Wednesday, September 15, 2010

WFMW: Burn Out Remedy

This school year (ha!  All three weeks of it!) I have tried to keep things more hands-on and less book work.  The end result is a happier kid, but a mom that is a bit stretched outside her comfort level.

It's hard work to not have a pile of papers at the end of the day.  Seriously.  It's much easier on my check-off-the-list kind of mind to have tangible evidence of "work."

Documenting throwing marbles in flour and eating Oreos for science is WAY outside my realm of comfort.  But I trudge on.  Until I don't.

In the midst of this gigantic (to me, of course) shift in philosophy, we are trying to add on to the house.  I had no clue how much had to be done before the plans are even submitted to the city.  Every day there seems to be something that requires my immediate attention.  Every day?  Every couple of hours.

Oh yeah...and my husband is working out of state .... again (thanks, California for your awesome tax incentives to businesses!).

So all of this whininess to say I had it last week.  Had it.  Done.

Then...some wonderful friends invited us to Crystal Cove.  We ditched school and had ourselves some R & R.

For those of you not in SoCal, Crystal Cove is a state park with a bunch of cottages from the 40's.  People leased these cottages for years and years and years until the Irvine Company sold the land (and the cottages and the leases) to the State of California.  The State kicked everybody out when their leases were up and turned it into the park that it is now.  On the first of every month, you can try to reserve one of the cottages.  Most people book 6 months out.  After going, I believe it may be worth it.

We parked across PCH (busy highway) and walked down this little trail.  It felt like what I remember California being when I was growing up.  Well, except for the pavement.  That seems a bit TOO SoCal, but it was convenient.
Then we walked through a tunnel decorated by all kinds of fun things (including a dolphin birthing circle with blood and everything -- interesting) to get under PCH.
Then to the beach.  The lovely beach.  The perfect beach with the amazing tide pools.  My camera ran out of batteries, but we saw a bunch of starfish, rock fish, a bazillion hermit crabs, sea anemones, and other tiny fish that darted away from our shadows.
T fell on the slippery rocks and got algae all over her...she was not pleased.
Thank you starfish for making it all better! 

So when it gets too much, put down the list, take a deep breath, and get outside.  See what's bigger than yourself.  It's guaranteed to put things in perspective.  Guar-an-darn-teed!

Check out We Are That Family and find out what works for everyone else on  Works-For-Me Wednesdays!  And check out what she's doing with the Mercy House.  

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