I’ve spent the time on leave from school, working hard on my project at work (summer is our busy season), spending time with my children and working on trying to declutter my house. I didn’t get all THAT far in the decluttering department, but I have made some important headway and that’s enough for me right now.

My husband is tentatively set to return home permanently at the end of October. It cannot come soon enough. There is nothing like distance to make or break a relationship and I must say that I give my husband amazing marks on coming through with compassion, responsibility, good communication, and effort. We are closer than ever and I have never been more content and in love as I am with him.

I fired my therapist. There is something creepy about a woman who, when you’re talking about financial worries and health problems, interrupts you and, with concern, asks you “but what about our sessions? How will you pay for them?” I had to explain to her the way my insurance works and divulge the contents of my healthcare spending account.

Even worse is a woman who cancels an appointment on what she thinks is the DAY OF (turns out she also had the date wrong) because your insurance denied the last claim, even though you told her it would happen and that your health care spending account would pick up the rest of the tab. Remember how she interrupted me last session? Instead of letting me come in with a check, she chose to cancel the appointment and send a bill. When she realized she had the date wrong, she called me back to try to reinstate the appointment but by that point I was so disgusted that I told her no thanks, send me a bill and don’t call me, I’ll call you.

Instead, I am just working on the stuff I know I need to work on. I need to start another nutrition program, I need more exercise, I need a more organized house and life, and I need to be more mindful with my children. I can do it without miss new age scrooge.

School starts for me this week and the tank’s birthday is coming up just as he starts school again as well. I am trying to get back into the blog saddle now that regular life is encroaching with autumn. Sunday school resumes soon as well, so I need to start getting my ducks in a row. I have a list of a few items my son needs for the start of first grade and am waiting eagerly for the letter from school that tells me where to go and what else he might need. Summer camp and field trips officially end this week and he and I will be back to the grind. We did a lot of reading this summer and he earned himself two new books from the bookstore and a snazzy bookmark with a timer that will tell him when he has finished his 20 minutes of reading every night. We continue to regularly patronize our local library.

I also crafted a chewable necklace for him. He has developed “tensional outlets” that include rubbing his ears, biting his fingers, clearing his throat, and chewing on his clothing. I think he learned that one from the cat. The necklace is nothing fancy, it’s rainbow yarn strung through aquarium tubing, but it’s perfect for his needs. He was so relieved to have an object that was allowed to be chewed, and it’s been so successful at redirecting him away from chewing on other objects or himself that I made him a second one as a backup. The materials are so cheap I could make like ten of them.

I just spent five hours at the pool and now I am ready to crash out with a good book. Somehow I managed to salvage my summer. Hopefully the next few months continue to see improvement.