Life is More than a Blog

Hello blog.  Long time no see.

Sorry you are being neglected.   There are many reasons and excuses.  Many reasons that Netflix looked FAR more appealing than sitting down to write something pithy about life at the House of Crunch.    Or write something amazingly brand friendly that would attract the attention of all those PR agencies lurking out there courting all the young fresh and eager NEW bloggers with young cute babies with their free stuff and fun events.

I tend to write better when I am happy and energized and I haven’t felt much of either for a while.   To be honest, 2016 has felt like a bit of a slog.

The world has not been a happy place…..so much horror and death.   Perhaps that has lain a fog upon us all.  I don’t know.

The family has struggled.   Or at least it has felt like….well you know when you are treading water and you feel like you can do it forever, then you sink a bit lower and it feels a bit harder to keep you chin up.  I think we have all felt like that.  Nothing terrible. Nothing bad.  Just….harder.

Personal blogging needs a bit more editing and thought when your kids are older too.  Even kids like mine who live in the digital universe.  I don’t feel it is my place to use their lives for blog posts.  Grade 8 has been a bit of a rough slog for my son and us.  But while much of it would be considered blog gold, I am not the type to lay his life open just for readership.  Suffice it to say, being a teen is hard.  Figuring out your place in the world can be complicated.   The fall-out from a tumultuous year was him taking math in Summer School and me getting to know some of his teachers really well.

And while he drives me bat shit crazy, I am impressed that on most days he manages to get up early and get himself up and out the door.  Sure he lost his Compass Card and sure he forgets to wear a helmet so our neighbours mention their concern for his safety….sigh.  Basically, I am impressed he can walk and chew gum and the same time most days.

The Summer School routine alone has made life feel a bit odd.  The end of June and the beginning of the holidays was the time to plan for summer fun.   But him being in school and us grown-ups working meant that the routine stayed pretty much the same.    We also put Tara in a summer program too and so her routines have been pretty similar as well.

Mind you, I tend to feel this way at this time of year every year.  ALL the birthdays in a row KILLS me. April to July is just planning and spending money.  We spent this afternoon at Extreme Airpark with Tara and her friends to wrap up HER birthday.  That place is a sweat stinking bouncy pit of hell on a Saturday, let me tell you.

Last month I took Caity and three of her TWEEN friends to Playland for 5 hours for HER birthday and the month before that was an evening at Planet Lazer for Adam’s 14.

I feel broke and exhausted.

More broke because today we got up early and said ‘See ya in a week!’ to Caitlyn who headed to her first sleep-away camp experience.  For a girl who has suffered from anxiety, this is a huge deal and I thank her friend who asked her to THINK about joining her on this trip for being so supportive.  I can’t wait to hear about it when she returns.

I do feel bad that I was not as enthused for Tara’s celebrations as the other two.  It isn’t her fault she is the youngest and I have done YEARS of birthday party themes for the older two and to be honest, just ‘done’ with all that.   I just was not up to pre-planning to make a summer birthday as ‘special’ as her siblings earlier birthdays.   So this was it.

She finally sounds okay with it and has had a fun afternoon playing with her besties.   Phew.

So apart from MY birthday in August we are done till that big evil Christmas holiday and our pocket books can start to recover.  I don’t think we will be getting away in August.  Everything feels TOO expensive these days.

Not to mention my little job is keeping my quite busy.  That too takes away from the blog.  My little part time gig is spent being creative for our clients and all I want to do when I get home is watch TV or sit on my patio and stare at my new fence or putting in my little veggie garden.

I must admit I don’t feel too guilty about that.