But I Thought, This Wouldn't Hurt a Lot. Guess Not.

Some lilacs that are just about to open.

Well, kids. I think I FINALLY shook my stupid migraine at about 10:00 today. I thought I was going to cry every time I hit a bump while riding my bike to work this morning. I feel so much better now that I can function. Weird, that.

I was good, though. I did give plasma after work and that went well too. I got one of the good workers and no hematomas this time. I didn't run afterward, even though I really, really wanted to. Actually, I didn't really do much tonight. I just tried to make myself rest.

Here are lots and lots of lilacs that are starting to open up smell amazingly good.

Tomorrow I get to go running again after work. I'm also planning on either doing a little yard work or kitchen cabinet work (No, I haven't finished that project yet) but I promise to just do a little bit of either and not burn myself out. I swear, I'll learn to practice restraint if it kills me.

We Put Faith In Our Concerns

My girls right before prom. Their dresses were very representative of them.

Oh, kids. I'm here to tell ya. You definitely want to listen to your body. Because if it's, oh, say telling you that it's tired and you don't listen to the hints it gives you, it will stop being so subtle. For instance, my body gave me a 4 day migraine. I tried to ignore it, by taking migraine meds and still doing too much when the meds started working. Then my body decided it was going to stop reacting positively to the meds to get me to slow down and then my body grabbed the hot end of a curling iron and burned the crap out of my hand right before prom pictures, so that I wouldn't be able to pick up a tool or ride my bike for a couple of days. So, yeah. I guess I'll be finding things I can cut from my busy life, so it doesn't do anything worse, like giving me Stigmata or something.

Stinky and her date. I really liked both the girls' prom dates.

Friday was pretty mellow. I had that migraine, so I took a nap the minute I got home from work on my half day. I ran when I woke up, but realized during my run that I needed to take a break. I had run around 50 miles in 7 days, and even I can see how ridiculous that is. I decided to take the rest of the weekend off of running, but I was going to try to go on a long bike ride on Sunday.

Friday night the girls both went out with some friends and I stayed home and watched the most recent James Bond movie. It was pretty standard fare. But sometimes you just want to watch pretty people race boats and cars and planes and see a lot of shit blow-up in exotic locales. You know?

Stinky trying hard to pin on the boutonniere. She finally gave up and let her sister do it.

Saturday was insane. There was just a lot of running around and getting things at the last minute and running to the mall because Coadster never got any shoes for her dress. Wow. She really is my daughter. I never think about the shoes either. I dropped Coadster off at her hair appointment at 2 and Stinky and I went to Menards to get an axe. I have all this wood to cut up from the tree I trimmed and I can't afford a chain saw. So, I got some of the bigger branches cut up, before the prom primping began in earnest.

Coadster's date's mom is a hairstylist and did Coadster's hair for free...Including a touch-up during the pics. Awesome!

I tried to help the girls get ready for the prom until I burnt the hell out of my hand. Then we went to Stinky's friend's house for her groups pictures. I took plenty of photos and then Coadster and I had to run to the other side of town for her groups pics. By 7 or so, my job was finally done and I left the girls to their evening.

Coadster pinning on her date's boutonniere.

G. wanted me to go out with her, but as I've said, I'm taking a little break from socializing lately. It's not like I'll never go out again, but it can sometimes just get too much. My friends all point out that I need to speak to adults, and they're right, but I can get so overwhelmed by socializing out at bars, so I don't think a break will hurt me. I'm very fond of people coming to my house and sitting by the fire instead. Anyway, I stayed in and G. gave me the play by play of the evening the next day, all from a safe distance. I did finally finish reading Marilynne Robinson's Home and started Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Coadster getting her corsage. It was so pretty and so different. Perfect for her.

Today I woke up to another migraine or the same one. Whatever. The girls got in bed with me and told me all about their nights. Then I took some more meds and took a nap. The meds started working again, and I was smart this time and still took it easy. I got groceries and ran a few errands, but I didn't ride my bike or do yard work. So, I'll be working on slowing things down for the next couple of weeks and see how that goes.

Me and Coads. She looks so sleek and I look so...Not sleek in my Meat Puppets t-shirt.

I'm the Last Kid Standing Up Against the Wall

Hey, look what's starting to bloom now. Was it even 2 months ago that I said I couldn't wait until these bushes were full of lilacs?

The weather this week has been incredible for April. I'm sure that's why I've been running so much. I've lived in Iowa long enough to know that it could snow next week, so I might as well run as much as I can now. I wasn't able to give plasma this week either. The last girl who drew it, gave me a small hematoma, and it's still bruised, so I have to wait until that heals before I can give more.

And now it's the weekend again. Tomorrow I only have to work a half day. My fantasy is to run and then ride my bike to Kalona or somewhere and eat a late lunch and read my book on an outdoor patio with a glass of wine. Of course, I don't have the time for that, so my reality will be a run and then some yard work. Which I'm still really excited about.

I have no idea what I'm doing during the evenings this weekend. Right now, I'm planning on staying home, but I like to be open to opportunities, so who knows what will actually happen....

Saturday will hopefully be more running and more yard work. Then more prom preparation than I really want to think about right now. The girls are excited and it looks like their pre prom picture taking extravaganzas will be at different times, so I should be able to make it to both.

I don't there's anything I have to do with the girls on Sunday for once. Yea! I think I'll finally take a day off running and go for as long a bike ride as I can stand...And then of course, more yard work and house fixer uppering.

Once again, it's your turn. Will you get your fantasy weekend or a comparably nice weekend in reality?

