Thursday Ten: That Ain’t Chump Change edition

1. Yesterday, I walked out of a meeting to find a text on my phone from one of my Avon Walk teammates that our team has raised (to date) over $20,000. That is a mind boggling figure to wrap my head around – but I’m so tremendously proud of our group, and I cannot wait to see everyone tomorrow and kick off another 39.3 on Saturday morning. (I have no idea who that is in the picture below, but we saw her in Boston last year and her shirt made me giggle)

2. And The Princess is now eleven years old. She was magnificently spoiled on her birthday and I am officially (though temporarily) tired of baking. Two cakes and 30+ cupcakes later, I think I went through all of my baking supplies at least once over the past weekend. Also? I hate frosting cupcakes.

3. With the upcoming weekend – with 40 miles of walking – HOURS of exercise ahead of me, you’d think I could just chill about missing last night’s work out. But – the night got away from me. Between picking up kids and hockey and dinner and vacuuming and un-birthdaying the house… not even remotely sure where the time went… only that I had no time to work out. It shouldn’t be a big deal, but “break a sweat daily” is so ingrained in my way of being that it felt really strange to park my fanny on the couch and do nothing.

4. Speaking of hockey…Good season, Red Wings. It was a bummer to see them lose last night, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

5. The weather has been bizarre lately. Hot and then cool and then… tornado type weather and storms. Pumpkin decided to camp out with me the other night because of storms. Yeah. That wasn’t a whole ton of fun (or sleep).

6. Allergies. Do you have them? How miserable are you right now? I can’t believe how awful my allergies are, and I know I’m not the only one.

7. I back up all the kids’ CDs in my itunes (I have to back up The Princess’s latest Taylor Swift – but I keep “forgetting”), so occasionally when I’m listening to things on shuffle, one of their songs will pop up. I guess that’s why I’ve had Miley Cyrus’s “When I Look At You” stuck in my head for two days.

8. Just one more week of school for the girls and while the pace of summer slows life down a little bit, I still recall last summer and JUST HOW MESSY a house gets when two kids are home all day. Though I’m fortunate to have amazing family childcare and a LOT of help because of it, coming home to a destroyed kitchen always sets my teeth a bit on edge. Guess it’s time to lay some groundrules for the next three months.

9. I want a shelf lined with jars of sand from different beaches. I want to sit on a beach and watch the sun rise. I have very distinct moments of wanting to escape and I am equally called to the sounds of city and to the sounds of water. I guess it’s fitting that I’ll be in Chicago soon.

10. My kids’ school sells yearbooks. Like it’s become this money making enterprise now – Um, why does a second grader need a yearbook (she doesn’t) and who gets to listen when you don’t buy said yearbook because COME ON, middle school and up, but no one needs a year book for every year of elementary school. Um, sorry. I’ve just heard for the past two days, “Why didn’t I get a yearbook?” from Pumpkin. I feel very “get off my lawn” about it all – but… ridiculous.