Weekly Wrap-Up: In Which We Break and So Does the Refrigerator

It's taken me long enough to make my first post here, you think? It’s like I’ve been afraid of it or something. This Think Too Much stuff is a serious illness, I tell you. And what's worse, it's lately been accompanied by Can’t Get Enthused About Anything. Not exactly a great combination, and certainly not a recipe for productivity.

So it’s time to just jump in. Even though the header isn’t the way I want it and this and that isn’t the way I want it. We’ll fix things as we go along, eh?-- and maybe we’ll pick up a little enthusiasm while we’re at it.

I really did not want my first post here to be a Weekly Wrap-Up. Then again, it's not really a normal Wrap-Up anyway, since it wasn't a normal week. (I know, I know: define "normal". Later.) It's more about coffee makers and refrigerators and puzzles and giggly girls than it is about math or history. So I think we're okay.

There was no schoolwork to speak of at our house this past week, because I decided that we’d take a Spring Break along with the rest of West Michigan. I hadn’t been certain that we’d take the whole week off; I’d thought maybe we’d do a few “light days” of school and then take Thursday and Friday off, or some such mean-homeschool-mom thing. We’re thinking about taking an out-of-state vacation in May, Just Because We Can-- that is, IF I can get myself enthused about planning it and IF we can justify spending the money, both of which are big ifs at this point. So I wasn’t sure we should take a week off in April, even though I have been More Than Ready For a Break for some time now.


Then we learned, barely a week ahead of time, that the mom in charge of the teeny little girl’s club Fuzz and I belong to (note: it’s the club that’s teeny, not the girls) had obtained use of a cottage for a couple days of spring break week and was planning a little retreat for us. So that settled it; we were having Spring Break. Can’t say I was too disappointed about that.


The retreat was Tuesday through Thursday, so I, Compulsive Homeschool Mother that I am, had told the kids we’d do math and a little history on Monday and then declare Spring Break. Fuzz, however, was invited to spend Sunday night at Grandma’s with her cousins and go to the annual Butterflies Are Blooming exhibit at our local botanical gardens on Monday. I, Impulsive and Flexible Homeschool Mother that I am, said of course. We can’t let schoolwork get in the way of field trips and relationships, now, can we? So Spaz did math and some leftover work from the previous week, and no one did history. I’m rather surprised that Spaz didn’t pull the “Fuzz doesn’t have to do school today and I shouldn’t either” card, but he didn’t. I suppose he figured that since he was getting rid of both me and schoolwork for a few days, he could put up with a little algebra. (Besides, he doesn’t want to have a lot of math left to do over the summer.)


Tuesday morning we dropped Spaz off at his friend’s house, picked up our own friends, and headed for points north. 


At the retreat…


*The five girls (ages 11-15) crammed into the upstairs loft room, leaving two bedrooms for the 3 moms. My friend and I shared a room (but not a bed, thanks goodness) and left the other room for the mom who likes to sleep with the room temp at 55 degrees.


*A lot of giggling came from that upstairs room.


*It rained most of the time and snowed briefly. (This is typical spring break weather here. A few years ago we had a blizzard during spring break week.)


*We climbed dunes at Lake Michigan. Well, the five girls and I did; the other two moms opted out for physical reasons. At nearly 45, I am the junior mom by 4 years and felt up to the challenge. I congratulated myself on my energetic youthfulness as I ran up and down the first dune with the girls, then wheezed and panted for the next ten minutes. But hey, I did it.


*We all walked the wet pier “at our own risk” and reached the lighthouse.

*We walked to downtown Ludington and the girls bought ice cream cones.


*We forgot the chicken and so had sliced-up hotdogs with our fried potatoes and green beans the first night. The second night, we made hobo dinners.


*For lack of a campfire (it was WET out), we cooked our hobo dinners and banana boats in the oven and our s’mores on the stovetop. No one felt terribly deprived.

*The girls made bacon-egg-&-cheese sandwiches for one breakfast and pancakes & sausage for the other. We made pizza sandwiches for lunch.


*I drank lots of coffee from the beloved thermal-carafe coffee maker I’d brought along, because I am spoiled and won’t drink coffee that’s been sitting on a burner. We used the cottage’s coffee maker for hot water for tea and hot chocolate.

*We had devotions multiple times. I guess that’s part-and-parcel of a retreat.

*I barely touched my laptop (which I’d brought because I couldn’t imagine spending two-and-a-half days without it) but spent lots of time with my head in my puzzle book.

*Fuzz started a 500-hundred piece puzzle, and I, Good Mom that I am, tore myself away from my puzzle book and sat down to do it with her. After twenty minutes or so, she wandered off, while I, Compulsive Puzzle Finisher that I am, continued to work on it… and work on it… She did come back to check my progress every so often, as did everyone else. There were many oohs and ahs when it was finished. Meanwhile the other moms had done productive things like knitting, sewing, and reading.

*Fuzz and I played several games of Set (she always beats me; I am too analytical to be any good at Set) and some of the others played Blokus. Since it is a 4-person game and there were four others who -wanted to play, I, Self-Sacrificing Person that I am, opted to stifle the urge to declare my affinity for Blokus and pretended to be more interested in my the puzzle.

*Someone, perhaps two someones, replaced the roll of toilet paper twice. (Eight females, one bathroom-- you know how that goes.) Both times I, Compulsive Toilet Paper Correcter that I am, had to re-do it so it would hang the RIGHT way. I began to question my involvement with these people who obviously do not know that toilet paper should hang over the TOP of the roll. Sheesh.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

*The refrigerator died shortly after I left. Oh. Yes. It. Did. Hubz, having determined that it was beyond repair, broke the news to me by calling on his way to the appliance store to ask what I wanted in a new refrigerator. Then he picked it out all by himself.

*Hubz threw out all the food that was in the old frig, except for a few pieces of old-ish fruit that probably weren’t worth saving. Everything else got pitched, even the ketchup and mustard and butter. He did not think to put anything in a cooler, not even the stuff I had just bought the day before I left. He can be a little rash when frustrated. I, having at long last learned to keep my mouth shut when prudent (and actually remembering that principle on this occasion), did not make a great deal of comment on this. In his defense, he did put some of the freezer stuff into the garage freezer, including the box of ice cream drumsticks. Priorities, you know.

*Spaz called his youth leader and asked if she would make him a lunch for their group outing Wednesday since there was no food in our refrigerator. I do hope he explained a bit.

*Spaz went bowling with his youth group, after which it stopped raining long enough for them to head out to the beach as planned. Spaz, being Spaz, ended up in the water with his clothes on. No one was surprised by this.

*Hubz drank lots of coffee from the beloved thermal-carafe coffee maker that remained at home, since I had taken the spare. Yes, we have two identical thermal-carafe coffee makers, and we bought them both ourselves. I know that is a little scary. (I enjoyed getting to use the lesser-used one that does not have sticky buttons.)


When I got home from the retreat on Thursday afternoon, we picked up our new May vacation refrigerator and got it up and running. Friday, Hubz made a trip to Aldi, his Second Favorite Store in the Whole World Barely Behind Menard’s, to “replenish” the fridge. He bought cheese and more ice cream treats. Period. *Sigh*He and I each made another grocery run Saturday afternoon, and yet another Saturday evening. It’s amazing how much was in our fridge that I took for granted, only remembering it when I went to use it and it wasn’t there. I think we might be set now, though.

That was our exciting week. Next week it’s back to math and writing and… and a couple field trips to spice things up a little. But you’ll have wait til next time to hear about those. Meanwhile, you know the routine.