Hey people!!!!

It's been one of those weeks. You know the kind: those weeks when both your house air conditioning AND your car air conditioning break on the same day. And then, even though you tell your husband, "Don't let the HVAC guy bamboozle you into some maintenance contract (cause you wouldn't dream of paying to prevent problems, you'd rather just cough up 5 times more after things break), you get home and your husband tells you he had to sign the maintenance contract because blah blah blah de blah blah.

And the Olympics are over, and your DVR keeps stopping recordings just before the actual end of programs, so you don't get to see one gold medal handed out or find out what happens "Next week on The Hills." And you discover that your work pants from Spring semester are, um, snug (to put it mildly). And the fun fabric shopping trip you have planned with one of your closest friends whom you haven't spent time with in way too long gets canceled cause the damn shop is closed on Mondays.

That kind of week.

But. In the midst of all my whining this week, I did find a few moments of unexpected joy. Turns out that riding around town with the windows down, something I haven't done in a really long time, has a kind of euphoric effect on passengers. Apart from the blistering, smothering heat at stoplights, rolling along with the wind in our hair this week has been kind of fun.

I think it's because driving with the windows down makes you turn the music up, which causes you to sing along more loudly than you otherwise might, which, it seems, releases endorphins, even in toddlers. There's been much giggling and smiling in the car of late, a good bit of waving out the window, and lots and lots of singing. I'd even be as melodramatic as to say that driving with the windows down makes me feel more connected to the world.

Apparently it makes Mitch feel that way too.

Why else would he release himself from his booster seat, lean across the front seat to stick his head out the window, and holler, "Hey people!!!!!"

See? Not all bad is bad. Sometimes bad can be good.

But air conditioning is better.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good

• Fall semester starts next week. Work = sanity.
• Yesterday we booked a beach house in the Outer Banks for September. It will be our first family vacation (that is, first taken as just us, without extended family).
• The laundry, it is caught up AND put away.
• The bills, they are paid (my least favorite chore).
• The boys are letting me read The Mouse and Motorcycle to them. Since finishing Ramona the Brave (our first chapter book attempt), they are finally getting the whole "just listen to the story" thing and will sit (mostly) quietly for a whole chapter. I love it. Now I can foist my favorite books upon them.
• Mitch wore underwear all day today with no accidents. Yay! Because school, for which he has to be potty trained, starts in 2 weeks, and now I don't have to sneak him in in Pull Ups.
  

The Bad

• The heat. Oh lordy the heat.
• Next week's string of doctors' appointments for the kids, some of which may end with recommendations for surgery (Paige, for a clogged tear duct and/or kidney reflux; Owen, for his ongoing strabismus issue). Sigh.
• The #$%#@ Mattel recall may mean I have to take away all of Mitch's most favoritest toys.
• Our sitter quit, leaving us less than a week to find a replacement. Plus, we love her. Damn only-offered-fall-semester Senior Seminar. Damn sitter who wants to finish college and stuff.
• Ant Family Jamboree 2007 in our kitchen.

The Ugly

• My unwritten syllabus. Did I mention I have a brand new prep this semester? Which includes Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen? Whom I haven't taught or studied since grad school? Yeah. Better get on that.
• Next month's electric bill. Isn't the air conditioning supposed to, like, turn off sometimes?
• Paige's runny nose (oh so ugly, trust me).
• The--yaaaawn--bags under my eyes.
• The ice cream-less freezer. WTFlip? It's 101 degrees outside for flip's sake!
• John's snoring from the bedroom, which I can hear all the way in the living room.

Here's to a restful weekend full of...classic British Lit, I guess.