IEPs, and Moving Trucks, and Appointments, Oh My!

Posted on May 2, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Tomorrow, The Boy’s IEP team meets. I am extremely lucky to have teachers that get him, and fight for what he truly needs, and a school system that allows us to make the best decisions for him that are not based on the almighty dollar. I know many districts are not like that (ahem… some rather intimately…), and I know this isn’t the typical IEP experience. I’m a little nervous about this being the last IEP meeting where I do not have to fight tooth and nail for my son.

kid to do list, list, Be happy and go home

kid to do list, Carissa GoodNCrazy

I also have to make arrangements and get things done — no rest for the wicked on this day. Securing a rental truck for our big move, speaking to our wedding officiant, doing paperwork for The Boy’s summer day camp… The list goes on and on.

And finally, thanks to our super-accomodating pediatric office (*sarcasm*), I have to pull The Boy out of school at the end of the day, causing him to have to miss Kids Club for his physical appointment. We’ve prepped him (both at home and at school – I LOVE his teacher!), and he should be OK, but you just never know. I’ve built in a few treats after the appointment (a trip to Target, and dinner at his favorite restaurant) so that he has “good stuff” to look forward to and get him through.

And so… When I am busy like this, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, but I’m actually doing OK. I enjoy having a list of things to do, and especially relish the crossing-off of the things on the to-do list. I feel like every “check!” is bringing us closer to family, summer, and the beginning of something beautiful.

Spring

Posted on April 28, 2013 by simpleijustdo

We are sitting on the front steps. He is folded over so his upper body is in my lap, his head facing east, eagerly anticipating his first glimpse of her. I am folded over him, arms around him, my baseball cap brim shielding his eyes from the sun, my head resting on his shoulder. We are waiting for the ice cream lady for the first time since last summer. We can feel the warmth from the sun on our backs, and it is one of those moments you wish you could bottle up and re-live again and again in the future.

The Shoulds

Posted on April 27, 2013 by simpleijustdo

should what? by 416style

Oh, I get so tired of The Shoulds. I am sitting here, looking comfy and relaxed on the outside, but berating myself on the inside for all of the things I should be doing. The Almighty List of Things to Do is being read over an over inside my head, in a clanging loop, and I just can’t reason with that voice.

Grammy and Poppy just left this morning for home. They know I love having them, and we had a really, really great week – it’s been so long since they visited us up here! But everyone understands, I’m sure, that it would be perfectly acceptable to revel in some alone (The Boy is of course here too, so alone-together?) time after house guests depart. To just sit, do what one wants to do for awhile, enjoying the ambient sounds of a pretty-decent-outside-for-once Saturday coming in through the windows?

But not those nagging, mean-as-hell Shoulds. They are reminding me of the house showings coming up this week, that looming deadline to get the monumental task of making the house look respectable. Oh, and also the usual chores of the weekend. And the million-and-one things I have yet to do before our big move in oh-my-God-seven weeks…

I hate The Shoulds. I hate it even more when they’re right.

Is it Really Spring? For Real?

Posted on April 16, 2013 by simpleijustdo

I’m not saying I have Seasonal Affective Disorder or anything, but a lack of sunshine up here in the winter months really takes it’s toll. And spring here is also cruel, giving us a few days of nice temps or sunshine (or if we’re really lucky, both at the same time!), but then the 30 and 40 degree temps come back in the end. And it isn’t until we’re well into May that we can relax and realize that spring is here, for another month and a half until it turns downright hot, and the switch is flipped to summer.

To all the people that call spring their favorite season, I understand why. The hope, the baby animals, the buds, yadda yadda… But where I live, it just doesn’t live up to the hype. Yeah, we have a few nice days here and there, but most of the time, we’re left wishin’ and hopin’ and prayin’.

Today is one of those pretty nice days: 65 degrees, although overcast, still enough of a breeze to require a jacket, and lovely little harbingers of warmer weather making their presence known:

(please disregard the weeds in the picture – I have no idea how they got there! And don’t get excited about the tulip-looking thing beside the crocus… My tulips are head-less….)

But I’m no dummy, and I ain’t gonna fall for it. I think we’re back down to the 40s again this weekend. The wait continues…

Need to Reboot!

Posted on April 15, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Did you ever have a day that felt like a complete waste? I’m beginning to get overwhelmed, and as a result, I’m shutting down: not working out, not getting much done. Too much thinking, and not enough doing. I’m feeling fatigued and headache-y for no reason, and it’s taking major effort to get anything on my to-do list to-done.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When I am thinking too much, I need to do a brain dump on a pad of paper, and write down every little thing that keeps popping up, even to the point of keeping it on my nightstand and jotting things down as they come to me in the middle of the night. This is part of the Getting Things Done philosophy that I use, albeit on an irregular basis. Once everything gets “dumped”, it needs to be organized into things that I can do something about, and things I can’t. If I can’t do anything about it, at least it’s on paper and not circling my brain anymore. If I can do something about it, it joins my to-do list. For smaller tasks like housework, I can use the Pomodoro technique to get myself in gear, and the calendar works for larger to-do items – deadlines have always worked for me.