Put It in the Ground Where the Flowers Grow

Here are some railroad tracks from about a year ago. It seems as though I've run out of current pics again.

I was going to try to write a little more on that one exercise I've been working on, but then I rode my bike home from work and then ran another 6 miles (that makes close to 40 miles in the last 6 days. D-U-M) and then I did some more yard work and then hauled my garbage and 15 yard waste bags to the curb and then I had to make Stinky and I BLT's (the most important thing I've done all week) for dinner and then my brain was fried along with the bacon.

So, I think I'll wash some dishes and then give myself a half hour or so to read, and then hit the hay.

Tomorrow I was going to try to go to a talk that my friend S. suggested for me to see, but I don't know if I'll have the time or not. I've been planning on going to see Colm Toibin read next Thursday and I don't know if I'll be able to get away two Thursdays in a row. There are just way too many geeky, literary type things to do in this town and that's just the way I like it.

Just Be Still With Me, You Wouldn't Believe What I've Been Through

Look what else just popped up in my backyard.

Today on my afternoon break, I was sitting outside reading my book and there was a lot of discussion in it about predestination and if bad things happened for a reason. Because it was the fourth anniversary of the tornado, I was probably even more reflective than normal. (who knew that was possible?) Basically, I'm more of a chaos theory kind of girl. I don't believe crappy things happen to certain people for a pointed reason. As if Buddha, or Jesus or that magical tree in your backyard or the collective conscious of the universe or whatever the hell you believe makes things work in the world has nothing better to do than sit around teaching certain people lessons?

I think bad things just happen randomly. Those Baptists who came around our neighborhood after the tornado handing out pamphlets to the kids that told them the tornado was everyone on our street's fault because of all the sinning we were doing, were full of shit. Especially when you look at natural disasters - were the people in my very residential neighborhood bigger sinners than the guys who live on fraternity row who were untouched by the tornado? I think not.

I do believe, however, that when bad things happen, it is a good opportunity to look more closely at ourselves and make sure we have our priorities in order. Sometimes I feel almost lucky that so many bad things happened to me at such a young age. It's helped me appreciate the people I have in my life while I have them and let them know how I feel. It's also helped me to try things when I was younger that I might not have if I thought I was going to live as long as I already have. A lot of things I'd never do in the place and at the age I am now, but I'm glad I did them when I was younger. I'm sure my girls get tired of hearing me say it, but I really don't think you can help what happens to you (for the most part) but you can help how you deal with it. Some crappy situations I've dealt with better than others, but hopefully I get better and better with each shit storm... Although, I'd just rather have less things to recover from.

After a Storm, There Must be a Calm

Stinky roasting her marshmallow perfectly...According to her.

So, remember how yesterday I said I was overwhelmed and needed more time and money? Well, there isn't much I can do about the money I don't have, but I did do something about the time issue. That's right. I started asking for my Summer vacation time off of work. I won't be able to take it for a while, but just knowing it's coming helps me.

I'm going to take my last half furlough day off this Friday. Since it's the only time my girls will be going to the same prom...That is unless Coadster comes back from college and starts trolling for high school boys (when I made this funny joke to Coadster, she rolled her eyes so hard she almost had a seizure). Anyway, I figured I'd need an extra half day to calm down while my girls are in school on Friday to make up for whatever it will take to get both my girls to the prom.

I'm also taking 3 half days on the last three Fridays in May. That will be something nice to look forward to. Once I get to June, I should be able to calm down a bit, it's just the next couple of months that have me a little worried. I've been stressing really hard about everything I want to get done before Coadster's graduation party on Memorial Day weekend. I talked to some of my friends about it and they told me to just calm down and chill out. They said my house looks fine the way it is, so I should consider whatever else I get done before the party a bonus and let it go. Nothing like good friends to help put things in perspective. Of course, I'll still try to get as much done as possible, I'll just try to lessen my self-imposed stress and call it "good enough".

Once June comes along, I'll start taking at least a week off a month through August. Have I mentioned how much I love Summer?

Some Civil Servants are Just Like My Loved Ones

I set-up the fire viewing area after my run on Friday.

Oh, kids. If there was any way I could obtain more time and money I would. I love my life, I really do, but it would be that much better, if only I could get everything done and time and money would go a long way in getting me where I want...I'm sure you all might be able to join me in the chorus of this one too.

My weekend was really good. Friday night I told a couple of my girly friends that I was going to have a fire in my backyard, and that Stinky and I were going to be hanging out. If they wanted to show up, great. If not, it was no big deal either. K. and S. both said they'd show. Then that afternoon another friend of mine emailed some of us to see if we wanted to go to her house for a beer after her son went to bed. She never gets out for a number of tragic reasons, and I remember those days of not really wanting to or being able to go out to bars, but still needing to hang out with my fun friends for a few hours. So, I started working on changing things around, so we could make it over there for a bit. Before I could finalize anything, she wrote back and said not to change my plans, she wasn't going to be able to have people over very late anyway, and she'd just plan it for another weekend. I felt bad because as you all know, I rarely do anything on a Friday night, and it was just a fluke that I made plans. Anyway, I did have a couple of my friends come over and it was very nice. The fire was great, we had some of the best wine I've ever had, and Stinky showed us all how to roast the best marshmallows for our s'mores. K's boyfriend came over for a bit later, and then I kicked everyone out so I could get to bed at a decent hour.

K. got the marshmallow roasting started. God bless her.

Saturday was insanely busy. I took Stinky to work at 8. Then I went home and made a list of all the crap I needed to do. Most of Saturday was me running errands. One of my co-workers let me borrow her truck for the day, so I could get a bunch of black dirt to regrade my backyard to try to keep water from seeping into my crawlspace anymore.

