Ahhh, the joys of the end of summer.....

In the summertime, I live for the pool.  It's where I hang.  I usually start out with a book in my bag, planning to relax & catch up on some mystery or memoir that has eluded me during the school year & nine times out of ten, I find myself caught up in girl talk with my posse of fellow pool-lovers & the book never gets cracked.  Usually gets WET, but rarely is it cracked!  I should say this is how I live every summer BEFORE we go on vacation.  AFTER vacation, the forces come together & completely conspire to rob me of my daily dose of Vitamin D, girl talk, concession-stand food & the occasional icy plunge.  This year I daresay I have been ONCE since we returned from Florida on the 12th of July.  The boys just do not want to go.  "It's hot!" "None of our friends are there!" "We just want to stay home!" Ryder still seems to be on board but can go by herself, hook up with friends, and leave me in the dust.  We've seriously entered that stage, at once welcome & dreaded,  of her just not needing us as much as she once did.  So I find myself sitting at home a lot these days, not wanting to drag the boys out in public & corral them in stores, not wanting to listen to them complain about the heat & not wanting to exert the energy it takes to plan outings that are free, cheap & actually have a remote chance of trumping a heated game of Wii baseball or an old episode of Drake & Josh.  The upside to all of this is that I actually seem to be accomplishing some things at home that I've been needing to for some time now.  A massive unloading at Goodwill is in the cards sometime soon.  And my e-bay auction list grows daily.  You may just find Chuck on there soon.  But then who would do the housework?

Every stinkin' year, I say, "We're going to save enough that we can take a mini-vacation right before school starts." Sort of a last-ditch effort to stave off the end-of-summer blues. Then we download the school supply list and I realize that instead of paying for hotel rooms, breakfasts at IHOP, & amusement park admissions,  I will be purchasing 45 glue sticks, 350 markers, 11 pair of scissors & a $150 calculator, not to mention haircuts, shoes & the ever-necessary new backpack.  I could begin photographing weddings again & work all of it in financially but then I would sacrifice my sanity, so the "August mini-vacation" remains an elusive dream. Someday, folks.  Someday.  I can almost hear your sobs....

Speaking of school, registration is today.  School registration is one of my pet peeves.  First of all, I think we're all adults here & a simple "fill this out IF you have not moved or had any major life changes IN THE LAST TWO AND A HALF MONTHS, for God's sake!" would do.  Seriously, folks, is it necessary to have to go fill out the same paperwork EVERY SINGLE YEAR???  Listen:  My doctors have not changed.  My dentist has not changed.  My hospital of preference, should my child become mangled in music class, has not changed.  My address has not changed SINCE 1997!  My marital status has not changed.  My emergency contact has not changed.  Get it???  Can't I just call up there and say, "Yo, the Buttry's are comin' back. Check the box."?  

But if we didn't check in, we couldn't purchase t-shirts or yearbooks or planners or hoodies or PTA memberships or all the other stuff that causes Chuck to look in the checkbook every year & say, "Our kids ARE in public school, aren't they?  I thought that was free."  And when would we get our gift wrap packets to raise money for the school?  Now, I sell the gift wrap each year & my kids get to ride in the limo & I completely understand that we need money to plant flowers and put in playground equipment & pay for an art teacher & a Spanish teacher.  I'm GOOD WITH THAT.  But last year, when the children came home with packets to SELL FREAKING COFFEE after we had sold gift wrap and raised money for this charity and that & had the fall fling fundraiser & were preparing for the Jubilee fundraiser, I nearly hit the roof.  No, my dear children, no matter what two-dollar-plastic-or-stuffed-piece-of-crap you are going to win for selling this, I am not going to hit up the friends & relatives again.  Actually, I'm shocked that they haven't ridden us out of town on a rail already!  I'm convinced that when my Dad kicks the bucket, his inheritance to me is going to be 1850 rolls of giftwrap purchased just so his grandkids could ride in a limousine.  Maybe I can sell it on e-bay and take that August mini-vacation??