A day off (for organizational purposes, of course) and a massage (purely for the headache-y, fatigue-y feeling) may also be in order.

I don’t have time to be in a funk!

Savoring Beautiful Moments

Posted on April 9, 2013 by simpleijustdo

One of the easiest ways I have found to de-stress is to store up memories of beautiful moments, and pull them out in times of need. Bec over at Snagglebox talks about it here. My memory is for crap, but for some reason, when I am enjoying a moment, I have the ability to stop, tell myself to remember it, and retrieve it later.

One of those moments occurred on my recent vacation down south. The Man and I went on a day trip, and stopped at a favorite spot, a large garden (which is actually acres of green stuff, and a favorite location for weddings because they are so beautiful). Near the large pond (home to a few swans), there are trellis-covered walkways, and as we walked directly under one, I suddenly smelled an intensely beautiful bloom. Seeking the source, I discovered they were directly above me, and I lingered a moment to breathe in the lovely scent, and of course, snap a photo.

Does anyone know the name of it?

Going to the… Gazebo

Posted on April 4, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Exciting news, kids! We’re getting real close to setting a date! Of course it depends on the 4-6 people we’d like to be there, and when officiants and venues are available and such … Planning an albeit tiny wedding in about two months means we have to be a little more flexible, but I’m geeked, especially because I think The Man is or soon will be on board with my modest plans, rather than his idea of a quickie courthouse wedding – nothing wrong with that (and certainly not ruling anything out at this point), but I’m a bit excited to be in the planning stage. A combination of “Whew!” and “Yay!” and “Gulp…”

But mostly “Yay!!!” 😀

And We’re Off!

Posted on March 29, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Today, I leave The Boy in the capable hands of Fantastic Babysitter and head south for a week! Wheee!

Due to a lack of internet access at the new house, my posts may be a bit more intermittent until the second week of April. (Of course, if you subscribe, or like my facebook page, you’ll be automatically notified when new posts are up… just sayin’…) I hope you’ll check in anyway and catch up on some older posts (Check out the Archives below and to the right, and the Categories just below that). And I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Annie

Nerd Day

Posted on March 26, 2013 by simpleijustdo

Spirit Days: those days at school where kids dress up according to a theme, supposedly to celebrate school spirit, often planned by the school’s student council or some such group. Again, I don’t often write about school, but it’s bothering me, and when things bother me, I write. Wednesday this week has been dedicated “Nerd Day”. Students are encouraged to dress up as nerds, or as some of the kids are already calling it, “Loser Day”.

I’m sure we had something similar when I was in school, and that is where my deep-rooted dislike of this type of spirit day started. You see, I was a nerd. Still am. Think about the number one accessory you need to dress up like a stereotypical nerd. What did you come up with? I bet 90% of you thought, “glasses”. Yep. So I didn’t even need to dress up for nerd day – I was already in costume, whether I wanted to be or not. Whether I wanted to be identified as a nerd, or not.

I thought the trend was to help kids get away from stereotyping their classmates and people in general. So it’s OK to do it, if it’s for school spirit? Can you imagine if they had a “jock” day, or a “Mean Girls” day, or a “Sped” day… Instead of embracing and celebrating everyone’s differences, we encourage the school to dress up as a stereotype.

Now, as I said, I am still a nerd. I prefer books to people (in general), dislike partying (in general), was always studious and smart, and enjoyed rather off-the-beaten track music, movies, and senses of humor. I cried last night when watching the last episode of Dr. Who with David Tennant as Dr. Who, OK?? I’m a nerd, and I own it, and I don’t think it’s a bad thing!

But kids? Kids are self-conscious, sensitive, undeveloped globs of anxiety. I think we should put more thought into stuff like this.

*stepping down off my soap box*

What do you think? Am I overreacting?

***Update: we just received word at the end of the day that tomorrow’s theme has been changed to super hero day.

Do Men “Nest”?

Posted on March 25, 2013 by simpleijustdo

a bird nest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

OK, so no babies involved here, but The Man is super excited about working on our house to get it ready for The Boy and I. So far on the list:

New front door
New siding
replacement windows
planting shrubs
fixing and possibly siding the shed/garage
replacing insulation under the house

He knows there’s no way all of this will get done before we arrive, but it’s rather sweet that he wants to prepare our new home for us. And I really get a kick about talking through things together with him, planning and making decisions. For instance, we had almost decided to finally pick up and plant the shrubs we had bought last year (!) while I am down there for spring break, until I realized that if he was going to re-do the siding, we had better wait on that. Good thing we talked that one through!

All of this is exciting and actually makes me feel very loved. It also feels like I’m part of a team, and that we’re working together.