Lessons in Disappointment

1. It's Saturday morning and I really need to get something posted for this week.

It wasn't that awful of a week; I think the severe thunderstorm that ruined our beach day yesterday is coloring my perspective on our week. But I had forgotten how much I don't get done when both children are home with me all the time, while Marshall is working very long hours and my parents are still out of town. My mother-in-law was a huge help this week, though; I'm not sure how we would have managed driving home from Long Beach Island yesterday in a terrible downpour without her help navigating and placating the disappointed children in the back seat.

2. I really did try to plan fun things for the children to do this week. They had a cool babysitter last Saturday night while I was out celebrating the end of the school year with the ladies in my small group from Youth Group, we went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday night, met the cousins at Chick Fil'A on Monday for lunch, went swimming at a friend's house on Thursday afternoon and then to the beach Friday.

But then the beach trip was rained out by severe thunderstorms and it was a difficult trip home because Alex's spirit was just crushed by having to be dragged out of the water when he was having such a good time, and then he had to sit in the car for more than an hour while we tried to decide if we should just go home, and then sit in the car for two more hours trying to get home through the horrible storm. (Our usual travel time to Surf City, NJ, is 75 minutes.)

I was so disappointed for him, because we had talked about it all week and we got a late start because while I was trying to get everything ready, both he and Miranda were horsing around and collided, which caused him to bite his tongue, which bled everywhere and upset all of us. And added half an hour to prep time. So we might have had an hour in the water before the thunder started.

I know Alex has to learn to cope with disappointments just like any kid, autism notwithstanding, but it breaks a mommy's heart.

3. Our other big disappointment this week was Wednesday morning, I dragged both kids out early to the Cinemark Theatre in Somerdale for a showing of Rio, a household favorite. I left in such a time to leave about 5 minutes before show time so that Alex wouldn't have to sit in the seat interminably, which was a problem at the only other movie we've been to all together, but when we arrived, all the tickets were sold out. It was very hard for both children to just turn around and go home, especially with half an hour travel time each way.

I'm hoping to see Despicable Me there on Tuesday, July 3. We'll plan better for next time.

4. On Tuesday, I was working on paperwork for Youth Group and the children were bored, so I put the sprinkler on in the backyard for them. And a happy, muddy time ensued:

Somehow, for any descendant of my mother, water + mud is always much more fun than just water. Maybe it's a sensory thing.

5. I did get a few pictures of the happy boy before the lifeguards rushed us out of the water:

The last two are of Alex wallowing in the sand, bemoaning his lack of surf. It took forever to get all the sand off of him and I don't think it will every completely come out of his white shirt; that's what I get for buying white instead of yellow like last year.

And just so you don't think Miranda was bored all this time, she was happily digging with her cousin, Collin:

The depth of the hole is Collin's work; Miranda was just incidental labor.

6. I did make some good progress this week on Celestial Dragon, although on Tuesday night I ran into a problem on the bottom-left side of his jaw. I made a mistake somewhere and haven't been able to figure out where my counting went wrong, so I've left the thread trailing and moved onto to other sections. If I can't figure out where I went wrong, I'll just have to frog the whole section, a fate which I'm doing my best to avoid.

But he has half of an eye now and a tongue a looks a lot more interesting.

7. I have trouble finishing things. I was two-thirds of the way through the last Harry Potter book for, like, a year. I've had the last episode of the Miss Marple series left the watch for almost the whole week. Also waiting for me on my DVR:

• the last 3 episodes of this season's Castle;
• the last 4 episodes of this season's Justified;
• the last 2 episodes of last season's Leverage;
• the last 3 episodes of this season's NCIS;
• the season finale of Person of Interest;
• the last 9 episodes of this season's Star Wars: The Clone Wars;
• the last 4 episodes of this season's The Mentalist;
• the last 5 episodes of Thundercats;
• the season finale of Unforgettable;
• the last 3 episodes of Band of Brothers;
• the last 7 episodes of last season's Covert Affairs;
• the last 3 episodes of Awake; and
• the last episode of Ken Burns' The War.

Maybe I just latch onto the next, shiny thing that comes by (which lately has been episodes of the original Perry Mason series from the '50's). Or I just don't want to say good-bye to a beloved series that won't have any new episodes ever (like Awake). Or I'm avoiding emotional conclusions (like The Mentalist). Or I hate cliffhangers so much I'd rather wait until the new season starts before watching the end of the old season (like Person of Interest). Or I'm just strange.

Bonus 8. So Marshall and I have had difficultly coming to agreement on new blinds for the back door, since the children destroyed the previous two sets. But with the summer heat beating down on us every afternoon, we were finally able to find something we both liked, which he installed this morning:

It will help tremendously. We may buy a fancy topper sometime, but the priority now was to keep the heat out in a room that already runs hot in the summer, however cool the rest of the house is.

Here's Jen.