just keep swimming

(that's a dory reference (from finding nemo, Z's first favorite movie))

finally after many a year of swimming lessons, the boy is catching on - YEAH!
we've signed him up for lessons for the past 3 years, each failing miserably, so much where we were told "don't bother" because it was a waste of their time & his (because he hated it too).

it's been really hot (seriously, like in the high 80s!) heehee, i know it's AWFUL to say that after living in the desert for 4 years & 80s were a fricken dream come true, but in SD that's HOT. so we'd been hitting the community pool a few times & suddenly Z seemed to be comfortable in the water after just a few days so we got passes for the remainder of the season.

it was day 2 when he was ok with putting his face in the water & even going under the water a bit. day 3 he was doing the jellyfish/dead man's body/float on your belly thing & jumping in the pool probably 30 times. once he was that comfortable, the swimming part was pretty easy, he's not so good on top of the water, better under, but that's how i was too. he's not all the way there swimming laps or anything, but finally his fear is gone & he doesn't swim like my mom anymore (ie, a rock).

another reason why i shouldn't drive automatic

B's out of town so i decided to take his truck in to be washed. i've gotten pretty good at driving his truck & even remember to put it in park [most of the time], only occasionally look for the clutch when i stop or attempt to put it in 2nd when i go around a corner. see, i'm getting comfortable!

however, the guys at the carwash threw me a curveball [damn them!].

Z & I leave the car wash & are a little ways down the street when the red "BRAKE" light starts flashing. i know i'm not pressing the brakes, so it must mean the emergency brake only i don't know where that thing is.

i know where it's at on a automatic car, but this is a truck & it's set up differently.

so i kinda panic, but then i see the extra pedal at the floorboard - AHA!

before it was only slightly engaged & that's why i was able to go, now it was fully engaged & i'm at a DEAD stop in the middle of the flipping street.

full panic because i can't fricken move, only saving grace was that i chose a side street not the main drag, so there were only a couple of cars behind me.

then i finally saw the release lever & we were free!

fancy automatics are so confusing to me...

Weds July 8th, my birthday

seriously! in the midst of all the chaos i was struck down by 38.
it was a slap in the face.

i'm kidding, wasn't a big deal at all. nothing like 30.

i was happy though, i woke up in our bed, not on the floor & not on a (borrowed) air mattress & we were in SD. we tried to relax which was kind of impossible with boxes everywhere, so we did some unpacking. my mom called & left a happy birthday message. [my dad will probably call in a few weeks, oops, maybe not, he doesn't have our new #, oh well]

moving on, mom drove up & we all went out for lunch at chili's. Z didn't want to go there, he was afraid everything was poshy [spicy]; he was fine though, he cleaned his plate.

because of the chaos, mom gave me a gift card & flowers, i'm owed by B [a nice place to sit, although i owe him as well]. Z made popsicles for me [what a sweetie!] although after eating a massive piece of death by chocolate cake from costco, it was impossible to even consider such a thing.

all in all a good day!

time sure does go quickly!

Tues June 30th - B went to work, I continued prepping the house & putting stuff aside that we didn't want the movers to pack [ie, my chonies oh, & clothes too].

Weds July 1st - movers show up a little after 8, pack all our stuff up but leave our beds for one last night.

Thurs July 2nd - everything we own except a few boxes [& my chonies] go on the moving truck, the house is EMPTY. we didn't even think of bringing the air mattress up from SD house, but luckily R let us borrow his.

Fri July 3rd - a blur

Sat July 4th - took a break & went over to R's in the afternoon to hit the pool, then went to a BBQ. we ate like ranch-hands after living out of a ice chest for 2 weeks. went over to another friend's house to light up our leftover fireworks from the previous year. um, yeah, fireworks were confiscated again. but this time they weren't ours, they had some really good stuff!

Sun July 5th - another blur

Mon July 6th - worked our asses off like you would not believe. we handed over the keys to the new tenant about 10pm then had a 3 hour drive ahead of us. we stayed in close contact the entire drive knowing we were both completely exhausted. we arrived a little after 1am. there was a box from cox (communications) at the front door & i started reciting dr suess's box with a gox story & giggling, delirium had set in.

Tues July 7th - movers arrived shortly after 7am to unload all our stuff. by noon the truck was empty & quite a bit had been unpacked. the house was a mess & there was no point in having them continue to unpack when everything needed to be washed or wiped down so we let them go.