nagi_schwarz | Day 1299: Four Day Weeks

Four-day weeks somehow manage to be the worst. I don't know why. But I survived. It was a social-packed week, which is always rough for me, because I am an introvert. My favorite thing at the end of the day is to curl up on the couch and write. Not writing makes me a little crazy.

Tuesday night I went visiting teaching. That's always nice. Ended up making plans to go shooting with the lady I visit teach - and also her husband.

Wednesday night was dress rehearsal. I found a pretty awesome costume out of a skirt that I bought a while back but hadn't worn, and it was fun! Only I'd twisted my ankle while we were camping, so I had to dance really, really gingerly. There was only one crazy drunk dude yelling at us while we danced in the park, so practice went really well overall.

Thursday was my father's birthday (I sent him a happy birthday email) and also my in-laws' wedding anniversary, so we went out to dinner with Cody's brother and mother and also our old roommate Brent. It was fun times and good food. Of course I ate waaaaay too much. But it was good to get out. I did my henna tattoo that night for Saturday's show.

Friday we went shooting with my visiting teaching sister, her husband, and also Naomi. She'd only been shooting once before, so we worked on her gun safety and basic understanding about how guns work. She did pretty well, all things being equal. And then we went for dinner, and then she and I spent waaaaay too much time watching NCIS and doing henna tattoos. So many henna tattoos. But the new applicator bottles I got are awesome. They have fine tips so I can do fancier, more intricate work. On the other hand, the bottles require me to squeeze harder, so my hands were sorer as a result.

Saturday we slept in, rushed to the park, danced. Wandered around the farmer's market after the performance, which went well. I felt bad for the fan veil dancers in the wind, but the dancers did great. Rose and her husband showed up and watched, and I saw some of my other dancer friends who were just there to watch. I found a couple of cute night lights for my niece and nephew. Then Cody and I lazed around and watched some MMA fights, then headed north. We picked up Cody's friend's old drum set (complete with fancy hardware and cases) and also swung by to visit my brother-in-law, niece, and nephew.

Apparently my sister has moved back in, and in her five weeks of separation has only managed to net seventy bucks in earning. My sister didn't show her face once, so we hung around, talked. At first my nephew cried every time my brother-in-law tried to hand him to me, but once I smiled at him a lot and played with him, he was willing to let me hold him and play with him. I played with my niece as well - helped her with her toy fishing rod, asked her about daycare, admired her butterfly gel shoes. I helped her fill out a bunch of cards - father's day cards for her father and both grandfathers, a birthday card for my dad, and thank you cards for her dance teacher and daycare teacher. My niece is smart and sweet. She can spell her name, her brother's name, and "daddy". I told her how to spell her teachers' names and grandfathers' names, and she was smart enough to copy their names from inside the cards onto the backs of the appropriate envelopes. What broke my heart, though, was when she illustrated and signed the cards, she left out her mother. Didn't talk about her once, either.

After the visit, Cody and I drove home, watched more fights, and slept.

My parents were back in town today, so they stopped by on their drive south. I gave my dad his cards and presents. I embroidered his initials on a new supply of handkerchiefs, and also bought him a bowtie to go with the fancy kilt get-up he bought in Scotland. We talked and visited. Mom brought me a claddagh ring from Ireland, which is pretty awesome. We discussed the complications of things going on with my sister. Apparently she wants to divorce my brother-in-law in hopes of getting alimony (not nearly as commonly awarded as people think). My dad had a terrible plan to basically pay for my sister to move out - for a year. I was like - no. Don't go enabling that. Give her just enough money to move out and then let her fend for herself.

My mother says when my sister left for work in the morning, she didn't even look at my niece, didn't say goodbye, and my niece stood at the window and watched my sister drive away and cried.

Argh.

Cody and I took the dogs for a walk up the canyon tonight, so that was nice.

Here's to surviving another week!