Stopping By the Woods...

...On a not so snowy evening.

I went out for a walk this afternoon. I've never had a regular exercise routine but I love to walk. It's something that I feel I could do for hours and still never get tired. I used to walk for an hour and still be just as refreshed as when I started. Most of the time I would walk fast, feeling my breath and heartbeat speed up. Nowdays I often go with a set of binoculars and a camera and most of the time I just stroll. I have a path not far from the house that is "far from the maddening crowd" and I headed that way. The moment you get away from the road the car noise drops to a minimum. It is peace incarnate.

I had a decent walk but my ankle still bothers me so I turned around after a half hour and headed for home. The route home is uphill and I was panting a little by the time I reached the top. I'm a bit out of shape lately. After I walked under the underpass, stopping to listen to the mourning doves that sound like monsters when echoed around the bridge, I headed up the last hill for home. But I didn't go in. Instead I headed straight for the creek. I sat down on the ravine edge, pulled my coat around me, and sat. It was relatively quiet. I could hear the birds and a distant squirrel chewing. Other than the occasional car (we live off a pretty busy street) all I could hear was the rushing of water and the wildlife.

It was the closest thing I've found to heaven. The air and ground were cold but after I got used to it, the temperature was just part of the moment. I sat and watched the woods get darker and darker. I could feel the moment when the temperature dropped as the sun went down. In one moment I went from snug to seeing my breath. But I still didn't go in. I just sat there, not really thinking, not really worrying, just sitting. It was meditation. It was bliss.

Holiday Rush Winding Down

I hope everyone is having a fantastic holiday season. I hope you have spent time with family, relaxed, eaten too much, played lots, and enjoyed all the little beauties of the season. I'm enjoying that the holiday rush is over and this week is really all about relaxing. I have three more days of work this week but it's been quiet and I'm using the time to do some catch-up. Nothing seems rushed at work. Heck, what am I talking about, no one seems to be at work. 

The weather is downright glorious. We are seeing forty degree days. New Years Eve they are predicting mid-fifties. We had a sprinkling of rain yesterday. I can walk outside in a sweatshirt and haven't had to wear my extra-warm wool socks in weeks. Normally this time of year we have a couple inches of snow on the ground and we consider ourselves lucky if the temperatures rise above freezing. I know a ton of people that bemoaned the lack of a white Christmas. I practically danced through the brown grass with my sack of presents on my back. I don't need icicles to feel the holiday spirit. 

I generally dislike the rush leading up to the holidays but this week might have to be one of my favorite times of the year. The week between Christmas and New Years is like an extended holiday, even with a bit of work thrown in. The frantic shopping, wrapping, baking, addressing... is done. Now it is time to just sit back and enjoy a slow relaxed week. I've been reading like crazy. I've finished three books on the last couple days. I'm starting my fourth as soon as this is done. I'll stay up a little later than my standard 10:30 bedtime. I might be a tad more tired at work tomorrow but I probably won't have too much to stress me out. Did I mention I love this week? I hope you are having a good one as well. 

Best Intentions

I made a list on Friday of things I was going to get done this weekend. I came home energized that night with the idea that I would be sitting on Sunday with every single task crossed off my list. I had the best intentions.

But not a single task was finished. Not a single chore was done. Heck I didn't even keep up with my online reading or blogs. Instead I've spent my weekend curled up knitting with Jeff or reading. I curled up in the house and read like books were disappearing tomorrow. I read three books this weekend. And I couldn't be happier. It has been a blissful weekend.

On Friday I started The City of Ember, a young adult novel about a town surrounded by darkness. For a long time the town had been supplied by endless storehouses and lit by gigantic floodlights on top of the buildings. But the storehouses are being exhausted and the lights are starting to flicker. Two brave young adults decide that they have to find a way to save their city and find a way to save the light. I put this book on par with The Hunger Games, which is pretty high praise. Those two books have kept me gripped from beginning to end. They both have strong characters and odd plots that I really got into. A good read.

I just finished the third installment of The Penderwick series. I don't normally read series. I generally have rules against doing so. I have boxes and bookcases filled with books waiting to be read. So I tend to avoid reading authors over and over. Particularly when they are talking about the same characters as before. The same way I hate sequels I hate series. But the Penderwicks are different. I read the first book years ago and feel completely in love with the sisters and their family. It is like reading Little Women over and over but with modern characters. And wonderful dialogue and plots. Jeannie Birdsall even throws in some fun Latin phrases to keep me entertained. I am completely in love with these books. They are stand alone books but I just can't pass up a new installment of the sister's adventures.

