Whoops! There Went July...

You know how in the old-school movies when they want to show time passing, they focus in on one of these page-a-day calendars and one page peels off and then another and then another and then another, going faster and faster and faster until it's just a blur and soon you can't even see the individual days flying off and one month appears only to be immediately replaced by the next one?

Yeah.

July was supposed to be a quieter month for us. The only things on the calendar were a couple of soccer games and a few piano lessons. With the kids in their summer program and me not needing to race home to meet the school bus, my days were going to much looser, with time to bike and take leisurely lunch breaks strolling through the farmer's market. No homework and longer daylight would mean lingering over supper and lots of time to play outside.

Again...yeah.

The big wrench in the gears (or "spanner in the works" as they say across the pond - one of my new favourite sayings) was The Husband's unexpected and rather intense travel schedule. I'd say that the Holiday Inn and I are about even-steven right now for who gets him at night. He left last Sunday on his most recent jaunt, thinking maybe Wednesday he'd be back.

Yeah.

(I've learned not to hold my breath, even when an actual return ticket is booked. Right now we're targeting tomorrow night, but don't think I don't have a kids movie and popcorn up my sleeve just in case.)

We've also been trying to fit in various appointments. Which? I think I won't do anymore. I think I'll just bury my head in the sand and not go to anything health or dental related, since this is the thanks I get:

- Routine doctor's appointment = "Hmm, his heart murmur that I said was nothing last time? Well, I can really hear it now. Here's the number for a pediatric cardiologist. Oh, and his lungs are functioning at 70% capacity. If you don't step up the Flovent, he will have this forever."

- Routine orthodontic consultation = "We're looking at an 18-month treatment course for phase 1 that will include the expander, the head gear, and the braces. Of course, there will be another round of braces for phase 2 when he's 14, but we'll talk about that later."

Seriously - head gear?! I didn't know they even did that anymore. Also, from today's follow-up appointment: "I'm going to request that we extract those two baby teeth. But only in the fall, so don't worry about it for now."

(And yes, I've also heard the words "already surpassed his lifetime orthodontic maximum." But, hey, at least we have dental insurance - otherwise he'd be shoeless on the first day of school.)

Of course, since I'm single-mom-ing it and working full-time/feeding children/dropping off/picking up/driving to the orthodontist/enforcing piano practicing/doing laundry/cleaning juuuuust enough to keep Family Services at bay tends to be a tad time-consuming, my running has fallen totally by the wayside. Sigh - I was really hoping to keep it up. But I'll get back into it...sometime.

BUT! We aren't just busy because of stupid things. We're busy because of awesome things, too!

We had some great Canadian visitors this past weekend, and they gave us an excuse to go to the zoo and to the children's museum. The museum has a special Wizard of Oz exhibit this summer, so I'll give you one guess as to who was skipping and vibrating with excitement when she got her admission sticker.

(Hint: Not anyone under 30.)

Riding away with Toto - she looks just like Miss Gulch, doesn't she?

Hanging out in the rooftop garden.

Apparently I ordered Stir-Fry with Croissants.

Somewhere Over Under the Rainbow