The Latta Family

The last time I wrote on this topic, was almost exactly a year ago.  I assumed since I had MOVED I was safe.  I treated the topic in a non-serious way.  I made fun of my over dramatic reaction; but now I'm wondering if maybe I should have taken this more seriously, because  clearly this is real, and should be treated as such.  Y'all, I have a black cat situation. Yes. Another one.  Or the same one?  I don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's crazy!!!! In case you forgot, or didn't know, last June, I started having unusual encounters with a black cat ( Episode #1 ,  Episode #2 ,  Episode #3 ).  But we moved, so the problem stopped.  Or, it should have stopped.  Except, on Thanksgiving Day we saw a black cat walking up the back line of our property.  We got a good chuckle out of it.  I felt pretty sure it wasn't the same one, but still in the back of my head, I thought, "How weird.  There are probably people who go an entire lifetime without ever having a black c

Teachers had the option of starting back this week.  I only went to school Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday.  I left right at 3pm because I had to pick Alexa up from Pottery Camp.  There were no kids, and not a lot of teachers on campus.  Each day I came home EXHAUSTED.  Had to lay down and take a nap as soon as I walked in the door because I just couldn't think about anything else. My naps are only 10-15 minutes.  They're not so much for physical exhaustion, they're to reset my brain.  I am finding that the older I get the more I am impacted by external stimulation.  Around July 4 when we were putting the river rock bed in, and it was so stinking hot, or the weeks when I was cleaning up from all the tree debacle; I would work so hard.  I would be a sweaty gross mess.  My arms or back would be sore, but I wasn't mentally exhausted.  Being around people is so much more fatiguing to me. All day long I have to think of the correct response.  I had to call a parent and

I am still swimming laps.  In fact, I've been getting up this week progressively earlier, to get used to getting up, get the routine down, and have it down to a science when school really starts.  Right now, the alarm goes off, I get out of bed, put my suit on, my cover up on, grab my stuff- carefully placed near the door- and leave.  My eyes are hardly open.  As I walk down my porch steps, I sort of lurch and stumble out to my car, as my feet are still stiff.  Then I drive in silence to the pool, drinking water, and eating my snack. Once I get out of my car- I'm not much more awake.  I'm bleary eyed, off balance.  I probably look like death warmed over. Since I've been swimming most of the summer, I am starting to pick up on some of the "regulars." There's a couple of people I frequently see, when I go.  This morning- despite my early early early arrival- that woman was there. I saw her a few feet in front of me as we walked into the facility.  As s

Dang y'all!!!! I feel more personally prepared to start this school year, than I have in recent years. Although- in fairness, last year we were preparing to move in approximately 2 weeks after school started, so . . .  last year should NEVER be a year I compare to.  I've been getting mentally prepped for school lunches (hopefully better than last year), organized (uhh- all my tissue paper is categorized!), and the house is reasonably clean. I took Alexa to go get school supplies this morning.  I wanted to get that final task done before I went back to work because: 1. Otherwise, I would have to go after work, when stores are crowded.  2. I am too tired to deal with crowds after work.  3. If I go now- there will be plenty of options. Andrew said, "Have fun."  I left him home, chilling on the couch.  Besides- I wasn't buying him anything anyway.  I'm not buying his school supplies until the school year starts, and I know what he needs.  I did buy him pencils

I think one of my children was possibly born to the wrong type of family.  This particular child should possibly have born to European royalty.  They're not really into being outside, doing yard work, or cleaning up after themselves.  This is a problem.  As that's what we do. Whenever it's time to do any of the dreaded activities this child's diva like tendencies show up.  They moan, stomp, roll around, sulk, slam doors, stomp, wonder aimlessly "looking" for tasks to do/avoid. Yesterday, after the zoo, they asked, "OOH! What are we doing tomorrow?!"  I said, "Cleaning the house."  Well- I'm sure you can imagine that was met with a negative amount of enthusiasm- understandably.  Except it needed to be done.  I hadn't vacuumed in over a week.  I was starting to feel like the house was escaping me.  It's not like I wanted it clean enough for the European royalty to come over and reclaim their long lost child, but I did need the