Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I was really going to post on Friday–and then Sunday–and then, well, I didn’t. On Friday it was because I was waiting to review the book that I finished reading to my 13-year-old on Friday evening, only to find that I’d run out of brain power; yesterday I didn’t manage because oh my goodness, the crazy weekend and the tired. On Thursday morning my oldest had her big toenails worked on, which means that she wasn’t doing a ton on Friday and didn’t clean the church with her siblings and me on Saturday morning at 8. There was a service project at our building at 9, but donations were supposed to be dropped off at leaders’ houses the night before, so we didn’t really go the day of. (We dropped them off at the same neighbor’s house who took me in their truck to pick up the rest of the rocks to fill up the last bit of the park strip on Friday–we have great neighbors!) Britt’s youngest got baptized at 10, so we left the church building and the girls and I got dressed in our church clothes and headed there; when we got home I attacked the laundry, my hubby took our son to a birthday party and then left for the BYU game with his parents within the hour, I picked up my son and he left with friends to the same game, my older girls made cookies, I exercised, we ate dinner, cleaned up, packed up, and left for my in-laws’ house around 6:30, stopping for Sonic slushies and churros on the way. We had the house to ourselves, since Grandma and Grandpa were at the game, so my oldest went with me to pick up a cousin to come hang out with them after my youngest went to bed. She didn’t stay super late, but no one got to bed exactly on time, especially considering that the game that started at 8:15 went into double overtime. (No, the girls and I weren’t there, but I was tracking the score on my phone, and it was too close of a game not to stay up for it.) My oldest ended up not being able to sleep, so she and I were awake when my hubby and his parents and our boy got home at 1-ish or something.

No one slept well.

On Sunday we went to hear a nephew speak in his ward about the service mission he’s just begun and then a niece speak in her ward about the proselyting mission she leaves on next week; we brought the cookies my older girls made to both parties before packing up our overnight stuff and going home to do dishes, eat a little something for dinner, and get us all into bed early. (I was too tired to wash my hair last night, let alone write something comprehensible for y’all.)

And THAT brings us to today, right? It’s an even day, and that’s not ideal, but I finished reading Terri Libenson’s Remarkably Ruby during my son’s counseling appointment this morning, and if I don’t review it and pass it off to my 13-year-old posthaste, she’ll probably die. (Or something.) And honestly, I’m excited to both review it AND pass it on, because I thought it was excellent. I liked Truly Tyler and all, but Ruby resonated with me on a deeper level, engaging me far more thoroughly. (Which was nice, given that it’s the longest ‘Emmie & Friends’ book so far.) Ruby–aka Baked Bean Girl–is struggling through seventh grade, feeling alone and unable to do anything about it; Mia is running for 8th grade class president, but she’s starting to feel left out of her friend group and stressed out by the election. The girls used to be close, but that’s ancient history. Are their middle school journeys fated to meaningfully intersect? The ending might surprise you!

Okay, that was cheesy, but somehow that’s the direction the writing took me. The ending DID get me, though–I did NOT see it coming. Let me know if it gets you, too…