Moving in the right direction…

I didn’t sleep great last night; it started off with over an hour awake where I could NOT stop coughing from 11 pm- midnight, during which I protested out loud in frustration “Come ON!” several times to my dark bedroom, sleeping husband and dog. It finally subsided, but I awoke today with a still very sore, raw throat. So I wasn’t super optimistic, but figured I probably needed to at least attempt working today. (I don’t think I have EVER taken 3 sick days in a row?!)

Fortunately, writing this now on a little afternoon break, I think I am starting to feel better! Not awesome, but I think perhaps a corner has been turned. Throat is still sore, but less so, I think, and I just have more energy again. Working has gone generally okay.

A few random things:

🔷 Today is a really beautiful day here. It’s May! Yay!

May I can usually get on board with in Wisconsin, so I’m always happy to see it arrive. March and April, however… let’s just say if I ever got to “eliminate” a couple months from the calendar, it might be those.

Typically May can be counted on to be the start of our ACTUAL spring, as in, it shouldn’t snow anymore (please God), the trees are actually bloomed out and looking pretty, flowers are blooming, the grass is green, etc etc. None of that is guaranteed in March or April.

I had set my alarm for 6:30 trying to “sleep in” today (obviously not going to gym yet), but woke up anyway by around 5:30. Grr. Peeked outside and saw a gorgeous morning, so I decided to jump in the hot tub at 6 a.m. to have my tea and wake up. Very nice and just felt great to soak my recovering body. (It was maybe ~60 degrees out? So neither hot nor cold.)

I read a few pages of my book (not a library book, okay to splash) and it was quite lovely.

🔷 Asher had 8th Grade Graduation photos at school today.

The kids all had to wear their suits/dresses to school (they loved that, I’m sure.. ha). On the way to school Asher commented he is not sure he would like to have to wear that to work everyday someday. I suppose that’s something to consider when picking a future career! Lol.

🔷 Asher’s hamster, Summer, died Friday night. 😥

She was probably just about 2 years old. (I know we got her in the summer of 2022, hence the name Summer.)

Ivan and I were out Friday night and my phone rang. I saw it was Asher (who NEVER calls me when we’re gone usually), so I immediately knew something was up. As I answered it flitted through my mind, “He’s going to tell me the hamster died.” And yep, sure enough.

He said he found her just laying there in the cage. 😦 SAD!!!

I never got as attached to this hamster as our previous hamsters. When our last 2 hamsters died a couple years ago, it was really hard for all of us. (Flint got a tumor and had to be put down and the whole thing was heartbreaking….He was a real love bug). Those hamsters seemed to have a lot more “personality” though than Summer. (They were Winter White Dwarf hamsters, and Summer was a Chinese Dwarf).

She was much smaller and more mouse-like. She was very sweet!! Never once tried to bite or anything. But she usually just basically froze in place when we’d take her out, as if maybe she was a little terrified! So, not real big on the action. lol.

Here’s a funny one of her Asher took once:

Truth be told, Asher seemed to lose interest in her a bit this past year, especially after we got Charlie. I feel a little guilty about this. (I do not think she actually noticed….seemed very happy to scurry about in her cage.) I mean, Asher still took her out several times a week, but not nearly as much as before. She just didn’t “play” or want to run mazes etc like the old hamsters did, anyway.

RIP Little Summer girl!! You sure were a cutie.

I have a feeling that going forward we will now be a hamster-free household. They are great little pets, especially for that pre-tween/tween age range. But dang, they just don’t live very long! And they can perhaps be a little…dull… for older kids. I would be surprised if either of the boys expressed interest in getting another one now. End of our hamster era, I guess! We had 4 good ones.

🔷 On a completely unrelated note, I got this notification yesterday:

1,000 posts!!! I started this blog in April of 2020, so I just hit my 4 year anniversary. I did absolutely nothing to celebrate the day, and I have no special post planned for this 1,000th post milestone either, but just…. yay!

🔷 The juggling metaphor

I heard a good story about jugglers.

It said that if a juggler is trying to juggle too many balls (or spin too many plates), and one starts going down out of control, typically the rest of the balls will soon crash down, too.

BUT, if the juggler instead chooses to quickly and strategically set down one plate or a ball while still in a controlled fashion, he can usually then keep juggling the remaining balls just fine.

It’s that one ball crashing down unexpectedly that tends to throw everything else off.

I loved this! I mean, I’ve heard the whole “balls in the air” metaphor a million times, but I like this visual of preemptively noticing, “Ok, getting to be too many balls, this is dangerous here- need to set one down”, and then continuing to successfully juggle the rest of the balls.

During this busy May season, I thought this was a good reminder for all of us to think about if there are any balls or plates we should maybe set down for a little bit, so we can keep everything else spinning (without crashing). 🙂

🔷 Two internet finds:

🔷 Gas Station etiquette compliment

I stopped at the gas station this morning to fill up my van. As I was pulling in, there was a car ahead of me at the first pump in the middle row. So I planned to take the second pump, the only one currently open.

Well, as soon as I put my van in park, that first car started driving off. I was already parked, but decided to pull forward to that first spot instead. I didn’t want to leave an annoying gap in front of me that now no one else could really get into! (It was more likely a car would approach from behind at this particular place, and literally all the other pumps were full, so not like someone could just go around me….)

Anyway, so I’m pumping my gas a minute later and this woman from the car who did indeed pull in right behind me walks over and says- I just have to compliment you on PULLING YOUR CAR FORWARD! Just wanted to tell you how awesome that was- thank you!!

Hahaha! I was like, Oh! Um, no problem! 😅 lol.

(This gas station is always swamped, so being a bit strategic with “pump choice” can go a long way in affecting my fellow gas pumpers. 😆)

That was a first for me- getting complimented on my gas station etiquette! It kind of…. made my day!! 🙂

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for it being May. Really needing some more consistently warm weather in my life.