The last book I'll be doing a full review of later. I'm not ready to talk about it. Needless to say I read it straight through, only stopping for showers and dinner (and even sometimes not the latter). I grew up reading at the table and in the bathroom and stretched out on the floor and before bed. This weekend I've read in the morning and most of the evenings. I've gotten nothing done but I wouldn't trade these days for anything. What a wonderful time.

Rainy Day Reading

I had so much that I was going to get done today. I had been so productive last night and I was looking forward to really making progress on a couple of projects today. I have a letter for our homeowners association that I need to draft in the next day or so. That hung over my head all day. I have a house that severely needs to be cleaned out. We have reached that extremely cluttered stage that drives me crazy. I had some writing I was going to get done. But I woke up late this morning with a headache (stupid wine) so instead I drank endless pots of coffee, ate most of a loaf of beer bread, and spent the entire day reading.

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky which is a rather fascinating history of how the salt trade and production has shaped our world. I got interested in the book after reading At Home by Bill Bryson last week. Bryson had done a small section on salt and pepper for his dining room section. He didn't list where the salt information came from but when I found the book at the bookstore, I figured I'd found a definitive history. I love seeing how one product has impacted us so immensely. I would rank Salt right up there with A History of the World in Six Glasses as one of the more incredible food based histories I've read.

I read some of Salt, but the rainy day called for a little lighter fare today. So it was off to the library to return my stack of books and pick up more pictures books for my 1001 Children's Book Challenge. I picked up a brand new stack. I can't seem to leave the library without at least a dozen books. I brought them home and lay on the floor reading, like I was 10 again. I even started craving hot chocolate. I laughed and I marveled. So many of the books were just great. Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French made me laugh so hard I snorted. Even Jeff was surprised at how hard I was laughing. Joyful Noise, Poems in Two Voices has such interesting insect poems that I found myself rereading the poems over and over. A Van Allsburg made me gasp at the beauty of the illustrations. It wasn't the most productive day but it was a good one. A perfect rainy day.

An Ode

to a hot bath.

It's Saturday night, and like any Saturday night when I'm not going out, I'm heading upstairs to draw as hot a bath as I possibly can stand and spending the next hour reading and falling asleep in the tub. It's practically a ritual. I like my baths so hot that they are painful to step into. As the water gets cold, I let it out and draw more hot water. I know it's wasteful, but I can't help myself.

And I'll stay in the bath for at least an hour. I never wash. Baths have nothing to do with getting clean. That's what showers are for. Baths are for relaxing, normally with a glass of wine and a good book. Tonight I'm reading Oscar Wilde. I'll read for a while until the book gets heavy and then I set it on the side and let myself fall asleep. Sadly I don't have a deep enough tub where I have to worry about drowning. I can sleep peacefully in the tub and never have my face come in contact with the water.

I get my love of baths from my dad. He would regularly head for the tub after a hard day with a book and a glass of scotch. He never drank except for the bath tub. Jeff never takes baths. My mother hates them. But I can't live without them. If I go for too many weeks without my hot water fix I start to get irritable. I consider it one of my greatest indulgences. And the water is calling my name. Time for relaxation time.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's my favorite holiday of the year again. Thanksgiving is, for me, all about food and family and spending time. I'm heading over to my parent's house this evening for dinner and couldn't be more excited. I made my Frog Eye Salad this morning (see previous post) and am ready for tons of good food. My dad even made me a vegetarian dressing which was so incredibly sweet. I'll have to eat huge servings.

We're eating later this year than normal because my sister has to work most of the day. But after gorging ourselves on food we'll sit around and drink coffee and perhaps later play a game. Jeff is hoping to get everyone back here to the house to watch Pumpkin Chunkin' on the Discovery Channel tonight. An idea that also makes me happy.

We watched Pumpkin Chunkin' one year while on vacation and have been fascinated ever since. Imagine groups of people meeting out in a corn field to see how far they can shoot, fling, and throw pumpkins. There are air cannons, slingshots, trebuchets, and any other device you can think of. They shoot for distance but mostly it's just fun to see those pumpkins fly. Perhaps that will be our new Thanksgiving tradition. We'll see.

