Why I Love Summer

I love summer because it means that today I was able to go with Zack to work and help out with a project he's working on.
It means I could go spend some time with friends until all hours of the night and not worry about the time or how much sleep I was going to get and so I could just enjoy myself. (I'm weird about getting enough sleep when I have to work the next day.)
Not having to worry about the time meant that I could focus all my energy on the game and how I was going to win!
It meant I could focus on good friends, good conversation and incredible food.
It means that when I come home around 11:00 pm and find my backyard strewn with power tools and my living room full of wires because Zack is working on another project for work that I can stay up and help him with it (or at least keep him company).
It means when he says things like "I wish I could stay up until 2 in the morning and just finish this project...but I don't have all the parts," that I can say things like "Let's go get them. Work is only 5 minutes away. It'll only take 20 minutes or so." (Even though it's midnight.)(By the way, he's munching on your salsa while he works, D'Nell...and he loves it.)
It means long nights, short mornings, and fun afternoons and evenings.
It means I can work on all the projects I've been planning over the past 10 months.
It means I don't have to do any of those projects if I don't want to.
It means being able to go see my mom any time of day.
It means doing what I want, when I want, and realizing I need to develop more self-control (and maybe install bells inside my house so I know when I start cleaning, when to stop, when to go to recess, when it's time for P.E....).
I'll start working on that tomorrow. Tonight I'm keeping my hubby company.

Night Light

Tonight the power went out.

It's amazing how electricity, or lack of it, changes everything.

Zack came home from a business trip today. Instead of coming home and going to sleep, like he should have done, he came to school and helped me get ready for end of level tests next week. He took things off my walls, watered the class plants, sharpened the pencils, and created an Olympic chart that all the other teachers were jealous of. They even took a picture of it! If another teacher takes a picture of something you've done, you KNOW it's good.

What makes all of the things he did even more amazing than they sound was that he should have been sleeping. He had just finished training a night shift in Mexico, drove across the border, and caught a flight back home. He'd been awake for over 24 hours when he got to my school.

My plans for him when we got home were to feed him dinner, put on a movie, and then coax him to sleep as soon as I could. ("I'm not tired!") With the power going out, those plans changed. We didn't watch a movie, instead we just talked. :) When I finally coaxed him to sleep around 8:00, I went in the kitchen, found all the candles I could find, lit them, and put them on the table. Then I read. I read for two hours by candlelight.

At 10:00 the power came back on. I was glad...kind of. I turned on a light. I put the dishes in the dishwasher (I pre-washed them first. I know! I think I'm addicted or something) and started it up. Then I turned off the light, sat down amongst my candles and read some more.