Thursday, August 21, 2014

Summer's End


The end is in sight, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are days away from the new school year; supplies have been bought (after multiple trips to multiple stores), teachers have been assigned, new shoes and clothes have been purchased, and tonight is open house. We have 2 weekdays left of summer and I am both compelled to do something amazing to end it with a bang, and completely wrung out and over it all.

Thankfully the kids seem to take turns being the trying ones this summer, for a while it was the eldest with the trying-on of tween attitude, then it was the middle with his constant need for someone to tell him what to do when his sister wanted to play alone, then (and often) it was the youngest with her almost-three demanding independence about all things. This week she has had a slight cold and at the same time has decided not to nap anymore which lead to a 4-8pm meltdown on both of our parts. Good times.

Today is also day #22 of our Whole30 plan. Whole30 is an elimination diet where you only eat meat, nuts, veggies and fruit for 30 days. There is no sugar, no grains, no dairy, and no alcohol allowed. After Michigan where we ate and drank all the things, we knew it was going to be as good a time as any to start. We prepped and read testimonies, and found recipes and shopped for good food. We planned to start on August 1st but soon realized we had this amazing fridge full of food and decided to start a day early. It has been a great experience and I'll write more about it later but so far (even though it's not a weight-loss plan and you're not supposed to weigh yourself), I've lost over 10lbs. That's a nice perk but also my skin is clearer, as is my mind. You're supposed to have this amazing, boundless energy, but so far I'm struggling at the end of the day, that could be more about being worn out from a house full of 3 kids and it being summer though.

More on all of that at another time, I need to gather the troops and figure out what to do with our 2nd to last day of summer. I think my grand idea today is to drive 25 minutes to the $2 movie. Whoohoo, we have the most fun. It's a good thing the kids don't yet know how often their friends have been to Carowinds or the beach or other more exciting venues. I'll let that be my little secret as long as I can...