Thoughts in My Head

It has been one crazy week!

A perfect storm of proposals and the departure of my coworker on his vacation led to me putting in a ton of hours last week. I was in early every day and left late most of them.

Thursday was the exception, when Tabby had her class presentation on their Standley Lake Habitat research papers and her Barnyard Mooosical. We got to gather the family together to have dinner and cheer on our little naturalist/singer.

But we have definitely made hay during the weekend! Friday I had Bunco and Matt and the kids met up with another Dad and his kids. Saturday I got a nice run in while the kids have karate. Then we ran errands before meeting up with adult friends for a night out. We went to Punchbowl Social, a hipster hang out home to great food, a great bar and fun activities, including bowling. It lives up to its name with a bunch of tasty cocktails served family style in punch bowls, complete with cut crystal cups. Sunday was all about being outside. Matt and I did loops around the playground while the kids played and in the evening, we walked down to our dinner destination in Golden with my dad and sister.

All the while, we’ve had some truly crazy weather. Observe the “lake” in our back patio.

And this is our oft-used walking trail near Clear Creek. Observe (upon enlargement) how the sidewalk and slide are now a rather wet proposition than before. And this is the minor stuff. We’ve had hail for three days straight and tornadoes! They have been minor and not much damage has been done, but yikes!!

All the while, I’ve been listening to a new book called Overwhelmed which tackles the culture of crazy work and not much life balance in our culture. It’s been a great backdrop to my madness. Happily it’s underscored my better-than-average life balance as well and given me some good ideas.

Originally, I’d decided not to leave for camping this week until Friday after work,  feeling guilty for being gone again. But today I’m back in the office. I’ve just put in about 5 hours (plus 2 last night) and am ready to head for home. This, coupled with my crazy week last week and upcoming crazy week this week, has led me to the decision that I’m having my Memorial Day on Friday. We’ll be leaving on Friday morning whenever the heck we feel like it.