Happy, Happy, Happy

Okay, I know I got that song stuck in your head.  We all loved it when it first came on the air, but now, through overplay and attaching it to ABC GMA commericals, we are I am most certainly done with it.

But, maybe I should not be.  Maybe instead of singing Let It Go and Do You Wanna Build a Snowman in various adaptations, I should walk around singing Happy.  Since Mother's Day I have been on a bit of a high.  And it is all about just embracing the little things. It is accepting your failures and building from there.  It is using each day as a lesson for the next.  Cheesy, but really where I am.

I am looking at what to do with my Fridays in school next year.  We are continuing with the Service Learning, but I would like to build in a character building aspect.  My kids really need training in how to be polite and respectful and handle themselves among themselves.  I was looking for, what I called, "How to Not Be a Jerkface All the Time" training programs and I found 8 Keys to Excellence and I like what they are putting out there.

One of the key (pun totally intended) tenets to this program is 

and I totally love it.  

Yup, that sucked.  What can you take from it and where can you go from here? 

It is really rather empowering when you just embrace it and move on.  Another moment for me to practice what I preach.  

Chaos - http://www.henderson-art.co.uk/art-detail.php?id=chaos

Insanity is this week - 2 more days of the school week, with a shift day tomorrow and subbing jobs for the fireman on both ends.  My mil's birthday party is Saturday and D's is Sunday.  The boys have a million things to do after school - 8th grade memorial things and robotics competition prep. And my house looks like a Laundromat vomited all over it.  I keep moving the laundry baskets I am avoiding from my living room to my bed and back again.  We are looking at buying new living room furniture - kids and dogs have taken their toll on what we have right now and I can't make it look nice anymore. I have a stack of papers to grade that is reaching toward the heavens and I am unsure as to when I will get to those. My perfect life that so many people seem to perceive that I live, looks more like a random state of chaos and confusion at every turn.  I am okay with that, it is my confusion.

And yet, with all of this insanity, I am amazingly calm.

If my laundry doesn't get put away by the party day, I'll close my bedroom door.  I will get to those papers, even if it is not tonight.  The new furniture will be amazing and will lead to lovely nights of giggles, frights and snuggles.  

I am in an amazing state of contentment.  It is kinda weird.  But I am indeed kinda weird, so I guess I'll just have to embrace it.

A return to normal...with a 48

This summer was anything BUT normal.  I'm thinking, however, that after waiting for the last 4 summers to return to normal, ever-changing is the NEW normal.  J was on 40 hour weeks, then returned to his normal shift...for a week.  Then back to a 40 hour week for some more training - with a 24 on each end, making for a 90 hour week and jumping right into our family's first camping trip...insanity.  There was just no way for us to adjust and adapt with any success, because we were CONTINUALLY adapting and changing.  

And here we are, Labor Day weekend. Life is returning to normal.  We just came back from the aforementioned first camping trip - tale for another day.  I have a hard time calling it "camping" given that I grew up doing a ton of camping - with a TENT - gasp!  But, I digress...

Anyway, life is returning to normal, which of course, involves a 48 and a holiday and a family gathering or TWO.  Just as school is about to start.  And of course my FF is working 72 of the 96 hours, leaving it all in my lap.  So, assuming there are no burst pipes or broken bones - <quick, knock on the closest piece of wood you can find!!> I will actually enjoy this weekend.  Last minute touches on my syllabi for the coming week, dividing the kids' school supplies making sure that everyone has the correct number of wipes containers, waking up randomly at 3am because something popped into your head and you could not get back to sleep and decided to write a blog post for your sad and neglected blog, running from family gathering to family gathering...all on my own two feetsies...the very definition of Fire Wife Life.

This summer has defined Fire Wife Life...

...ever-changing, unpredictable, quit trying to control it and just go with the flow, doubting if you will ever actually see him again in anything but station navy blue, I just want him to come home, don't you have to go back to work soon...insanity at its very best...the new normal.

And truly, as much as I fuss about it, I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Stay safe this weekend, say a prayer that your FFs do as well - whether they are on the Rim or in the hood or just on call. Everyone, come home safe.  Happy Friday!