I ran my six mile route and then raked some more leaves in the afternoon. I decided not to go out that night and it was one of the best things I could have done for myself. Sure, it's nice to talk to my friends on Saturday nights, but it also takes a chunk of time out of my weekend, and right now, I don't really have it. So, Stinky went out with some of her friends, and I camped out on the couch and watched the first few episodes of The Pacific. It wasn't as good as Band of Brothers, but it's better than a lot of things I could have watched. I'll definitely finish watching the miniseries.

S. mixing and matching her s'mores with her pinot. Two great tastes that go great together.

Apparently, I was more tired than I thought this weekend. I was going to try to read before I fell asleep on Saturday night, but then I stopped to rest my eyes and when I woke up, it was 11 hours later. Wooops! I can't tell you when the last time I slept that many hours in a row. I guess I needed it.

The weather was amazing all weekend, and so I ran a little longer route today, to make the best use of it. I haven't had a chance to go on a long bike ride yet, but Stinky said she'd be up for a 20 mile ride with me as soon as we both have a day off to do that. I'm excited. She'd probably be up for kayaking with me too. A lot of people said they want to, but I haven't been able to get anyone to commit to a day yet. I figure, if nothing else, at least Stinky would be into it. Isn't that why we have kids in the first place? To always have someone to do stuff with us?

Stinky showing us the best way to get our marshmallows perfectly golden. Apparently, there is a technique and an art to it.

Coadster had her cathedral concert at St Mary's church. It was hard to go inside on such a beautiful afternoon, but the concert is really gorgeous and nice and it only takes an hour, so that works too.

Rattle of Bones, Dreams That Stick Out, a Medical Chart on the Wall

Hey, look what revealed itself. The plant I thought was a peony, was really a bleeding heart. How perfect for me. Ha!

I really went through the wringer today. I had a dermatology appointment in the morning to check out that weird spot on my lip. They asked me if I wanted them to do a full body check for skin cancer, and I figured they probably should since I was there anyway. I am Irish after all and we were not meant to grow up in Arizona, like I did. Of course, when the doctor came in looking like a younger hotter Peter Gallagher, I thought I might take it back. I'm pretty sure I was blushing throughout the whole exam. The good news is that I didn't die from embarrassment AND I don't have any signs of skin cancer. He said the thing on my lip was pretty common in outdoorsy people like myself and he gave me a list of lipbalmy/sunscreeny products.

Then I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon. I scheduled the appointment 6 months ago. My last appointment was actually the day I got approved for my home loan. Doesn't that seem more like 6 years ago, than 6 months? Anyway, once I realized I had both appointments on the same day, I figured I should just leave it and get it all over with.

I gave plasma after the dentist, but wisely decided not to run today. Even I know when to take a break...Well, sometimes, anyway.

Another angle.

So, now it's the weekend and I got all my body maintenance issues out of the way. How do I plan to spend it? I'm not sure, exactly. I have so much to do, I'm having some trouble trying to prioritizing it all.

Most of my girly type friends will be in the Quad Cities at the State Pool tournament. Right now, I think I'll run after work, and then I'll probably have a fire in the pit in my backyard. I'm pretty sure I'll open the bottle of Pinot Grigio at some point in the evening too. If anyone stops by great, and if not, that's great too. I'll be happy either way.

Saturday will be my day to try to get stuff done. I want to take care of some yard work, do some kitchen work and do some car cleaning and maintenance. If I don't have any more tempting offers, I might drink some more wine either in front of fire or in front of a movie or both.

I'll try to get as much done as I can on Sunday before Coadster's cathedral concert at St Mary's in the afternoon. And that should be more than enough for one weekend.

How about you all? Will you be drinking wine in front of a fire or doing some much needed maintenance this weekend?

A Long, Long Way From My Home

Here's me at Standish and Hickey State Park where I lived while I was in the California Conservation Corps.

Okay, As promised (or threatened) here is more of my writing exercise from a couple of weeks ago:

She picked Santa Rosa at the suggestion of one of the dishwashers at the restaurant where she worked back in Iowa. He said it was nice mid-sized town where he thought she'd be able to get around pretty easily without a car. Of course, he couldn't have known they'd be be shooting a movie there. A movie that would star Kathleen Turner and take place in 1960, so they wouldn't let anyone dressed in their 1985 clothes anywhere near the downtown. She had to take a very long detour to get anywhere. So, she either walked for at least an hour from her motel to almost everywhere else, or she hitchhiked.

How it worked with the Conservation Corps., was that she had to sign up and get a full physical at any of the towns in California, then she had to wait about a month to see if she made it in. She picked The Redwood Motel out of a phone book. The name conjured up happy memories of the trees in Yosemite where her family had gone on vacation when she was 12. The reality of the Redwood Motel was dingy and desolate and on the outskirts of town, next to a trailer court.

The first full day in Santa Rosa was a Sunday. She walked a half an hour to the closest store and wandered down the aisles. It felt strange to be 19 and NOT live in a college town. Everyone was either so much older or a child. She didn't think she could identify with anyone she passed in the store. It was a familiar predicament for her. She had first moved to Iowa from a very working-class town in the Chicago area. In high school, she was a little too harsh for the popular kids and didn't drink or do drugs, so the rougher kids (or scurves, as they were known in her town) didn't have much use for her either. She felt chronically isolated. Although, she smiled to herself, she had a hard time identifying with her self from five minutes ago too, so maybe the isolation was more her problem than anyone else's. She had a bad habit of being quite contrary.