Some of the devices used for Pumpkin Chunkin'

Whatever you do for Thanksgiving, spend some time giving thanks. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm truly blessed. I hope you remember that you are too. Happy Thanksgiving all. Eat much and enjoy more.

Full Fourth

Fourth of July weekend came and went without any fireworks. It was raining so hard on Sunday night that we didn't even bother going out to see if the city was going to set them off. That's not to say that the weekend wasn't a blast. We had more fun (and it felt longer) than any weekend I can remember. It was just the less explosive type of fun.

The weekend started late Friday night when our friends Lon and Lisa arrived in town. It was late but we headed out for a quick bite of dinner only to find the noodle place we were planning to go to was closed for the night. Instead we headed next door for a surprisingly speedy pizza dinner. The kids did really well for being up so late and were great during dinner. After pizza we couldn't pass up the tasty gelato before heading back to the hotel to talk. We stayed up way past my bedtime (and I think theirs) talking but had a very nice time.

The next morning Jeff and I headed back to their hotel with the promise of finding a park to play in and then lunch. We didn't have to walk far to find a park though. While the youngest child took a mid-day nap, we took Lisa and their son Logan out for a walk around the pond near the hotel. What we didn't realized was that the pond was stocked with goldfish and filled with ducks. After one loop we were joined by the rest of the party and went around again. I'll talk about that walk a bit more in my other blog. Sorry no pictures. Then we headed out to lunch (noodle place was open this time) and then out to Raccoon River Park to play on the playground equipment. At about 3, Lon and Lisa continued on their way out of town and Jeff and I spent some time sitting on the patio soaking up the sun. That evening our neighbor came over and we spent a couple hours sitting out, drinking some good red wine, and talking. We hadn't seen Jeanne much since last fall and I was missing her. We talked and laughed and set up new drinks dates surrounding made up holidays (who needs an excuse to drink good whiskey?). It was incredibly relaxing although I will admit I had more red wine than I should have.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day. After all the red wine on Saturday night I had problems sleeping. So after finally falling asleep at 5 a.m. I slept until almost noon. It was only when my parents called about lunch that I finally got out of bed. After lunch at a barbecue place we headed back to their house for a quiet afternoon of visiting and board games. We played a couple hilarious rounds of Apples to Apples (my current game obsession) and a couple rounds of Bananagrams (my mom's favorite). Jeff and I didn't leave there until 9 and by then it was pouring. We headed straight home, figuring that no one would be lighting off fireworks, and started a jigsaw puzzle. It's been years since I've done a puzzle and it was one of the things that Jeff and I did when we first started dating. We stayed up way too late working on it but ended up with some nice quiet relaxing time together.

Monday was a work holiday for me so we planned to eat breakfast out, a traditional weekend luxury. While waiting for our table we got a text. It was Lon and Lisa on their way back through the city wondering if we wanted a late lunch. We left the sit down breakfast and headed over to Caribou for a quick bite, then back to the house to do some cleaning. We were having a box springs delivered that afternoon so we needed to be home and have the bedroom ready when it arrived. When lunch ended up being at 2 we ran down to the mall to meet them and then had to hightail it home since our delivery window was from 3-5. Of course the bed didn't arrive until 4:30. The evening was spent working on our puzzle which we finished surprisingly quickly. We actually started and finished another 1000 piece that afternoon. By the end of the day my back was killing me from bending over the table. But the new box springs helped soothe that. All and all a great weekend, filled with friends and visiting. We never BBQed or watched fireworks, but it was still an amazing weekend. I feel refreshed.

Watching the Derby

Now I know that right at this moment my sports fanatic (and racing fanatic) friend Dan is chomping at the bit to tell me that that Preakness was this weekend, not the Derby. And he would be right. But hold your horses Dan. It isn't horse racing I'm talking about, it's Roller Derby.

I had a fantastic weekend filled with family. On Friday night my little sister, my parents, and Jeff and I went out to dinner at one of my favorite Thai places in town. It was incredibly tasty and my sister even agreed to split a mango and sticky rice dessert with me (a rare treat). Then we hung out and talked at my parent's house until late. While I was there the phone rang and it was my older sister. She wanted to know if we would go to the roller derby with her on Saturday. One of her coworkers was making her debut and she wanted to have a group there to support her. Of course we couldn't pass that up. I told her we'd pick up tickets and that we'd meet her there that night.

