Monday, February 23, 2009

Back to the routine...

Monday morning, the kids are at school or work, and I am enjoying the quiet of the house and the sun streaming in through the windows. Just the kind of morning I like best. All I need is a cup of coffee to complete the picture, and that is brewing now.

It was a good weekend in many ways, and it was rough in others. Eric's two oldest children are experiencing growing pains in different directions, and each has things going on that can weigh on a parent's heart. I know it was hard for Eric to leave last night to go back to Arkansas for his last 5 days, but we both know 5 days will pass quickly, and then he'll be home. Truthfully, it's nothing earth-shattering that is going on, so no one needs to worry; just normal teenage behaviors and struggles with "where do I fit in and belong" and "what am I gonna do to make it work for me." It's more "trying" than anything, at least for me, but then I have been through it twice already with Liisa and Tony. Despite having perspective, it doesn't make it any less stressful though.

Eric and I "ran away" to Olive Garden on Saturday night. We had a fashionably late "grown up dinner," complete with a glass of wine, and we just enjoyed each other's company. We had planned to run over to Outlaw Blues afterwards, only to discover that it closes at 11 p.m. on Saturday nights! I had thought, from the name, that it was a night club and restaurant. It's apparently not. It's primarily a restaurant. We need to find a nice club around here that we can go to for music and conversation (preferably Blues or Jazz or other non-Country music oriented genres--Country is fine in small doses, but I dislike the twanginess of it sometimes). We didn't want to go to a bar just to go to a bar, so we headed home for 11 p.m. and made it an early night. Sunday we slept in, finished his laundry to take back with him, and played Everquest together. It was a nice afternoon (albeit interspersed with the teen drama a bit).

I don't work until Saturday afternoon, 1-5, so I am planning that this week will be focused on continued tidying and de-cluttering, working on some needlework projects, going to the gym, and parenting. The kids have no school next Monday, so my guess is the weekend will be very busy too, with lots of plans for mischief and other activities... I need to enjoy the peace while I have it! I am so glad to see the end in sight of Eric's training, and that we can resume family life here with some sense of normalacy. He will be working 6-2 on Sunday, 3/1, then 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. on his regular rotation three quarters of the way through March, when he returns to overnights... Figures his day shifts encompassed most of his training in AR. Oh well, we can make it work! And he starts school again next week as well. Did I say things were resuming to normal???

Coffee is ready! Yay! Time for a quick cup, then on to rest of the day!

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