She Said a Bad Day's When I Lie In Bed and Think of Things That Might Have Been

Here are some Irises in one of my raised beds.

Okay. Here's the dealio. I gave plasma after work and it was fine again. I'm really getting into my book, but it still cracks me up, because it's a retelling of the Prodigal Son and there's such heavy talk about piety and coming back home twenty years older and trying to establish yourself as an adult within your family and I'm reading it at the plasma center. I'm sure none of you will be at all surprised when I tell you how much I love that juxtaposition.

After plasma, I ran. It was so warm and humid and there were storms and amazing clouds all around our town, but they didn't hit us while I was running. What did hit me though, was dehydration. I have to be so careful when I try to run after giving plasma and it's hot outside. Duh, I know. But they're only able to put a percentage of fluids back in me and even if I drink a bunch of water first, as I found out today, I can come back from my run feeling pretty damn woozy. Nothing like a free high, right?

Tomorrow I might actually get an evening to myself and if I do, I'll try to do a bit of real writing. I'm planning on taking off where my last writing exercise left off. Now, though? Now, I'm super beat and so I'm going to hydrate myself and read for a little minute and try to sleep. Night, night.

Life Ain't Always What It Seems, Oh Yeah

Here are some of last season's ferns against this Spring's...What are those? Daffodil plants?

I thought I'd try to maintain everything this week by spending as much time as possible cleaning and getting paperwork done every night. Sounds good, right? Sure. Until you get bludgeoned by bureaucratic bullshit, that is.

Remember how I paid H and R Block $89 to amend my old tax refund, so I could make sure I had the right paperwork and get my first time home buyer credit as soon as possible? Well, it got sent back saying I was missing the correct form. I was a little ticked off at H and R Block for not knowing which form to use. I called and asked them to rectify it and they told me to bring it all back in. I did that today after work. Turns out, we did send the correct form and we sent them everything they originally asked for, it's just that the IRS updated said form and then asked for even more proof of my new address. They wanted a current driver's license with my new address on it and then some bills sent to me with it as well. Luckily, my driver's license cracked in half about a month after I bought my house and it just happened to be updated. They wanted bank statements and paycheck stubs. Of course, that's all taken care of on-line now, because I was trying to be all environmentally conscious and save tress and all that good shit. So, neither of them show my address on them when I print them off. Bugger! We did everything we could do at H and R Block and the woman who was helping me told me to just find some bills with my current address on them, make copies and send them off with the new, updated form.

Jaysus! But they make a girl jump through some ridiculous hoops to get money that was promised. I do understand that there are scammers out there who are probably trying to cheat the government, so they don't want to make it too easy. I just wish they'd give me a lie detector test or something, instead of making me do all this stupid busy work. It really is one of my most hated things to do.

So, yeah. Anyway. I got most of that crap out of the way until they send it back again and ask for a signature in blood or whatever the hell else they think they need. I also cleaned the kitchen, paid some more bills, ordered tickets to see Coadster in the school play, and who knows...Maybe I'll get all crazy and fill out the census info tonight before I go to bed too.

Don't You Feel You're Growing Up Undone?

Some guys in the vacant lot across from me filming something.

Oh, kids. I tried so hard to keep an even pace this weekend. On Friday I made myself calm down. It was raining when I got off work, so I ran a few errands, put a cheese pizza in the oven, ate, dropped Stinky off at a movie and came home where Coadster and I watched the movie, An Education. I really liked it. I thought the acting was great and all high school girls should be made to watch it. After it was over, Coadster said, "I'm so glad I was born in a time where girls have more options." And I totally agreed.

10 yard waste bags full. At least 10 more to go.

On Saturday I woke up feeling great. The sun was out, I was well rested and I had a list of projects to complete. I did a bunch of cleaning first, then ran some errands with Stinky, then ran my 6 mile route then raked up 10 bags of leaves and cut up some branches with a hack saw and danced around my house in between every project. Needless to say, by the time 5 o'clock rolled around I was beat.

Stinky stayed the night with the same friend she did last week. I kicked around the idea of just staying home, but it might be the last night in a while that I get to go out and talk to grown-ups, so I figured I should. I picked G. up and we headed downtown. The Dublin can be unpredictable. Sometimes I go down there and all kinds of great fun people are hanging out and I have a wonderful time. Other nights there's hardly anyone I know down there and the ones I do know drive me a little crazy. Saturday was more like the latter. Most people in town seemed to be at all the Mission Creek Music Festival events. Greg Brown was playing at the Englert and one of the guys from Husker Du was playing at Gabes and there was something else going on at the Blue Moose (what used to be The Que or The Copper Dollar depending on how long ago you lived here).

Anyway, I decided to leave around 11. G. emailed me the next day and told me it never got any better and that I didn't miss anything. I guess a positive way to look at it, is that now I won't feel bad when I can't go out for a while, right?

Today I got a text from a friend early in the morning. She had a family emergency and needed one of the girls to babysit for her. The first thing I realized when I woke up, was that I had a migraine. I wasn't all that surprised. I knew I overdid it a little the day before, and that's usually my body's way of forcing me to slow down. Uncle, uncle. I got the message, took some migraine meds and slowed my roll waaaaay down. I actually even sat on the couch in the middle of the day and watched a movie. I know. I never do that when there's light out. I got groceries and did some paperwork and a little cleaning, but other than that, I made myself rest. I hope your Easter (or whatever you celebrate) was restful as well.