Saturday we had no where to be until 7 so Jeff and I bummed around town, shopped, ran errands, ate breakfast and dinner out. It was heavenly. During the day I had stopped in to see my older sister at her work, the beauty supply shop Ulta. While I was there she suggested that I get my eyebrows waxed (they needed it). And who should be doing my waxing but the same girl who would be in the derby that night. We talked about how nervous she was and I tried to reassure her. She looked like a roller derby girl.

That night we headed down to the events center and found a pretty decent crowd at the derby. I've never been before (heck I've never seen roller derby before) so I had little idea what to expect. With a beer in hand I settled in to watch. Roller derby for those who haven't gone has got to be one of the best places to people watch ever. I loved the costumes which went from risque to downright weird. The girls are often wearing very short shorts and fishnet stockings. I saw furry leg warmers, tutus, and one woman with feathers glued to her eyelashes. Then the match started. A roller derby match is broken up into jams, where a jammer tries to score by getting past the pack once and then making it through them again for points. Our girls racked up massive points quickly against an inexperienced team but it was pretty exciting. There were girls falling all over the place. My sister's coworker ended up being the first person in the penalty box but had a ball. There were body checks and fast skating and skimpy costumes everywhere. Even the participants names were hilarious. A great time.

After the derby we headed out for drinks with my sister, her fiance, one of her friends (along with her son), and my sister's coworker who was beaming from ear to ear. We stayed out way too late and I was exhausted by the time I finally stumbled into bed. Sunday I met some family for brunch and then Jeff and I headed home. I've been working on a presentation that I have to give on Wednesday which is why this is so late. But it was a wonderful weekend and I'm sure I'll be heading back to the roller derby again. I probably won't go every week but it's nice to know that we have a team, and that they're a lot of fun to watch.

A Taste of Childhood

When I was young my mother would make the most wonderful sugar cookies from a children's cookbook that we owned. I remember these being a special treat and raved about them to everyone who I would talk about cookies with. So about a year or two ago, when I happened to find the cookbook in a second hand bookstore, I knew I had to buy it. And I knew that I had to make the cookies again. Just to see.

Well it took me a year or so to get around to it but today was the day. I stopped by the store this evening and picked up all the ingredients I needed. At home I was reminded of my mother as I started mixing the Crisco and the sugar together. Somehow that act makes me think of my mother baking. Then adding the rest of the ingredients. Rather than two dozen or so teaspoon sized cookies, I went with a baker dozen of tablespoon sized ones. After twenty minutes or so they came out and I waited impatiently for them to cool. Jeff didn't care for his terribly, but I thought they had the same melt in your mouth sweetness to them that I remember. What I didn't remember was that they were so crisp. After a couple more (just to make sure they were good) I realized why I didn't remember the crispiness. We never really let her bake them. We were always too busy eating the dough to get that far. Ah live and learn. It will make wonderful cookie dough.

The cookies were just a sweet end to a perfect day. It was just beautiful outside: warm, sunny, with a bit of a breeze. Jeff and I headed out to breakfast and then ran some errands around town. After that we headed home to clean up the porch and put up the screen on the front door. I'm so excited to be able to have the door open and have a breeze blow through. We wasted a day watching the birds, reading, and juggling out on the front porch. One odd thing was that we had a number of turkey vultures circling in the area. We normally see them near the creek but today they got really low near our complex, below the roof lines even. We think they were looking for our kitty who had wisely decided to go in a bit before. Sadly by the time I grabbed the camera to take some video they had moved on. A quiet day, a peaceful day, and I would dare say a perfect day.

A Strange Disconnect

I'm not sure if I'm feeling proud or a bit ashamed when I say that I went the entire weekend without spending any real time on my computer. I read comics each morning but that was it. I never once checked email. I didn't read any of my blogs. I didn't even check Facebook. I was almost completely disconnected. And I have to admit that it was wonderful.

My in-laws arrived at 6ish on Friday night and we quickly went out to dinner. I had some amazing vegetarian sushi while everyone else had fish. Jeff's parents are Catholic so they were avoiding meat because of Lent (since when are fish not meat?). Then we just headed back to their hotel to watch UNI lose to Michigan State. :-( Oh well, can't win them all.

