5/30/24

8:30pm-ish

Just made it in time for a May entry. It's been a while!

Today I organized my files so that any kind of journal entry I made between September and April is compiled under my "journal," but now separated into different files for each month. Combined my journal, my gemlog, and my "did" bullets from my reading.watching.listening.doing file. I still want to rearrange all the entries so that it reads chronologically, instead of going back in time. Will put any new entries at the bottom of my files rather than the top from now on so that it reads easier when looking back, which is really the purpose of keeping a journal at all for me anyway.

I've had a very good and very busy couple of months. Some things I did:

• witnessed the solar eclipse in my backyard
• went to a bridal shower with the baby
• led both of my nieces' Girl Scout troops on two separate rainy days
• joined a new improv show cast
• hibachi for my dad's birthday
• niece's play
• friend's surprise party
• went to a lot of weekly mom meetups
• went to the Children's Museum
• made new mom friends, scheduled lots of playdates
• planned youth improv summer camp
• went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert in Columbus, our first night away from the baby
• caught up with old co-workers, heard all the drama
• took the baby to the Zoo with our new membership; saw baby gorillas
• went to SIL's graduation in Cincinnati with the baby
• had my first Mother's Day
• got a haircut
• went to a bachelorette party, got drunk and emotional
• finished the most recent youth improv series i’d been teaching
• hung out at my sister's outside with our girls
• got a corndog, lemonade, and funnel cake at my hometown carnival
• hung out with old friends/the baby's godparents, who are due with a baby girl in July (a day after my original due date)
• went to Memorial Day potluck with new friends; our kids played together and it was so lovely
• visited my grandma with the baby; she was so over the moon to spend the day with her great-granddaughter at her house

Very happy for the nice weather, finally. This is where I thrive. I love summer. Local pool will open soon!

Will see how well I can keep up with flounder this next month. Another busy time coming up.

9:52pm

Finished putting the journal entries in chronological order within each file. Didn't take too long. Such inconsistent formatting, hah. And wow, I wrote so much more when the baby was little. Back when all she did was sleep in my arms, and I couldn't do anything else... Now all she does is move. Definitely was a journey skimming my old entires, to go from dreading going back to work, working, and then resigning. I know I went on flounder to complain more than I wrote about good things. I promise, there were/are a lot of good things in between. I think I will re-read in full when it's been a full year.

Funny how I write less now that I am stay-at-home. Busy girl keeps me busy. She also just wants to play with my phone whenever she sees it, so I only like to have it out during her naps or after she's gone to bed. I don’t get on my laptop much these days.

I've deleted my social media apps again since I was wasting too much of my time on them, and once again thinking about them too much. My goal is to not go on them at all all summer, with the exception of going on for my small part-time job as event coordinator, pretty much just once a month; and even then, I am only allowing myself to go on the desktop, not on a phone app. It's been so much better for me, without a doubt. Maybe it'll stick past summer. We've been building up our family Discord community pretty well, and that is much more fun and makes me feel much more connected to others than social media does. Everyone should have a personal Discord server with stuff they like lol.

Now I'll go catch up on everyone else's flounder pages ^.^

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5/31/24

4:16pm

Took the baby to the zoo with our new membership. Stressful confrontation in the parking lot. I was waiting for a mom to pack up her kids and leave so I could take her spot (very full, small parking lot close to the entrance), and a mini van with a Massachusetts license plate pulled up to wait too, blocking the car. I was in the way of someone else so I had to pull to a different angle, and then this van hit reverse and almost backed into me; I nudged the horn a few times because it seemed like they couldn’t see me, but they just kept backing up and pushing me back (I was reversing so they wouldn’t hit me because they kept coming towards me).

After a few minutes of us sitting there, both obviously waiting for the same car to leave, the mom got out and said, “We’re parking here,”

and I said, “I was waiting for this spot since she walked up to the car,”

and she said, “Well you were over there,”

and I said, “Yeah, I was there waiting for the spot,”

and she said, “Well it’s first come, first serve,”

LIKE ????

I was there first!!! I watched their van pull up!!! They obviously think that means “first who gets it gets it.”

Freaking Massholes, not understanding midwest parking etiquette.

Another lady ended up walking up right at that moment and was leaving across from their spot, so I asked to take her spot and got that one. It worked out, so I just let it go.

I wanted to wait for them and just say, “Sorry for the misunderstanding, I hope you have a good time at the zoo,” so we could both feel better, since I figured they were visiting from out of town, but they went a different way to the entrance and didn’t walk by me. Awkwardly saw them a couple more times inside the zoo. Ack. I feel terrible about the whole thing, even though I was in the right. I knew the confrontation would make me anxious later but I felt righteous and stubborn and was not moving, (also because I didn’t want to park super far away with the baby).

WHATEVER the zoo with the baby was a super fun and sweet time! We rode the little train and saw the kangaroos, koalas, elephants, giraffes, and zebras. The nice thing about the membership is that we don’t have to see everything in one visit in order to feel like we are getting our money’s worth. We can walk around at our leisure and see a bit at a time, then go home when we’re ready and look forward to another part the next time. Lots of field trips and people there on a Friday; will have to try another weekday next.

Tonight we are going to my cousin’s house for dinner and I am very excited. He is one of my favorite cousins, and him & his family just moved from Denver to my hometown that’s 30 minutes away. They have two boys: one who is two, and one who is just a few months younger than my daughter. I’m so excited for her to have cousins her age live so close!! Also my cousin’s wife is awesome and I want her to be my friendddd. She hiked the PCT (!) and so I got her a couple cute trail checklist booklets for the Cleveland Metroparks and Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Hoping for future baby hikes together!