I Know What I Did This Summer!

Neha and her friends at an Egyptian Resort

Woo hoo!!! Yet another long break!!! What prompted it on? Well, first it was the fact that I had not zeroed in on a school for my daughter. A lot of schools were done with their admission procedures. The school that I was aiming for were to start their admission process only in June and by then a lot of schools had already started their new session. Something just snapped in my head. I went totally bonkers. I could not believe that after carefully thinking this whole thing through, I had found myself in this situation. One of the popular schools around here started making me make a lot of trips there. I guess the guy was just waiting for me to get desperate enough and then he would have asked for money.

Then totally out of the blue this acquaintance calls me up for something and then casually mentions that she was struggling for her sons admissions. There was this new school that she was looking at, and wanted to just try checking with another school. I thwacked my head first (stupid that I was, because I had seen their pamphlet and not called them) and then called up that new school. Then before we knew it, we were happy with our choice and enrolled Neha right away!

Now that the school thing was out of the way, I thought that it was about time that I had Neha’s sleep patterns altered. She would refuse to sleep early and then get up just half hour before her school bus came. I was at my wits end. I told myself that I have just two months to do something about it, and the new academic year would mean longer hours. If she carried on the way she did, there would not be any time to eat breakfast. So, it was ass kicking time.

There were just too many things I had to get in order. All I knew was that : Neha had to sleep in her own bed, she had to sleep early, she had to get up early. Now came the execution of the near impossible. Those who personally know my daughter would understand my plight. She puts up a lot of resistance to discipline! So, I roped in my friends. I convinced them that they had to kick in an exercise regime for themselves. I then told them that this would be a nice way to get the kids up and about earlier. So I told them that I would take all the kids to the pool at 6 am, while they could walk. The pool was oh-so-empty at that time of the day and I would man these 4-6 kids in the pool. Then the rest was pretty easy. We were all charged for the day. We girls would all make breakfast, get even lunch out of the way (the husbands carry lunch to work), and the house would be all sorted out too. I had the other uphill task of cutting down Neha’s TV time. Vacations meant that she was spending a crazy amount of time in front of the idiot box. I would then coax Neha into playing or catching up on reading skills, etc. It being summer vacation and all, the kids deserved a few outings too.

In the middle of all this hullabaloo, the internet gave up. I was too pissed to call the phone guys up. It then dragged on for a bit. Then I once again had to change the wiring and stuff. I wanted wireless connectivity and there was a bit of trouble there too. I tell you, they have been testing my patience. The next time round, you can be sure that I will change the service provider.

So, my friends, it has been an eventful summer for me. What have you guys been up to?