Blistered Feet

I'll spare the visual, but the bottom of my feet are not pretty.  Well, I'm not much with feet to begin with, though.  But, I currently have some pretty big blisters on the bottom of my feet.

My dad treated my sister, my family, and I to Supercross last night.  To save money (and the frustration of a crowded Seattle parking garage, we parked a couple of miles away from the event.  I was not wearing the right shoes for such a trek twice in a night.  Plus, to save more money, we sat in the nose-bleed section in the fifth level of the stadium.

I had attended a Girl Scouts training that whole day.  I was so hungry when I came home that I hadn't thought to change my shoes.  I had had these shoes for a few years, so they were already a little worn out on top of being dress shoes.

I will definitely need to get in some exercise in the water this week to stay off of my feet a bit while the blisters heal.

Thanks for reading!

 - Hot-Mommy

Feeling a Little Less Blue Today

I've been going through a rough time lately.  A teen neighbor boy killed himself a couple of weeks ago.  I've been really struggling since I found out.  He was a great kid that loved animals.  He was so full of potential, but took his life due to bullying.

My neighbors were saddened for a couple of days, but it really effected me.  He really bonded with my pets, especially my guinea pig, Coco.

I haven't been sleeping well and I haven't been motivated to do much lately.  Yesterday was the worst day.  I made the mistake of Googling an article about it the night before and read a few comments.  The neighbor kids were especially horrible yesterday and really getting to me, though I have been more sensitive and irritable than usual.  It was actually the first day that I had gotten into real clothes, too.

I've been especially sad about the lack of effect on the other neighborhood kids.  This was their friend and he's gone due to bullying.  I would have hoped that this would have made them nicer, and not ruder, especially to adults.

Today, I talked to one of the neighbors who are also irritate by my next-door-neighbors.  They also knew the boy that committed suicide and it felt good to talk to someone else that knew him.  We talked about what he would have wanted.  I was glad to share some good memories of him, even briefly.

I know that everyone handles grief differently.  I've never dealt with such a premature and preventable death before, and I haven't handled it well.  I'm starting to feel a little better and getting over the sadness.  I've caught up in my classes, as I fell behind a little.  I'm going to catch up on housework today and hopefully feel up to exercising tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

 - Hot-Mommy

Pool Policies

Last week, during spring break, I took my kids and a friend of theirs swimming at our local YMCA.  Their friend is a year older than my son and gets a little annoyed at having to be in the activity pool, instead of the main pool.  My two are still learning how to swim and she already knows how.

Out of curiosity, I asked a lifeguard how old kids had to be to go in the main pool.  I was surprised when he told me that the minimum age is 14 years old.  I would have guessed that kids 10 and up or so could be in there with a parent.  I wonder how well that policy is enforced, though.

At first, I felt that age was a little excessive.  Then, I thought about when I go there to swim laps.  I really do want the pool to be quiet and no playing around when I'm exercising.  Personally, I wouldn't care if an older child was in the main pool to swim laps, but not every child is well behaved.  Lifeguards are there to supervise the safety of all swimmers, not babysit unruly kids.  Years down the road, when my kids can be more serious about swimming for exercise and not playing around, I may have them join me in the main pool.  Like I said, I'm not sure how well enforced the rule is, but I do agree with it for the most part.

Thanks for reading!

 - Hot-Mommy