rose: i almost constantly feel surrounded by clutter. it's slightly self-inflicted because i don't like having empty space either, but i haven't been able to find that balance between having stuff and feeling overwhelmed by stuff everywhere. i'm also still getting used to having our basement, which basically doubled our living space. so i woke up this morning inspired to move stuff downstairs, and from there, i came up with a creative way to deal with brendan's computer cords (that are always cluttering up the counter), after that, it pretty much became a day of nesting. it was partly the fact that it was a holiday (brendan was around to help with the kids), and that b and i have done some significant reorganizing on labour day before. but i think it was also (and perhaps greater than i realize) part of me getting ready for eamon to start school tomorrow. i wanted to feel organized, and in a head space where i felt prepared for anything. and thankfully i do feel prepared. i don't love the thought of preparing lunches for him every day (#daycarespoiledme), but his first lunch is actually pretty good and wasn't hard to pull together. and, even among all the nesting, we found time to walk down to the m-centre to go swimming at the waterpark.

thorn: i've been school-free since 2001. and i've loved it. i have never once looked back, and always, every year been grateful that my routine is not changing simply because it's september, and therefore back to school time. this is probably the biggest thing that makes me different to shannon :p so i am not thrilled that i'm going to be locked into the school calendar from here on in, until i'm... 58 years old. wow. that feels really weird and seems totally wrong. my youngest kid will graduate highschool when i'm 58. nancy is 59 and she has grandchildren! anyway, i feel like i'm losing a bit of my freedom.