Friday, April 26, 2024

5 Things Friday

It’s Friday! But we have a rainy weekend ahead of us which is just the worst because the best weekends are those that can be spent outside. But hopefully we get some breaks from the rain so we can be outside. Here are 5 things going on in my life.

1. I challenge you to find a picture that better represents spring in Minnesota/the Midwest. This is Taco at his soccer class at daycare on Wednesday. He’s wearing a winter hat - but backwards - and has his hands pulled up into his sleeves because it was cold that morning (even if we had sent mittens, he likely would have refused to wear them, because toddlers, but also should we need to send mittens on April 24th???). And he has the most downtrodden look on his face. Welcome to spring in Minnesota, buddy. It’s the worst. 
 

2. Speaking of activities, I love that we can send him to a soccer class during his school day. I think it’s something like $75 for 2 months of weekly classes. But having it occur during his school day is THE BEST. He also has a tennis class once/week and music every other week which is included in his tuition. I use ‘tennis’ lightly because we haven’t seen any tennis balls in the pics the daycare posts nor do we see rackets but is there anything more terrifying than a toddler with poor impulse control with a racket in his hands? Paul still has swimming which goes until early June, on Saturday he starts a 4-week golf class and in mid-May he starts twice-weekly T-Ball. Phil will take him to the majority of the golf and T-Ball activities because, well, I am not the athletic parent. But I take him to all of his swimming lessons and always have and I will be the primary parent for all things music once he starts piano lessons/band. We are taking the ‘total control’ approach to activities as Phil signed him up for golf and T-Ball, and I signed Paul up for swimming lessons. Obviously we will help the other parent out as needed but it works well (for us) for one parent to take full ownership of an activity. 

3. I traveled this week but it was an odd Thursday-Friday trip. Most of my trips are Tues-Thur or Mon-Wed. So an off rhythm trip really threw me off. All my meetings were on Thursday but I had one zoom that I had to do before 2 in-person meetings followed by a client dinner event. Luckily there were several Starbucks close to my first in-person meeting but you never know how quiet a Starbucks might be… so in the back of my mind I was stressing about how bad the background noise might be…  I wanted my new hire to do this meeting but it’s a large opportunity so the sales team wanted me to do it. So they traded a more experienced person in a potentially loud environment for a less experienced person in a quiet environment…. It was ultimately fine but they were playing Taylor Swift and I am sure there was so much background noise but so it goes. 

4. Here’s one thing that has gotten some very unexpected laughs this week: telling people that I frequently get loud environment notifications on my Apple Watch because of my loud toddler. I did not expect the kind of laughs I got when I mentioned this at the client dinner event last night. I guess I have come to think this is normal but wow did that story land. I am not the funny person in my marriage by any stretch of the imagination so getting that kind of reaction is extra satisfying. 

5. All that said I am so relieved today is Friday because this week at work absolutely wore me out between busy days and off-cycle travel days. I am hoping for a good nap from Taco tomorrow because I could really use 1-2 hours to just lay in bed and read or nap. My body is tired and this stupid flare in my hand that I have been dealing with for weeks on end will not quit which is probably akin to the engine light coming on in your car, meaning my body is saying - slow the F down/something isn’t right. I have my 1-night Napa trip next week and then blessedly I get a week off from travel and a shouldless day that week. I am living for that day right now but really I need a shouldless week which is not going to happen. 

How was your week?

15 comments:

  1. It's so interesting the idea of whoever sign up the kids for the activity takes full control of that activity. I do all the sign up and husbands drive them to and from them as he's the stay at home daddy. We try to minimize commute though, so girls have piano, mandarin lessons at home, super time saving.
    I would be stressing out to take a meeting in a public space when it's an important one. But I guess when traveling you can't fully control that.
    Hope you get some rests this weekend.
    Oh... on the loud notification, I think all moms would understand :)

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  2. Hahaha-- I have a pic of Minnie playing in our yard yesterday in the same get up PLUS mittens. Spring! (she also wears her hat backwards)

    Sports mom advice: t-ball is boring and you might think this means your kid/fam does not like baseball, but stick with it because baseball really IS fun!! (and fun for the fam-- usually nice parks, usually roving packs of younger sibs, slow paced games that are fun to picnic during and enjoy, etc. Also tiny golf is my faaaaaaavorite.

