What I Learned This Week

Guess you could say my mind is busy this week. It's a quiet week for events and responsibilities which means more time for my mind to get busy with projects I want to do, things I should be doing, and deep thoughts on the economy, the state of children and culture, and, of course, when will the green grass reappear.

Deep thoughts call for the randomness of a list. Don't you think?

I found this fun meme at Musings of a Housewife and knew it was just what the doctor ordered. It's called "What I Learned This Week" and while it's technically only Tuesday afternoon I have learned a lot in the last week or so.

1. Bleachers scare me. Yes, the kind in a high school gym those wooden slats that have steep steps, narrow rows, and hard seats. I'm afraid that my purse will fall open and all will be lost down the bleacher slats. I fear that my four year old will slip through the openings never to be seen again. I worry what will happen to my shoes if I slip them off? I realize these are all irrational thoughts, but when you sit on bleachers for 12 plus hours over the course of a day, these thoughts do cross your mind.

2. Dance Competitions are long, very very long. After a while, the music begins to all sound the same. I did figure out this weekend, after years of going to Dance Recitals, that the studios must buy "Dance Studio Versions of Soundtracks" for their music. I recognized a lot of the songs, but not the artist singing the song or even necessarily the tempo. Not being a musical genius, I thought this was huge revelation.

3. Traveling for an overnight with the family is not much different than packing for a week's vacation. We were only going 1.5 hours away for about 24 hours and I still had a dinning room table filled with things to bring and bag upon bag of stuff. My husband had this shocked look of disbelief as he began to load the car for our "three hour tour." OK, one and one half hour tour.

4. Staying in a hotel room with 5 people is crazy. We loved the big flat screen t.v. and the fluffy pillows and beds, but the coziness wears off when you have to turn off the lights at 9:45 so kids can get to sleep for an early wake up call for the dancer girl. Should have planned to go in the hallway and play solitaire or gin rummy with the hubby.

5. Bringing a knitting bag along for the competition was smart. I started a new project and had something to do when M was not dancing. However, carrying it around all day and lugging it from competition floor to rehearsal floor to dressing room and back 500 times makes for a sore neck and shoulder region.

6. Hanging out by the hotel pool Friday night is a great way to burn off winter energy. I love to see my kids dripping wet and exhausted from jumping in, swimming, and just go back and forth from the big pool to the hot tub. They made instant friends with the other kids, and got to hang with their siblings and see them as cool too. If only we could afford to go out of town every weekend from Dec-March. Scratch that. See #4.

7. Traveling with bigger kids is so much easier than with little kids. While we still had to bring a lot of stuff, we didn't have to worry about nap times, places to heat up baby food, cleaning of bottles or dirty diapers. While I'm still struggling to believe my kids are hitting the preteen and teenage years, there is something to be said for having them be responsible for getting their own stuff together.

If you want to see more "What I Learned this Week" posts go to http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/