goodbye July

I simply can't believe that summer break is half over already. :(
July both flew by in an instant and seemed to last forever. You know how that can be.

Our July seemed to break down into three big categories--sports, health-related issues, and home improvement...

Sports:

*Annie's and Max's soccer seasons lasted through most of the month. So Monday through Thursday evenings were reserved for soccer games. Until this past week, when Max had his end-of-season party on Monday (which we had to plan and execute since Rich was the assistant coach, and the head coach was out of town). Annie had a game Tuesday, and then her end-of-season party Thursday. Max's party was held at the town park, right near the huge playground. Max overdid the enormous spinning tire--after an hour of nearly non-stop spinning he started throwing up. And throwing up. And throwing up... Poor kiddo. And yet I'm fairly sure he didn't learn anything from it. :P

*Gray had basketball camp, and thankfully he had a fantastic time. He's always excited about new things as long as they're far off in the distant future, but as the time to actually start something approaches, his anxiety kicks into full gear. But despite not knowing a single one of the hundreds of kids there, he stuck with it and enjoyed it. (With only one major breakdown.)

*Max and Annie had track camp. This was Annie's third year attending. Max has wanted to go ever since Annie started, but this was the first year he was old enough. I guarantee it won't be his last! Annie had fun, but Max was absolutely in his element!!! By the end of the second day, he was telling us that he wanted to be a track coach when he grew up. :) Oh my gosh, and the track meet at the end of the week--SO MUCH FUN!!! Annie placed fourth in both the long jump and the triple jump, and second in the 200 meters. It was funny--watching her run on that track I couldn't help but marvel at how much she'd changed even from last year. Such long slender legs. And Max, our little track star, placed first in every event he entered (the 400 meters, the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the pole vault). The 400 meters was the first event, and we were afraid that maybe that would wear him out. But the 100 meters followed immediately after, and he still managed to blow everyone away (despite the fact that none of the other kids in the 100 meters had even entered the 400 meters). As for the pole vault, I really don't have any idea idea how they judged that one, as not a single kid in his age bracket even cleared the lowest setting of the bar (I'm guessing they judged on form and how close they were to clearing it, but I really don't know). Anyway, Max may truly have found his calling. :)

Health-related:

*Both the boys had their 6-month dental cleanings/checkups. And all was well...hooray! Annie also went in that day just to make sure all was well with her newly braces-free teeth, and all was.

*Gray was to his psychologist. Overall, things are going pretty well for him. Of course, knowing that he doesn't have to go back to public school helps immensely.

*Annie saw her neurologist. Her left hand is back in the normal range. And her right hand showed 50% improvement. But despite the good news, he did warn us that she's bound to get worse again once school starts and she's back to writing and typing all the time.

*Rich's knee starting hurting him, and eventually started swelling up quite a bit. The doctor said it was tendonitis. He was supposed to stay off of it as much as possible for a week (definitely no jogging and no basketball with the boys), but with all the work we'd been doing around the house it's proved a little tough to really give it as much rest as he was supposed to. It is improving, just not as fast as we'd hoped it would.

*I kept my promise to Rich, which was that I would go to the doctor if all my physical problems didn't resolve themselves with the end of the school year. My doctor has given me a tentative diagnosis of fibromyalgia. After much blood work, etc., she still thinks that's what's going on. (Along with the fact that I have severe anemia--but that's easily treated.) She's referred me to a rheumatologist to confirm the diagnosis. Though frankly, I'm still holding out hope that the rheumatologist will find that there's something different going on--you know, as in something curable. In the meantime, I'm living in this sort of contradictory state of trying to accept the fact that I will have to learn to live with a chronic illness while still holding out hope that I won't.

Home improvement:

*Rich and I have worked a lot on decluttering and cleaning up the garage, but while a lot of progress has been made, we've still got a long way to go. We did clean out a huge set of storage shelves in our basement. And I've worked a bit on decluttering and cleaning out my little craft/pile-everything-that-I-don't-know-where-else-to-put-it room. It, too, has a long way to go. (Proof that we've been getting rid of tons of stuff can be seen on my 50x50 list--nine overpacked trunk-loads of stuff hauled off to the charity thrift store this month.)

*My parents generously came and stayed with us for five days, and helped us conquer many a project! The guys re-roofed our little toolshed, replaced our broken ceiling fan in the bathroom, fixed the pipe that had burst in our basement, and removed the dead garbage disposal and re-piped the sink. My Dad is a freakin' home improvement guru. :)

*My Mom helped with the big switchover. We moved Gray's bedroom to Annie's old bedroom, Annie's bedroom to the old library, and the library to Gray's old bedroom. Actually what she helped with was the painting. It seems like we painted everything in the house, though we actually only painted one full room (Annie's new bedroom). But we painted parts of Gray's ceiling and we painted tons of furniture. Ugh. But I never ever could have done it all without her help--my shoulders/upper arms/neck won't let me reach high for long at all, and I can't seem to put enough pressure on a roller to get anything close to decent coverage, and my hands can only grip a paintbrush for so long. :/ Anyway, aside from a few more little projects--whipping up a pillow to match the curtains I made Annie, framing another print for Annie's room so we can hang some things on her walls, and sewing up a door panel for Gray's room--we're about done. And the results have made us all very happy. :)

This was Gray's old pigsty of a room:

It is now our new library (we boxed up close to half of our books to get ready for moving):

This was Annie's old bedroom:

It is now Gray's bedroom:

And this was our old library:

It is now Annie's bedroom:

*****
All of the above left little time for the things I enjoy, however...things like reading, crafting, and being online. Hell, I didn't even get much done in the way of school prep, which is so not a good thing. And sadly, I don't think I'll get much of a chance to do any of those things for the next couple of weeks either, as my parents are coming back midweek to help us with a new round of projects. *sigh* Someday I will get to catch up with all of you again. Someday...