So I'll end this bitchy epistle by stating the the only joy of the end of summer is seeing their little backs (with new backpacks!) walking up Waverly to their school & knowing that if we can just get through the next 9 months, at least the July mega-vacation awaits!

Sort of like New Year's Resolutions for the Summertime....

I'm a big list-maker. Not sure it really holds me accountable & makes me more likely to accomplish the goals, but I do it anyway. Growing up, my best friend & I would make lists daily. Shopping lists, packing lists for trips we took together, things we were determined to buy from the Hang Ten catalog - you name it, we listed it. Now my lists are more likely to include the usual "what to buy at the grocery store", "what to pack for the beach", "ways to discipline other than yelling at the top of my lungs", "prescription drugs to ask my doctor about", etc. However, the other night, right as the last day of school was approaching, I decided to make a list of goals to accomplish this summer. Nothing big, but something to give me a little direction and be able to look back in August and not think I wasted the time.........So far, this is the list:

1. READ 10 BOOKS. That's about one each week and they can be both fiction & non-fiction.

2. Have my website finally go live.

3. Take two float trips on pretty, clear rivers.

4. Take 50 photos that I really like.

5. Paint the boys' room - finally!

6. Paint my front porch.

7. Find 5 new locations to shoot sessions.

8. Finish clearing clutter from the house.

9. Begin scrapbooking again.

10. Finally take the kids to Magic Springs amusement park, which we have never done.

11. Recycle even more than we do now. We generate a ton of trash. It truly amazes me.

12. Have a street BBQ. Move the grill out front and invite neighbors down for burgers & hot dogs. How long have we said we are going to do this?

13. Try 5 new recipes.

14. Attend an MLS soccer game in Dallas.

15. Rent 5 movies and watch them. (This may seem silly to some but I'm not a big watcher of movies at home & thought I would try to do it more often.)

And on a final note: Only 25 days until we leave for the beach!

Add This To My List....

I have long been satisfied with traveling within the United States & the Caribbean. In fact, it irritates me how some get so obsessed with Europe, the Orient, etc. that they take for granted what is right under their nose! Sure, some day I would like to take in a little more of the earth, but for now, I'm happy to skip the Xanax prescription & travel by boat or car. Flying is not my thing. Really, the only country I have on my "must-see-before-die" list is Greece. But today, I add another.....Have any of you ever heard of the Whitsundays? The Whitsundays are a collective of 74 islands, off the coast of Queensland, Australia, bordered by the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea. BEAUTIFUL. Apparently, folks, it really looks like the photos. Blue water and white sand so fine that NASA has used it to make the glass for its telescopes. (And the penalty for taking some can run up to $5000! I'll just sit in it, thank you.) Both Fool's Gold & Muriel's Wedding were filmed on Hamilton Island, one of the 74. I think a week at the Daydream Island Resort & Spa might be just what I need. I mean, seriously, this is stunningly beautiful landscape. And I'm trying not to think about those deadly jellyfish I saw on Animal Planet that are native to Australia.......

Reminiscing...

Our annual beach get-a-way is exactly two months away. Every year when the time draws near, I really enjoy reminiscing by going back through the photos that were taken the year before. It never fails to amaze me when I notice how much the kids have grown and matured. Although Brooks looks pretty much the same - piercing blue eyes, shaggy "do" and a smattering of freckles across the nose - he has a more mature look that makes me just a tad sad. Every day he loses a little more "baby" and gains a lot more "boy"! There are so many things that I'm soon going to miss - his love of monkeys and how George, his best monkey, is still his favorite companion, his sweet little accent that is unique to him (& his buddy Sammy!), and the fact that he still likes to snuggle. I guess it's always hard to see the last one grow up, even though there are habits and stages that I will gladly usher out as maturity bears down on him! It does seem though, as they age, what we remember is the sweetness and not the fits and mischief. I think that's exactly how it was intended to be & although I often struggle, I'm trying so hard to cherish the good stuff! Remind me of this tonight when I attempt to get him to go to bed.

Note: Letting this shot of Brooks serve as today's photo of the day!