And the Heat Wave's Calling Your Name

Okay. No one had any ideas about yesterday's plant. So, here's the same plant a few days after it was uncovered. Now does anyone have any ideas? I was kind of thinking Peony. I suppose I'll just have to go to the web.

Today was incredible. I spent most of the day being grateful for how amazing my life is right now. Sure, I don't have everything I want. It'd be wonderful to have more time and money and the right guy to share it all with, but I've never expected to get half of what I have now, let alone everything I want.

If you haven't already guessed, I was allowed to take a half day off today. I rode my bike home and ran my 6 mile route. It felt so amazing. Sometimes when the weather is warm and windy and the perfect songs appear on my iPod, and my endorphins kick in, I get overwhelmed with the awesomeness of it all. Luckily, that feeling lasted long after I got done running.

Here's some laundry hanging on my line. My clothes smell amazing now.

I took Stinky to her first real day at work. It was nice enough to walk, but I had to get some things at the store anyway, and I wanted to make it at least a little special for her. She said it went well. She bags groceries right now. Two of her friends made a big point to get in her line, each buy one pack of gum, make her put it in separate bags and then tipped her a dime. Hilarious. She works again on Saturday from 1-7, so I'm sure she'll master the fine art of bagging groceries by the end of that shift.

After I dropped Stinky off at work, I started in on the raking. Remember how I said I'd need a week to rake it all? Well, I lied. I think it will be closer to a month. It really hasn't been raked for years and even after doing the side yard, the leaves were at least knee deep. I'm going to check with the city to see the cheapest way to dispose of the yard waste. At first I thought I could use some of the leaves for mulch and compost the rest, but I'd have to have a compost pile the size of my whole backyard. I finished putting the screens on, left for an hour to donate plasma, came home and grilled brats for dinner and then when Stinky got off work at 7:30, we went to the mall to get her prom dress. It's really pretty. I'll show some pics of it in a bit.

So, yeah. It's also the weekend. They say the weather might hold out until Friday night. If it does, I plan on running and then coming home and staying in for the night. I'm actually looking forward to a nice relaxing evening of thunderstorms outside and me inside getting all cozy on the couch with my girls and watching movies and drinking a beer or two,

Saturday it's supposed to keep raining. Since the girls are working, we can't make it down to the big O to see my family for Easter. Instead, I'll try to get cracking on the indoor house stuff. I'll probably go out for a celebratory Easter beer with G. on Saturday night. The next weekend most of my friends will be gone for the state pool tournament. I thought I'd try to make it, but it's looking less and less likely now. Then I'll start doing some races after that, so my going out nights will be fewer and further between. I figure I might as well make the most of this Saturday while I can.

It's the Room, The Sun and the Sky

Hey, does anyone know what this plant is? I know it's not a great pic. This was taken right after I uncovered it from a bunch of leaves. I checked on it again today and it has had time to photosynthesize, so it's way more purpley.

Today was the first really warm day of the year and I think I can speak for all Iowans when I say it was about fucking time. JAYSUS! but it was a long Winter. I walked around downtown during my lunch and on my 3 o'clock break. It was like everyone finally emerged from their lairs to get their share of vitamin D. I saw so many people I didn't even know still lived in town. I walked past one of the lawyers who used to frequent the coffee shop where I worked in the 90's. He stopped me when he recognized me and asked me how and what I was up to. I filled him in very quickly and he informed me that he had 7 grand kids now. Then he said, "Well, I guess time marches on..." It certainly does.

I rode my bike home from work and opened up every curtain and blind I had. Over the Winter I kept things pretty closed up, and so I was a little worried my house wouldn't provide enough sunlight for me in the warmer months. Luckily, I found out I was wrong. It should be nice and bright when I keep everything open this Spring and Summer.

I ran about a 7 mile route and saw some of the other runners on my route for the first time of the season. The one shorter lady with the glasses who swings her arms from side to side in front of her, still wouldn't smile or wave at me but B., this guy I know who waits tables at 126, ran past me wooo-hooing and raising both fists in the air, so I guess he made up for it.

When I got home, I started in changing out my storm windows for screens. I've never done that before, and wasn't quite sure how tough it would be or how heavy the windows would be, but it was all pretty easy. I was able to clean and change about half of them before it got too dark to see.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another glorious day, before the weather turns back again late on Friday for the weekend. Awesome. So, I was thinking I'd see if my boss would let me take half of a furlough day tomorrow afternoon. It would be so great to get off at noon, go running, take Stinky to work at 2'ish and then spend the rest of the afternoon doing yard work. I could easily spend at least a week just raking the last five years of leaves and sticks in my yard. Keep your fingers crossed that my boss lets me go. That would give me the other half of a furlough day saved for later in the month when it gets warm again.

But I'm Sorry I Don't Pray That Way

The lilacs are starting to bud out.

I gave plasma after work today. I think that's been going a little better. I talked to one of the girls who works there last week about all the hematomas (I was starting to suffer from hematomaphobia) I get. She said it was because my veins roll so badly. She also said I might be able to prevent a lot of them by keeping the employees from pumping up my veins so much before they put in the needle. It seems to be working a little better now. I'm still running my 4 mile route afterward. I think I'm too dehydrated to run any more than that, but I'm fine with 4 miles anyway. Since I'm not giving plasma tomorrow and it's supposed to be in the upper 70's, I thought I might do an 8 mile route to make up for it.

Stinky's orientation went well today. She needed new shoes for her job and since word on the street is that her dad got some tax money back, she called him to ask if he'd buy them for her. Surprisingly enough he actually agreed to it. (Of course, after he asked why I couldn't get them) Anyway, I think that's the first thing he's bought either one of the girls in forever. We'll take what we can get.

