Morning, friends.  How were your holiday weekends?  We were pretty low-key around here.  Steve was tied up last week in depositions and was actually out of town for a few days – don’t worry, he was a very good boy, he wore his mask and was careful to socially distance – so by the weekend, I was pretty fried from spending most of the week on solo parenting duty while working.  He’s still super-busy; I’m in a lull for the moment, but my workload is set to come roaring back after this week, so basically, we’re just swimming as frantically as we can to try to keep from going completely underwater.

Anyway, the weekend was pretty nice.  There was some social time, which was a treat after being starved for human interaction for so long.  On Thursday the kids and I drove back to Alexandria and hung out at my dear Zoya’s house for awhile.  The kids played JENGA while Zoya and I talked as hard as we could about the neighborhood birds, Sir Smokes-a-lot (the most reviled resident of Zoya’s street), my new garden, her family – every subject we could squeeze into an hour-long visit.  She fed the kids Persian crackers and sparkling water, and then Nugget smashed an object that turned out to be an ancient fertilized chicken egg that Zoya found while digging by the side of the road and – as I said to Steve, of course she brought it home and put it on her windowsill, because Zoya’s gotta Zoy.  And then on Friday we had a fun family outing to Great Falls Park to visit with Peanut’s bestie and her dad.  They brought a picnic blanket, snacks and a big purple kickball; we contributed blueberry cornmeal mini-muffins fresh out of the oven.  I missed BFF’s mom (my pal Rachel), who had to work – boo.  But the girls had a grand time throwing the kickball to each other and “gossiping” – seriously, are they seven or twenty-seven? – while the dads compared “quarantine hair” from a safe distance of six feet away from each other and Nugget and I spotted a hawk, a Great Blue heron, and a bunch of vultures.

On Saturday, we headed out for a family hike at Seneca Regional Park.  We tried a different trail this time and hiked down to the Potomac – there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but we barely saw a soul on the trails, since this is such a big park.  No owls this time; I guess they were scared away by the kids’ constant loud bickering.  (I feel ya, owls.)  We had a grilled dinner, of course, and that was it – pretty laid-back Independence Day.  Sunday was an around-the-house kind of day.  I made a run to Target to pick up a few more things that have popped up on the “buy for the house” list, fiddled with my bird feeder setup, and did a few organizing projects around the house.  I was tired and droopy all day – it’s been hard to fall asleep and stay asleep lately and I’m a little ragged.  Not looking forward to another full workweek of juggling my job and my feral lockdown children.

Reading.  Are you tired of seeing these Lumberjanes covers yet?  I’ll probably read something else this week, now that my books are unpacked (if not organized).  But I figured that I’ve come this far so I may as well get through all of the comics.  I finished volume 13, Indoor Recess, midweek, and volume 14, X Marks the Spot, over the weekend, then started on some of the bonus material – Campfire Songs.  Still so much fun, although I miss the sharp art and even sharper wit of Noelle Stevenson.

Watching.  Hamilton, of course!  Like everyone else in America, or almost.  And! It! Was! So! AMAZING!  We’ve been waiting for months for the film to be released and it exceeded every expectation.  So incredible.  I have no words that haven’t already been said, so I’ll stop there.  Nugget fell asleep during Helpless but Peanut made it all the way to Your Obedient Servant (and, I guiltily admit, Steve and I finished it after she went to bed).  On Saturday night we watched the 2004 version of The Phantom of the Opera.  Nugget conked out early again – during The Music of the Night – but Peanut watched the whole thing and then was so hype that she didn’t fall asleep until midnight.  Whoops.  Other than our musical theatre bender, watching was limited this week.  Since Steve was out of town, we didn’t watch Continent 7 at all, and as a family we only squeezed in one episode of Rock the Park.

Listening.  Lots of music this week.  The kids are binging the soundtrack to The Phantom of the Opera, which I think is cool.  (It’s been my favorite musical since middle school, because I’m basic like that, and I’ve seen it performed onstage five times – three times on Broadway, once at the Kennedy Center, and once at Shea’s in Buffalo.)  Steve and I have gotten into a heated debate over the Phantom – I say that he’s complicated, Steve says he’s a sociopathic murderer.  Maybe we’re both kind of right?

Moving.  Oof.  It was not a good week for movement.  Other than gardening and unpacking and general life stuff, I didn’t get out for a run or do any barre or even yoga.  Blah.  Perhaps that’s why I feel so grumpy and out of sorts.

Making.  I am feeling pretty pleased with myself: while Steve was out of town on business I spent one evening setting up the kids’ playroom.  They didn’t deserve all that work, since they had both been giant jerks all day, but it ended up buying me some peace and good behavior the next day, so #worthit.  But the best part: I had a Charley Harper playhouse that I bought from Crate & Kids ages ago – back when it was still The Land of Nod – and had been hauling around in a box, unassembled, from house to house for years.  Obviously, since it was 10:00 p.m. and Steve was away on business, I decided the time was right to tackle that beast.  So I ripped into the box, pulled out the instructions, and read: “This playhouse requires two adults to safely put together.”  I said: “Eff that, how do single moms do it then?” and rolled up my sleeves – and an hour later, I had a playhouse.  I had to stand on a few of the connectors to get enough force on them, but I DID IT.  And the kids have been playing in there all week, so – success!

Blogging.  I have some thoughts about Fourth of July 2020 for you on Wednesday, and then – I don’t know what, on Friday.  I don’t have anything planned, let alone drafted.  So I guess we will all be surprised, or maybe I’ll take Friday off.  Who knows!

Loving.  This is so ridiculously sad, you guys, but – I am seriously loving my master bath right now.  First of all, it has been years – since January 2016 – that I have had a connected en suite bath.  So that alone: game changer.  But on Sunday I took about thirty minutes and organized all of the bath and body stuff that I had thrown across the counter while I was unpacking, and now it’s all clean and fresh, and all of my products are within reach.  You guys?  It’s seriously amazing what one organized, clean, kid-free space does for my mental health.  I want to hide in there all day, just looking happily at the sparkling countertop and the little basket of skincare products.  In fact, I think I’m going to go hide in there now.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?