The next day we grabbed an earlyish breakfast and then drove them around the city a bit. They had been predicting rain all day so we stayed in for most of the afternoon. Jeff had two movies that he had to watch for his Reproductive Law class so we ended up watching one of those Saturday afternoon. We watched Waitress which wasn't a fantastic movie but did make me want to learn how to bake pies. That night we met my parents downtown for dinner and then went back to my parents house for an evening of cards and pie and talking. It was a nice night.

Sunday was an incredibly lazy day. After brunch Jeff's parents headed off and we went home. Jeff watched the second of his movies (Knocked Up) and I tried to ignore it. I think I got stupider just watching that film. I absolutely hated it. So I immersed myself in a book. I just started Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and could not put it down. It was one of those books where I walked to the kitchen to make dinner while still reading. I lay on the sofa for the rest of the day, just devouring the book. It was amazingly well written. I left it at home this morning so I wouldn't be tempted to read at work. It's that good.

So today I'm back at work after a late physical therapy session and am feeling a bit disconnected. I know that I'm addicted to my computer but it was nice to take some time to step away this weekend. I feel incredibly refreshed and even though I didn't get a ton done, I feel like a I didn't waste as much time this weekend. A fantastic weekend, relaxing and long. Now I just have to catch up.

Epic

I'm at home today. I decided to spend the day at home after one of the worst blizzards in the history of Des Moines hit last night. I went to work yesterday with the snow flying. When I left the office there was about 7 inches of snow on the ground. The drive home last night was slippery but not horrible. But that was not the worst of the storm. Last night we got an additional 8 inches. And then the winds kicked up.

It has been a full blown blizzard all day. That combined with the current 15 inches of snow has produced one of the most dangerous storms I've ever seen. Many of the interstates have been shut down for most of the day. The National Guard was called out to rescue people who traveled and ended up in ditches. The National Weather Service referred to the storm as "Epic". And the Governor warned last night that people shouldn't drive if they could avoid it.


So this morning I emailed my boss and told him I was taking a furlough day. I have to take seven of them anyway. And this seemed like the perfect day. Here is the view out of my front window. That rapidly disappearing block in the middle of the patio is our air-conditioner. The car was even more buried.


But not even the second floor was immune. Here is my back bedroom/studio. I walked by and noticed how dark the room was. That's when I realized that the bottom half of the window is completely buried with drifts.


I worried this morning about whether I should go in or not. My father did go in to work. He described the roads as horrible. I've been watching the conditions deteriorate all afternoon. I'm glad I stayed home. I hung out with Jeff (whose school closed for the day), shoveled a bit of snow, drank tons of hot chocolate, and read most of the day. Now I'm planning to curl up, watch Mythbusters, and drink some coffee. It was a wonderful day...for those inside.

Joy in the Process

When I was sixteen, I set up an old desk downstairs in my parent's basement. I had an old manual typewriter down there that clicked and clacked as I pounded the keys. You really had to work to hit them since it was so old. I set up an old hardside suitcase as a chair since none of the chairs down there were high enough. And I would spend hours down in the basement (0ne of my least favorite places) crafting a story. I wrote over 150 pages of a novel attempt while sitting cramped on a suitcase handle. But I couldn't stop.

In college I filled notebook after notebook with stories and personal notes. I graduated to a portable manual typewriter that I would sit on the floor with, nestling it in my lap as I sat indian style. I probably drove my neighbors crazy with the constant clack of the keys. I know I drove my roommate crazy. But I was obsessed. I loved writing. And I was completely fearless when it came to it. I would write anything.

Over the last ten years I have barely filled three notebooks. I have written four children's stories that I'm still revising, even though I wrote the first one over eight years ago. I've hardly touched a typewriter and can't even find my old portable. These past couple months I've been trying hard to restart my writing. I've been reading writing manuals. I've been carrying journals. And I've set up my own desk again. My office and library is upstairs in the second bedroom. And all I can show for the last year or so of effort is one and a half notebooks. And last night I started wondering if I was ever cut out to be a writer.