I started reading Marilynne Robinson's novel Home today. I still have a little to go on the McCarthy book, but it's a loaner from someone else, so I don't feel comfortable carrying it around with me. I read Robinson's first book, Housekeeping when I was in my early 20's and it is still one of my all time favorites. It's so moody and dreamlike. When Robinson moved to town here, I was still working at the coffee/ice cream shop and waited on her a few times. I'm sure I screwed up her order every time, I was so nervous. Her writing is so dense, that it cracked me up to be reading it while I sat in my chair giving plasma and trying not to listen to the guy's phone conversation right next to me. "Experience had taught them that truth had sharp edges and hard corners, and could be seriously at odds with kindness." Wow. And that's just one sentence of the book. It was a lot to digest, set against the background noise of the cell phone talker and Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" playing on the satellite radio station they pump in there.

Sooooo. Let's see. My kids, Spring, running, trying to scratch out a living, listening to music and reading. That pretty much sums up my day. I think it was a good one.

I Am Going Out to See What I Can Sow

The first flowers blooming in my new yard.

After my run tonight, I surveyed the side and backyard to check for flowers. I have no idea what's planted around, but today I saw evidence of daffodils, more Irises and possibly even some tulips. I'm excited to watch everything bloom. I think I've already mentioned that I want to do some English type gardens in my backyard. It will take me a couple of years to get them where I want them, but I'm planning on getting a good start this year. Right now I have Gladiola, Canna lilies, Dahlia and Oriental lily bulbs ready to plant. I'm also going to plant snap dragons, ditch lilies, lavender and every kind of daisy I can get my hands on. Feel free to give me suggestions for your favorite flowers too. I'm up for anything.

Stinky was notified that she got a new job at the Hy-Vee about 4 blocks from our house. Yippee! She has orientation tomorrow, so we ran to the mall tonight to get black pants and a white collared shirt. She's also supposed to wear either a broach or a tie, we think. They didn't go over the dress code with her, so we're waiting until they do, since I am not the kind of person who owns a broach or a tie.

I started reading Cormac McCarthy's Child of God this weekend. It's a very short book, so I'm almost done, but it is so dark and intense. I think if it were much longer I might have some kind of soul crisis. Sure, I'm crusty on the outside, but like most of us crusty people, I'm actually pretty damn sensitive on the inside. So, even just reading about someone so unhappy and depraved can shake me up quite a bit. It's an amazing author that can take you to that place, though. I'll have to read something a little more upbeat next.

When We Were at School Our Games Were Simple

G. on the stripper pole for her bday.

So, this weekend panned out differently than I thought. Besides cleaning and running, I didn't get much other house stuff done. The temps were a lot colder than I thought they'd be, so I didn't want to switch out the storm windows for screens quite yet. I might just have to do it during the week since it's supposed to get up into the 70's in a few days.

On Saturday, I woke up in kind of a mood. I have no idea why. Sometimes I just get all Irish that way. Anyway, I decided to get over myself and went on a nice long run and took a bath. I felt a million times better then.

Coadster worked all day and then babysat for a friend of mine who wanted to attend G.'s birthday. Stinky spent the night at a friend's house. Her friend's mom used to work with me at the clinic, so I trusted her to keep a watchful eye on the girls.

Here are G. and I trying to scrunch down and make the girl crush feel taller.

Saturday night was a lot of fun. We all went to a bar called Firewater where G.'s work friend's band was playing. The band was WAY too loud for the space, so it was hard to talk, but we finally went down to the Dublin.

I got to talk to a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time and that was great. At one point, Mr. B. texted me. My girl crush told me I should ignore, ignore, ignore. Of course, that just made him call me. I didn't have my phone by me, but when I finally checked it, there were a bunch of missed calls from him and a voicemail that I should call him when I got home. I didn't. I just don't have time for games and bullshit. Instead, I put my energy on my real friends who are wonderful and consistent and don't play stupid games.

I stayed out even a little after midnight. Crazy! But then some of my friends were ready to go, and I was even more than ready to take off, so I gave a few people rides home and made my way home as well.

Sooner or Later, Your Legs Give Way, You Hit the Ground

G. giving two big thumbs up for her birthday this weekend.

So, yeah. The president paid us a visit today...Well, he came to town to speak. I didn't get to see him, but those who did really dug what he had to say. It's funny that Coadster went to see him speak on the Ped Mall on Earth Day a few short years ago in front of some of our citizens without a lot of hoopla. This time he was in a limo with Secret Service Agents swarming every orifice of our fair city. During lunch a helicopter hovered over my office building. We were all trying to figure out who was up there. We guessed Obama, secret service, the press and finally my boss said, "It's Joe f'ing Biden!" Hilarious.

Anyway, that's over now and we're moving into the weekend. I wish I had another day off tomorrow. What I really wish, is that I could take a week off of work and do some serious Spring cleaning and house fixer uppering. I won't start using my vacation until my girls are out of school for the Summer, though. With only two days, I have those older windows in my house where you have to change out the storm windows for screens, so I thought I might change those out and wash all the windows while I'm at it. Pray for me.

So, tomorrow night, I might just stay in. Coadster wants to start washing her bedroom walls so we can prepare to paint on Saturday and Sunday. Once her room is painted, I can finally rip out that nasty, old stained carpet and clean up the hardwood floors underneath. Stinky has a 16th birthday party to go to and some of her friends will come over and watch a movie when that's over.