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  3. I feel the same as Taco about spring. It's just...ugh. Yesterday was freezing. FREEZING. Literally, below freezing and then with windchill. It felt like winter all over again, just without all the winter garb in my closet.

    What a busy, busy stretch you've had. I'm glad you're almost to your week at home, and more importantly, your shouldless day.

    I have never gotten a noise warning - ever - on my Apple Watch. I wonder if that's a setting on new watches. Mine is pretty old. Because I have two VERY loud children...

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  4. Yay for the weekend! I laughed at your "midwest spring" picture because it's true. I saw a great meme that was a guy sitting with his back to a fence with his legs stretched out. He was wearing a winter coat and shorts, and there was snow near the fence in the shade and then sun and grass near his legs.

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  5. Oof, this sounds hard! I'm glad you have a shouldless day coming up, but I wish it were sooner.
    There's a funny Calvin and Hobbes cartoon about spring, where in the first panel he's saying "AAAH, Spring!" and then he walks outside into a snowy gale and says something like "let's just skip right ahead to summer." It's funnier if you see the actual cartoon.
    Good luck this weekend! I hope you get some outside time. And a nap!

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  6. "...a one day Napa trip." SIGH! That is not really a one day destination for you, but I know you like to get home, but still, ug. I am laughing at Taco because that is how I feel. I am on Vancouver Island and it is pouring rain, and is supposed to do so for the next week. Hello Canada; spring has sprung, haven't you heard? Grr. Although it is very green and there are tons of spring flowers. Maybe they only got the April showers bring May flowers memo.

    I hope that Taco takes a long nap tomorrow and your shouldless day comes quickly! I hate varied scheduling, so I am sympathetic to your messed up work week. I would probably be very antisocial by now if I were you!

    I have sat outside of SBUX in the car and used their wifi before! I hope that whoever you were presenting to was a Swifty; maybe the noise would not be so bad in that case!

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  7. Going to be 88* in Raleigh most of next week. We totally skipped spring

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  8. I hope you get a good rest this weekend. Wish you didn't have to hit the road again so soon, but you do what you have to do. That pic of Taco really nails it. I'm so ready for spring. So ready!

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  9. I hope your weekend is restful and restorative!

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  10. I feel like if I left it up to my Husband to do the sign ups/ driving to an activity, it would never happen... not that he is unwilling, but he didn't grow up with a lot of activities and is just as happy to have everyone stay home and hang out together. But he is very willing to take kids to things, which is good because a lot of the time I'm not home to be the activity shuttle. I do try to load up on activities when I'm not as busy at work so I can share the driving and minimize the other kids having to ride along, but something don't fall that way. The oldest can now walk to basketball workout on her own, and that's been great.
    I hope you have a restful week! Napa sounds lovely!

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  11. Spring is 100% the worst season in the midwest. It's UNREASONABLE for it to be so unpredictable. It was rainy and cold here today and I'm over it. OVER IT. Just consider me a grumpy toddler with my backwards hat on.

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  12. The pic of Taco 'enjoying' soccer is a hoot. It really sums it all up right there. I'm sorry this week was so draining. A few hours curled up in bed with a book sounds so lovely. How great that your funny loud toddler story was such a hit. My dad never used to find me funny. I guess he's softening with age, because now half the time I say stuff he howls with laughter. It's a little late in the game, but I'll take it. My brother is 'the funny one.' ;)

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  13. Hi! Clicked here from Sara's Hart-Unger newsletter. Id love to learn more about "shouldless day". Do you have a link to a prior blog post that explains it?

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  14. @ Elizabeth - here is a good post that explains what I do with my shouldless day!

    http://lisasyarns.blogspot.com/2023/11/anatomy-of-shouldless-day.html

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  15. I hope the sun has been out a bit more in recent days... and spring feels a little bit more like ... spring!

    I love how you divide and conquer things with Phil. It seems like you two have a great system down.

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