To say that I was a bit down last night is an understatement. Two people came to my rescue, Jeff and Kate Dicamillo. For the last year or so I've been listening to writer interviews wherever I can find them. One of my ones I listened to yesterday was one with Kate Dicamillo done for Barnes and Noble. It's a great interview but I was particularly interested in a poem that Kate mentioned having tacked to her writing desk. It is by Marge Piercy and has these lines: "The real writer is one who really writes. Talent is an invention like phlogiston after the fact of fire. Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved." And reading those words I am reminded that lately I've been focused on getting published. I've been focusing on being loved, on being read. Not on the craft. Not on the process. Not on the journey. And that's why I've been afraid to write. I write with an editor already in my head telling me that it is not publishable. I forget that writing is its own reward. Sometimes just crafting the story is more fun than having it read. And the crafting portion is what I used to love. I never showed my work to anyone then. I just wanted to see where the characters would go.

And secondly Jeff helped me. I was upset and unsure and Jeff reminded me of something. He reminded me that work is great, but I don't have to be productive all of the time. Sometimes I can take the night off. Sometimes instead of staring at a blank piece of paper and cursing myself I can drink a glass of wine and read comics all evening. Sometimes I can do nothing more than watch a football game and no one will think the less of me. And sometimes I can remember that life is to short to be serious about. In the immortal words of the Indigo Girls "and the best thing you ever done for me, was to help me take my life less seriously. It's only life after all." And I remembered that it's only writing. I'm not curing cancer. No one will die if I don't write. And suddenly I feel a bit more free. A bit more playful. And much more like a writer. Joy is in the process. Work is its own cure.

Catching Up

After not getting much sleep on Sunday, and having problems falling asleep that night, I decided to take Monday off. I woke up groggy from the medication, and called the office that morning. Then I went back to sleep until about one in the afternoon. Apparently my body was finally sick of being sick and ready to just rest. I got up at one and moved myself downstairs to get more sleep on the couch and watch TV. I didn't even touch my computer all yesterday which is really saying a lot. I probably slept 18 out of 24 hours yesterday and still managed a full nights sleep last night.

Jeff was wonderful about taking care of me lately although I'm not sure why it is hitting me so hard recently. I've had bronchitis in one stage or another for four weeks now. I should be used to it. But after Sunday's little excitement I've been acting like an invalid. Although it gave me a chance to catch up on my reading. I'm reading Christopher Moore's Fool which may be the best possible thing to be reading while ill. It is funny and bawdy and wonderful. The story is based on King Lear with some other Shakespeare influences thrown in. I'm sure I'll do a full review when I'm done. But there is nothing better then a funny book when one isn't feeling well. I laughed and coughed and enjoyed.

When I wasn't reading or sleeping yesterday I watched my new favorite show NCIS. As is typical for me, I'm watching it in reruns which means that I have no idea what is going on with the current season. USA has it on pretty much every afternoon for several hours at a time and I was content yesterday to sit in front of the TV and watch until all the episodes were over. I seriously am addicted to that show. Although I think I should probably cut back on my watching recently. Last night I dreamed about the characters.

Today I'm back at the office although I'm still a bit groggy. The good cough syrup really packs a punch and I've been struggling to concentrate and be productive for most of the day. But at least I'm here. And feeling better. And of course breathing.

At Work Vacation

I have a friend with two young kids who always used to say that she went to work to relax. I never quite understood what she meant. Today I do. My brother and his family came into town this weekend and I spent the whole weekend playing nerf wars and running around. This morning I could barely move. (which shows how incredibly out of shape I am). So today I'm at work, and it actually feels luxurious just to sit for most of the day.

I've never been in great shape but a couple years ago I was in good enough shape that I could run around with the kids outside and not get terribly winded. I could walk for miles without getting tired. Not so much this weekend. Friday night was quiet, with just dinner and some quiet games at my parents house. My nephew has been a very good chess player and was trying to stir up games with anyone who would play. He beat me easily but the larger shock was that he beat my father who is a fairly decent player. But that was quiet.

Saturday was a bit more boisterous. There was lunch and then shopping. Jeff and I had to get a new battery for his computer (WoW destroys his battery and we have to get it replaced every year or so). But we walked that mall back and forth with my brother. Then at home the kids were interested in a nerf war. We ran around on the front lawn with nerf guns, shooting each other and having a great time. I finally found a nerf gun I like. Then after dinner, another nerf war. Lots of running around on uneven terrain in bad shoes. In the evening we played Sardines (a hide and go seek variation) and had a blast. One of my favorite games.