Saturday is G.'s however many 29th birthday. She told me she wanted all of her friends to start on Friday night. She wants everyone to go bar hopping wearing Nirvana t-shirts (her sister is a certain dead lead singer's widow's personal assistant (got that?) and she gets all kinds of swag because of it). I don't think I'll make that. I told her I'd go out for a bit for her actual birthday on Saturday. It's also the 3rd annual 80's punk rock reunion show at The Mill. I may do a drive-by to that for a minute, because a lot of my old friends will be in from out of town. It should be interesting to see how much I can cram into a few short hours on Saturday night.

Mostly what I want to do this weekend is run and bike my ass off, get my windows cleaned and switched-out with screens, do some yard work, keep trudging along on my kitchen and finish my book. You know how rabid I get about a good book and I'm really digging Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. If you're looking for an entertaining, quick, escapist read, I highly recommend it.

Now, it's your turn. Will you be Spring cleaning this weekend or celebrating someone's however many 29th birthday?

Warning Sign, Warning Sign, I See It But I Pay It No Mind

A recycled pic of me writing in my journal when I was in the California Conservation Corps. Check out the old fashioned typewriter.

So, reading the novel, Brooklyn has got me thinking about my first night alone in San Francisco. I moved by myself when I was 19 to join the California Conservation Corps. I signed up in Santa Rosa, but I stayed one night in a cheap motel in San Francisco the day my plane landed. It's writing assignment time again. As usual, I'm just writing this out now, and it will be rough, rough, rough:

She wondered how she'd feel if she could look into the future and see that everything was going to be okay...Or not. Would she still be so scared and lonely? Would she still feel like the only thing she had in her motel room was an absence? An absence of friends, familiar surroundings and almost everything she owned. It was more prevalent than anything that she actually had. She worried that it would take over in her sleep. The darkness of everything she had just given up, would overwhelm the room - a kind of black hole of loss that would devour her along with the hideous bedspread, the stained burgundy carpet and the TV chained to a desk.

After she first checked in, she thought it would be nice to go for a walk and check out the neighborhood. She had been too long in Iowa and forgot that in other places, she needed to be more aware of her surroundings. It hadn't occurred to her to check and find out if the area on Van Ness Street where her motel was located was safe. She had stepped out of her room and noticed the proximity of water right away. It must be the bay. She headed toward some docks, thinking it might be relaxing to sit and watch the water and the birds. She was an idiot. About five minutes later a group of guys started towards her. Saying things she didn't want to hear. She stood up and walked quickly away from them and right back to her room.

At first she sat in silence and when that was too much, she turned on the television. On MTV, Cyndi Lauper was getting ready to wrestle Hulk Hogan. Why? She had no idea, but she wasn't at all in the mood to see it and changed the channel to catch the very beginning of a Clint Eastwood movie, Play Misty for Me. It probably wasn't the best thing for her to watch either, but she kept it on while a female stalker chased Clint Eastwood around with a knife. The noise and the lights of it filled the room.

It ended around 10 and she thought it was late enough that she could go to bed without feeling too pathetic on a Friday night. The next day she would take a van up the coast to Santa Rosa and rent a room at the Redwood Motel. She had no idea what would happen from there. She wanted to feel the excitement of a new adventure, but she was too scared. All she could feel was that thing that was filling her room now that the lights and sound were gone and she gathered all that absence around her and fell asleep, without any clue where she would be in a week.

For I Toss and Turn, I Can't Sleep at Night

Look! My seeds have germinated. It normally takes about 7 - 10 days but mine are overachievers and made it up in 4. Good, good seeds.

Oh, kids. I've got Spring fever and I got it baaaaad. I can't sleep and my attention span went AWOL again. I have all this crazy false energy that makes it so I get about 4 hours of sleep a night if I'm lucky, but I'm so exhausted that I can't get anything practical done either. Tonight I rode my bike home from work and then went on one of my longer runs. I hadn't tried to run that route since before I moved, so I had to figure out the best way to go. I ended going a little differently than I used to, but it made it more of an 8 mile run than a 10 mile and I didn't think I was quite ready to run that far yet. It felt great.

So, now I'm going to end this post and finally try to get some sleep tonight. I figure I'll give myself time to relax and read and see if that helps. If not, I'm sure tomorrow's blog post will be even more erratic and hard to read. Sorry. Hey, Happy Spring!

Every Game Ain't the Same, Cuz the Game Still Remains

Here are some tomato and basil plants incubating in my room.

Hey, so here's a good thing...I gave plasma tonight and didn't get a hematoma or pass-out or anything. I even felt good enough to run my 4 mile route afterward. I tried a little experiment this time. Since the times I had hematomas before were when they took from my left arm, I asked if they could use my right to see if that helped. I'm not sure why, but it seemed to work...At least this time. I do feel a little weak and drained (quite literally) now, but nothing like the other times. Maybe I'll get used to this yet.

I know I talk about balancing all of my many obsessions on here a lot. So, I thought I'd go through my main ones and see how I'm doing at feeding them all.

1.) My girls. I'd say this is my main obsession and the one that takes most of my time, energy and money. My girls can be mirror images of each other. Whatever the one lacks the other has in excess. I've often said if I could fuse them together, both my life and theirs would be so much better. Coadster is getting everything ready for college and even though she has finished on the last day things were due a couple of times, she seems to be getting it all done correctly. She's also calmed down a little about being in every single school activity possible and isn't quite as bad about singlehandedly trying to save the world (although she did recently lecture Stinky and I about washing out and reusing sandwich bags (whatever)). Stinky is doing her damnedest to get her shit together a little better at school. I instituted a no tolerance policy about turning in late homework assignments this tri. She knows she'll be grounded for a week with each late assignment. She just checked in with me to show me that her homework was all completed.

