Frustrating Day, Happy Night

Yesterday I felt like I was chasing my tail and putting out fires all day. All of my plans for the day went sideways, leaving me frazzled and exhausted by evening. I hate days like that! No matter what I did, I felt like it wasn't good enough. Despite all of my efforts to try to get back on track, I felt inadequate. 

The day was miserable, but it ended on a high note. Even though it was not hot, after dinner it was warm enough for Timmy to play in the pool. It was too cold for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching him splish and splash. Watching him gleefully play in the pool, I felt my anxiety and frustrations from the day evaporate.

I'm hoping that today is better, because I'm not sure my emotions can handle another day like yesterday. Looking for the positive, the next few days are supposed to be hot. If things continue to go off the rails, I can always take solace in our pool.

Boring

Another cool summer day has come and gone.  I'm fully aware that when the heat finally arrives I will be missing these temperatures. But right now, I really wish it was hot enough to swim. I suppose I should be happy that the rain has stopped. Cool temperatures without rain is a significant improvement. 

Yesterday was relatively low key.  Robby had guitar practice and band practice. I spent the afternoon and evening chauffeuring him to and from his commitments. I wish I had something more exciting to report. 

Who knows, maybe something exciting will happen today?

Farm Adventures

 The rain finally ended, leaving us with soggy ground and cooler temperatures. In other words, no swimming for us (again). Instead of splashing in the pool, we headed to the farm to play and to pick up our CSA weekly haul. 

Even though we weren't swimming, it felt wonderful to disconnect and to be outside for a few hours. My moods are so driven by the weather. After too many consecutive days inside, I begin to feel antsy and sad. Spending the afternoon in the sunshine with the boys was exactly what I needed to recenter.

Thankfully my phantom pain lifted as soon as the rain clouds blew away. Although I was sore and tired, I was able to keep up with my little explorer. A solid night's sleep and I feel like a new woman today. Here's hoping it is a great day!

 

Rainy Day Phantom Pain

 Bleh.  I am so tired of rain. I feel like the universe is laughing at us every time another drop of rain falls into our pool. 

The storms last night were strong enough to bring hail and downed branches. Thankfully only a few leaves fell into the pool. We worried about the water level (again) so I ran out between storms to run the siphon. Who would have thought that having a little above ground pool would be so stressful!

Not only does the rain ruin our pool time, but it is wreaking havoc on my leg. Nights have been plagued by phantom pain, leaving me both groggy and grumpy. I try to not take my phantom frustrations out on the boys, but when I am limping around it is hard to keep smiling.

Hopefully the weather will break. I want to swim, and I want the rain induced pain to go away. This stinks!

Raining

Our weekend weather was absolutely miserable. When it wasn't raining the skies were grey and dark. Much to everybody's disappointment, swimming was out of the question. Instead of splashing we spent the weekend puttering around and playing inside. 

Unfortunately the forecast is not favorable for the rest of the week. The temperatures aren't supposed to rise above 80, and we are supposed to have a mixture of rain and grey skies every day. I'm bummed out that we waited so long for our pool and now the weather is keeping us from using it. 

Since our weather is going to be lousy, I may pack up the boys and head to visit my Mom for a few days this week. Robby is begging to hang out with his cousins and to kick summer fun into high gear. My mom adopted a new dog over the weekend and I'm excited to meet her. (I haven't heard her this happy in a long time!)

Today I am back to our regular summer schedule. Up early for work so I can play in the afternoon. Since we won't be swimming, I may fire up the karaoke machine for an impromptu dance party. 

 

Siphon Situation

 After another marathon Zoom session yesterday, I was eager to jump in the pool. I'm glad that I didn't waste any time, because three hours after we started to splash and play storms moved into the area. The rain has not stopped, and is projected to continue through Saturday.

In three hours yesterday evening we received nearly four inches of water. As the rain poured down, I began to worry about the water level in our pool. The water was rising quickly to the top of the pool. I am not sure what happens if an above ground pool floods, but I don't think it is good!

After hours of fretting, I went outside when there was a lull between storms to inspect the situation. Robby and I bailed out some water, but looking at the radar I knew we needed a longer term solution. After a lot of trial and error, we positioned a siphon hose in the top of the filter. We reasoned that the siphon would remove the water until that point, keeping our pool below the flooding threshold.

The rain continued to pour throughout the night, but the associated lightning kept me from checking our siphon. All I could do was hope that it was working. Between the storms and my pool anxiety, I didn't sleep well.

As soon as I woke up I checked our pool. Not only is it intact, but our siphon worked perfectly! The excess water was removed as well as all of the rain water that fell throughout the night. Talk about a relief!

Zoom

 Each morning this week I have been logging onto the computer to attend a virtual in-service. I am used to spending a lot of time behind a keyboard, but 4.5 hours of Zooming a day have left me exhausted. The course is interesting, but I have come to realize that I am more of a recluse than I care to admit. After working from home for nearly a decade, I am simply unaccustomed to so much socialization.

Even though I'm tired and at times uncomfortable during the break-out "share" sessions, I am getting a lot out of the class. Unlike in-services that I attended when I was a public school teacher, this course has real-life applications. I'm learning a lot, and if I were honest, being pushed to socialize is probably a good thing too. 

Covid has reinforced my isolation tendencies, but it is time for me to reenter society. Today Scott is taking Robby for his second vaccine, which will make him the third member of our family to have protection from Covid. We will still be cautious because of Timmy, but I am looking forward to a more normal life.