And Rain Will Make the Flowers Grow...

This day has been up and down for me... mostly because I finally did a few of my personal errands that I have been putting off because of a lack of time.  And these errands/tasks were both very expensive.  The first thing was arranging for Oliver's Orthodontists appointments for him to get his braces.  This will cost us between $8000-9000.00 when all is said and done.  I also had to do a little money moving from long term savings so that I would have it in place to pay for the teeth-work... ugh... It's times like these that I wish I was working for a school board somewhere with a nice dental plan and benefits instead of paying it all out of pocket... Sigh...

The second thing I did was book Summer Day Camps for the kids at the U of A.  The four weeks I booked will cost me around $1650 and those are just the sports camps.  I still want to book in a drama camp and an Art Gallery camp and those are generally more expensive. Why do I do Day Camps? I could theoretically keep them home, but then I would be fighting for them to go outside and be active and these camps are really good.  The U of A ones were phenomenal last year and I like it when my kids are worn out from a day of doing things. The Art Gallery and Drama camps are generally very good too and add diversity to their summer.

Anyhow, these are good and bad things - good because they are done and will be good for the kids in the long run, but bad because of the cost, so it was up and down.

I will end the day on an up with the Second Opening of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.  I have missed the show and look forward to seeing it again tonight with an audience! I know a lot of people coming tonight so I am excited to see what they think of the show!

Photo Credit: Janine Hodder

Looking for the Beat...

I am back home now for over a week and I am in search of the rhythm for the summer. The boys have had one week of Daycamp and I used that week to get quite a bit done.

I got 4 large bags of 'stuff' for Goodwill packed and out of the house. I cleaned the front vestibule (vestibule... I like that word) which was smelling like little and big boys shoes (because that's mostly what is in the vestibule). The vestibule now smells a lot like pine-sol.

I set up the Daycare arrangement for Gibson for the Fall (yay!). I now believe that the 1 - 1.5 year waiting list hype about daycares is a myth. The lists look that long because everyone gets themselves on 10-15 waiting lists and then when people start calling with a spot they get through it fairly quickly. My 1-1.5 year wait was in actuality 2 weeks! Ah, but the daycare is nice and close to the Uni and is a university affiliated daycare (good quality generally) and I liked it. I think it will be good for Gibson.

I called the University about my application... still waiting on the Keyano Transcript. Only 14 spaces left in the class I want... hurry up!

I rehearsed twice this week. I am about 75% off book, which I should be happy with, but I am kicking myself. It is still a month away. I have also been making chocolate Cinderella Lollipops for the press packets. I am quite enamoured of this and haven't been eating much chocolate at all. I promise. I spent a bit of time at Michael's to get the stuff for the press packets and I really love Michael's. Perhaps too much so. I also wrote my bio for the program (check!).

Yesterday I went for lunch with my good friend Tanya, who I had not seen since her ill-fated wedding over 8 years ago. We have written and talked on the phone, but this was a long over due face-to-face visit. We (and Gibby) had a nice 2 hour power chat over lunch at BP's. So great to see her again and reconnect. I have these wonderful friends from over the years and I am glad they feel the same way about me!

So, where is the beat to the summer? I am still trying to find it. There are too many small chores to do that an actual identifiable beat may not be possible.