The Summer Normal

Shane got back from camp, no big events were planned, and life settled into a routine.

Our typical summer day started with breakfast and then stalling before horse chores. The whole family helped on good days.

After horse chores, Shane normally took care of litter boxes before settling in for TV. He'd love Roblox or Splatoon, but that was reserved for after he does his 30 minutes of Japanese. He'd rather take the low-hanging/available fruit than put any extra effort in.

Eventually, Shane would be forced to do his Japanese practice. That was consistent. I wanted him to spend 15 minutes on typing and 15 minutes on coding, too....but we missed that more than not. 

The pool was independent of any chores. It was an opportunity to exercise and socialize apart from electronics. I took Shane every single weekday at the time of writing this (7 in a row so far!). We've experimented going early, midday, and late to see which kids show up in which time periods. We typically stayed for at least 2 hours and sometimes as long as 3. Shane reeks of pool chemicals and has to shower when he gets home. Of course, he complains about it. He wants to do a 2 second rinse with no soap. 

And other than that there have been a lot of electronics: TV, Roblox, Switch, and Pokemon Go. I'd like Shane to read, play with toys/Legos, or go outside more, but he feels otherwise. I hijacked the TV and streamed "Why Boredom is Good For You," one night. I thought it was interesting, informative, and a great running joke ("No, you can't play Roblox right now. Why? We need to get your boredom in. What!? You saw the video! It's good for you!")

The pool will get it's own post eventually. As will the barn...the pets....lots of stuff. This is an easy cop-out of exposition.

Overall for me, the week has been one of decompression. I do stuff, but I do it a lot slower. I'm starting to feel some of my drive and ambition come back. I've settled into a workout routine, but writing has remained elusive. I can't do it at the pool. At the house, I'm either working/entertaining....or I'm spacing out or doing something for fun. The focus and drive haven't been there. I am working on the book I bought after the ER incident. Reading helps with writing, supposedly. My other big time kill has been a card game I picked up on Steam's summer sale at the beach (Speaking of the beach, I did get through all those posts. That means writing hasn't been a total failure!).

Carrie's played a lot of Fire Emblem Three Houses. She's achieved 3 of the 4 possible endings in the game! She got a shot in her shoulder for tendonitis that knocked her out of chores for a few days. She hasn't been riding and I'd like to see her get back to it. An improvement of her health would really help with that. 

And that's a big enough wall of generalized text. I'm going to start to work on more specific posts next....right after I use the bathroom and then go out for evening horse chores. I can't promise I won't pick up my book afterward either, because I stopped at a good part....but it's summer. It's good to get the rest in.