Gosh, it feels like it’s been a while, which is so rare for me.
We were gone all weekend (Friday –> Sunday night) for the Wisconsin State Championships swim meet and yesterday kind of felt like a whirlwind, too.
My life feels a little weird right now. Our spring break trip is coming up very soon now (11 days!) and I have a list a mile long of things to do. I feel out of touch with my “online community” of blogging/blog reading at the moment, too.
Here’s a current good/ bad list, off the top of my head:
Good:
1-Asher did awesome at State! He qualified and swam in 6 individual events (50, 100, 200 freestyle; 50 and 100 backstroke; 50 butterfly) and 3 relays. Also, he swam personal best times in all but 1 one event!! This was so exciting for him, and he was so happy to end the season on a really high note.
2-I’m glad the swim season is over!! We all needed a break now. It’s only a 1 month break, and we’ll be gone for 2 weeks of it, but still. I think Asher was ready for a break, too. He swims a lot!! It’s good to take some time off, reset, refresh, etc. AWAY from the pool now and then.
3- Our Ireland/Rome trip is coming up soon and looks like it will be a go! The boys are so excited. I can’t believe it has been 2 years since our originally planned trip was cancelled. And that it’s been a full 2 years since the pandemic started! I bought tickets for our Colosseum/ Roman Forum/ Palatine Hill visit yesterday which makes it all feel more real, too. 🙂
4- Our county’s mask mandate is finally being lifted today! Yay! Good news that things have trended in the right direction and are staying there. I’m praying numbers will continue to be low and restrictions can remain lifted for the long term. After 2 years of virtual school and/or fully masked school, masks will now be optional at school, too, starting today.
Bad:
1- Ukraine/ Russia. UGH/ OMG/ WTH?? How horrifying and simply insane. It’s hard to believe this sort of thing is happening in modern day. The whole thing is just absolutely awful on so many levels.
2- (Paling in comparison to #1, but I’ll continue….) My life feels all mixed up. Being away all weekend + trying to start getting organized for our trip + I have 2 appointments this week (haircut Thursday, vet appt Friday) just has me feeling kind of stressed/ frazzled. I wish I had a few days off from work to just take care of a bunch of stuff, but, I don’t.
3- I also have a cold. Ethan had a little cold last week, which he then gave to Asher right before his swim meet (not covid- we tested both multiple times). We were actually worried Asher might not be able to swim! But his cold came and went quickly, and despite a few lingering sniffles, he was fine, thankfully. Now I have it. It feels almost like bad allergies- lots of sneezing/ watery eyes/ head congestion. It’s mostly just irritating and is making me a little crabby.
4- My morning routine has been “off” feeling since the Olympics! Too many late nights, then all the swim meet volunteer stuff, now out of town + cold…. if my morning routine isn’t right, my days/ workouts/ everything else gets off, so, that’s been annoying as well. Hmph. 🙃
Here are a few pics of Asher at State!
I love this picture of Asher and his coach. He records Asher racing on the iPad, and then as soon as he’s done, they review the video right away to see what he did well, and what can use improvement. I love the emphasis on feedback! Takes the focus off of whatever the immediate result is/was, and shifts it to LEARNING and growing, which is what it’s all about, in my opinion.
Matching t-shirts 🙂
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for electricity. Back to the basics today- but not to be taken for granted.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Love the matching shirts!
Wow – this all sounds so busy. I find it very disorienting when I have a really busy weekend and then have to jump right back in to a week. I would be VERY frazzled with your schedule.
That said, I am SO glad your trip to Ireland/Rome is moving ahead. Booking tickets for viewing things really does make it feel more real. We’re currently looking at rebooking our trip (just to South Carolina, so not quite as exciting as ROME!) that we had to cancel from May 2020.
At this point, our mask mandate is to lift (at least for the kids in school) on March 21st. It was actually the first thing the kids mentioned today at breakfast. It’s 21 days until we don’t have to wear masks at school. It has been such a long haul for them; they are wearing them at recess too (I’m sure with mixed success based on age group) when they can’t stay 6 ft away. My heart really does ache for them and what so many kids have “lost” during this period, especially those that were already struggling with school/language skills etc.
This does all pale in comparison to the world situation; I am finding it so hard to balance that all. Realizing that everything “hard” I’m going through is so insignificant, and yet I still have to life life and sort out challenges. Donating and praying and loving the people around me is really all I can do – it feels insignificant, but I’m trying to remind myself doomscrolling is NOT helping either me or the people trapped in this living hell of war.
Hope everything feels less off-kilter soon and you slide back in to normal routines…just in time to go on your big trip which is TOTALLY worth getting off routine for a while. I’m so excited for you all.
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It sounds so busy because it is!! Haha. We generally are okay being pretty “busy” and are used to it, but sometimes it piles up and can be a bit too much. But, I can’t always control some things, and we don’t necessarily want to do away with everything just due to a couple extra busy periods… and as you said, the pre-travel busy stuff is worth it, although it can be a headache to organize and coordinate… I should be better at scheduling in some extra days off to help prep/prepare in a more organized fashion too. But I am notorious for trying to save vacation days and will do things like come home the night before going back to work, or work right up until the day we leave for a trip, etc. Totally my fault, though!! I could probably help myself a little bit more. 😉
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congrats on Asher’s excellent performances and that swim session is over. It must be stressful to go to all those meet ups. You seem to be enjoying it but also overwhelmed by it.
And soooooooooooooo excited for the trip and so soon. I’m glad you are pushing through despite how crazy the world is. I can’t wait to read your recaps.
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Way to go, Asher! Sounds like he has an excellent coach!
This has been an awful week over here, but definitely pales in comparison to what is happening in Ukraine. I am horrified by the situation and just can’t believe this is happening. Putin is such a horrible person and I hope that there will be fall-out from what he’s done, but it’s hard to imagine change happening there. Will started to get sick on Sunday with a fever then Paul got the stomach flu on Monday – on the way to school. He only threw up once that day and was back to normal, even wrestling w/ Phil in the evening. So we sent him to school on Tuesday – and he threw up in the car again and definitely has the stomach flu. Yesterday was his birthday so it was an extra bad day to have a stomach bug. Will has had really high fevers at night – 104.5 last night which is just terrifying. I put cold wash clothes on him to cool him down which he did not love but he was so so hot. So both kids have been home sick all week so Phil and I have been juggling work and parenting. So a rough rough rough week. 😦
But yay for your trip being so close!!! I am so excited for you guys and can’t wait to read all about it!!
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That feedback aspect is really cool – congrats Asher!
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