wouldn't play with her. And I was so frustrated. It's embarrassing to even admit, because of all people, I should be sensitive to Lena's anxiety. But there comes a point when you just have to power through it. I can't keep coddling her and giving into her or she'll never be able to conquer the anxiety. She finally agreed to go to Niki's instead of Kelly's, since she's more comfortable there - and because Niki lives closer to Grand Rapids (where Justin and I would be) than Kelly does. 🤦 I'm starting to despair about school in the fall. If Lena can't hang out with one of her best friends without me for a few hours, how on earth is she going to survive 7 hours a day at school?? Lucy and Levi still went to Kelly's. Lucy has no such compunction about leaving me, and Levi was just thrilled to play with Kelly's dog. 😂 I picked Levi up later that evening, and Lucy stayed to sleepover.

Glowsticks in the pool at 10:30 at night!

6. In more exciting news, look at the email I got yesterday:

Despite my advisor's assurances that I had completed all the classes I needed to, I've been maniacally checking my grades and transcript and it kept saying "incomplete." Needless to say, I was relieved to finally receive that email and consider myself truly finished with my degree!