Sunday was exhausting. I had a bout of insomnia again Saturday night and didn't get to sleep until 4 a.m. Sunday morning. I had already promised a friend that I would walk with her at nine so it was up at 8 with just 4 hours of sleep. We walked a trail near my house that's about 3 miles and I was awake after that. Jeff and I headed out for breakfast alone and then joined a lunch already in progress with my brother and family. Then there was more playing and more running around. My brother and his wife left to head home around 4, leaving the kids with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) for the week. So Dad and I headed down to the park with the kids. Where we ran around more with nerf guns and shot each other. My feet were hurting by this point and I was due to raid that night so I finally headed home after dinner and a quick stop at the hardware store. We raided Ulduar last night until 11 and I finally dropped into bed exhausted at midnight.

Today I woke up to find that my legs didn't want to move. I'm a hurting girl today with both of my quads screaming in pain everytime I stand up. I'm enjoying my office chair immensely. Tonight I'm meeting some friends for drinks and dinner and then heading home for a late night guild meet. Tomorrow it will be more nerf wars and running around. I'm going to start looking at work as a vacation. I had a great time this weekend but man am I tired.

Home is Where the Heart is

Although I've loved every minute of my weekend travels this month, there was something very luxurious about having a weekend at home. The past weekend was wonderful. Friday was ridiculously lazy. Jeff and I went out for dinner and then came back to watch comedians on TV and I read a book. Lazy, wonderful. My kind of Friday night.

Saturday was a bit cold. I woke Jeff up early to head out to breakfast which was good because the jackhammer started at 9:30. They are ripping up my neighbors patio (yes the annoying one) and re-laying the concrete. Nothing like the melodic sounds of a jackhammer on Saturday morning. Ah well. We escaped. Had breakfast and then wandered out to the cricket ground to watch a bit of a match. It was cool enough (can you believe it's July) that I cradled my coffee and we sat in the car to watch.

Saturday night we had dinner with my parents and then wound up at a used bookstore. Half Price Books is a dangerous place for me. I bought a couple books and then found out that my mother had set aside a ton of children's books for me to take. I came home with two gigantic bags of books, some bought, some inherited. Now I just need another bookcase. Sunday was quiet. I went walking with a friend in the morning. Cleaned for most of the afternoon and then finished a Naxx run with the guild that night. I even managed to work in some writing and drawing too this weekend. All good. A perfect remedy after being on the go for so many weekends.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th all. 

I'm a day or so late mostly because I didn't feel like blogging yesterday. And since this holiday is all about freedom I figured I had the right to do so. :-)  

This was a bit of a strange holiday for me. I've spent almost the entire weekend indoors at home.I had an invitation to go out to the music festival in town (80/35) but really just wanted to be selfish with my time. I didn't even go out to watch fireworks which is bizarre for me since I love fireworks. What I did do was write and read and play and enjoy. The weekend felt like the right length for me without all the running around. I got a lot done and felt good about it. I baked bread and learned how to cook quinoa. I caught up entirely on laundry and read and reviewed multiple children's books. I played with the cat and spent good quality time with Jeff. It was a good weekend even without fireworks. 

Recharging

This won't be long. My brother was in town this weekend with his family and I am completely worn out after playing with the kids on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. Add that to the fact that I have seen my parents everday since Thursday and have been on the go since last Tuesday. So I need a bit of down time to recharge.

We did have a blast on Saturday though. We met everyone for lunch and then me and the boys ran around the front yard shooting nerf darts at each other, which was the most fun I've had in a while. And good exercise. In the afternoon I stayed home while most of the guys went to see the new Star Trek movie. But even then I didn't get to relax. My nephew Keith decided he wanted to stay home with me so we played with his Star Wars miniatures and then looked at everything under the sun through a microscope. I even grossed him out by slicing open my thumb to get a drop of blood for him to look at. I loved that I could gross him out. But when dinner came that night he wanted me to sit next to him.

I went out to breakfast with Jeff on Saturday but didn't make it to the library that day (a newly formed habit that I love). Other than that I have not had a meal with just him and I since last weekend. Last night after seeing them my brother's family off at about two, we went office supply shopping and then I went walking with a friend. When Jeff said that I was signed up for Naxx that night I begged off. I sat in front of the TV like a pile of goo and tried to draw.

So tonight will be quiet. I just need some time to recharge. Sorry about the rambling. I'll try to have something better tomorrow.