2.) Running. Unless the weather is THAT horrible, I don't normally have a problem getting this one fed. Now that it's warmer, I'm even more consistent. Last week I ran outside for 5 days and got about 30 miles in for the first time this year. I also rode my bike to work and back every day but one. I'm going to have to start riding one long route on a weekend day, if I want to get in shape for that duathlon in May.

3.) Reading. I've been averaging about a novel a week. In Cold Blood took me two weeks. Just because I had a lot of other things going on. I just started Colm Toibin's Brooklyn today, and so far I love it. I wanted to have it finished by the time he comes here to read in April, but I could easily have it read within the week.

4.) Writing. Any real writing has fallen by the wayside as of late. It's one of those things I seem to need more of a set-up and time and ambiance and shit that I haven't been able to gather together lately. I guess I'll put it on the list of 5 million other things I need to work on.

5.) My house. I've for sure slowed down a little on my house...Or maybe changed gears a little, is more accurate. Now that it's warm out, I've been sharing the food between my inside and my outside and neither one is really getting all that very full. I might take next weekend and only work in the kitchen and then the weekend after, I'll only work outside to see if I can keep a little better focus.

So, how about all you all? What are your addictions and are they well-fed?

And I Thought I Was Mistaken And I Thought I Heard You Speak

Here is a pic of whoopee cushion love.

Wow. Three whole days. It's never enough, though, is it? Friday was a really productive day for me. The snow and cold held off until much later in the day, so I got a nice run in and then I did a ton of outside work. I did some organizational crap that is never very blogworthy, and then I raked the leaf mulch off my two raised beds. Since I moved in November, I have no idea what's planted anywhere. Right now, it looks like I have a rose bush, some mint, Echinacea, and some Irises. I also planted some basil and tomato seedlings in my house. I love watching them sprout and grow into adorable, little organic plants.

Saturday I woke up with a migraine. I should've known. I was kind of low energy on Friday evening and that can sometimes mean I'm on the road to brain pain. My meds take a few hours to work, but then my headache was gone. It just sucks to lose those couple of hours. Saturday night was really nice. I stopped by a friend's house to drop off a few things and ended up staying and having a beer and a really nice talk. G. called me to pick her and our friend J. up. I wasn't really in the frame of mind to go out, but I had already promised, so I figured I'd go and have a beer and make a quick exit.

Here's me distracting pool players...Again.

Then when we got down to the bar, I saw a lot of great people I hadn't had a chance to hang out with in forever. It was so much fun. I was still pretty wiped out from my migraine, so I lasted until about 11:30 before I had to go home. Between both parts of it, I'd call that almost a perfect Saturday night.

Sunday was a day of running kids around. I ended up doing all the errands I wasn't able to do with the funky vision I get with my migraines on Saturday. So, for three days, I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but I doubt I ever will. The good thing is, that Summer's coming and then I'll have about 4 weeks of vacation to burn. Yeee Haaaaw!

April Come She Will

My new battery powered porch lights I got for $12. They were very hard to find around town.

Ahhhhh. I finally get a three day weekend, and not a minute too soon. I'm taking my second to last furlough day tomorrow. Because the girls are still on Spring Break, and I don't have to get up early, I let Stinky have some friends over for a backyard fire. She invited some girls from her school and some boys from the local Catholic school. (one of them used to be our neighbor) Anyway, apparently some of the boys from Stinky's school, decided it would be funny to vandalize our guests' cars. Luckily, mine was in the garage. They didn't use eggs, like you'd think they would. Instead they used syrup. Awesome. All the party guests took their cars to the car wash, but one of them was a jeep with a canvas top and the owner of that vehicle got a little pissed. There were a few heated words exchanged, until I finally told Stinky to invite anyone she wanted to stay into the house to avoid anymore drama. Jaysus! but teenagers can drive a person to drinkin'.

Here's a close-up.

So, I would say that my three day weekend is not only necessary, but deserved at this point. What will I do with it? Um, I'm not exactly sure. I plan on getting a lot of errands run, my kitchen cupboards finally finished and get my place cleaned and organized. Word on the street, is that it's supposed to snow this weekend. I'm not surprised or even all that annoyed. It's Iowa in March. It's bound to happen. Plus, it will keep me inside and on task with my cupboards...Hopefully. I have no idea if I'll go out either night this weekend. I'm just going to go with how I feel or if someone asks me to hang out. We'll see.

How about you all? What are your weekend plans? Will you be recovering from teenage drama or will you be hibernating in the midst of a March snowstorm?

Nothin' Matters but the Weekend, From a Tuesday Point of View

Stinky texted me this pic at work, to prove to me she was home at the time she was supposed to be there. Ah, technology.

Sometimes it can be very overwhelming when there are two of them and one of me and we all have things we need to do all around the same time. This is what that looked like today: I got off work and basically every single one of my co-workers harassed me as I tried to unlock my bike at the rack. Thanks, guys. Then I rode home, and got ready and ran my 6 mile route as quickly as possible. I changed and washed up'ish and ran Stinky to the store because she apparently HAD to eat frozen waffles for dinner. I dropped her off back at home, while picking Coadster up at the same time and dropping her off at her babysitting gig. Then I came back and picked up Stinky and took her to my friend Bob and Allison's house where she was to babysit. They gave me the grand tour of their newly gutted and rebuilt 83 year old house and it was amazing. The difference was incredible. Their house is about 1100 square feet and mine is 1200 (both counting our upstairs dormer rooms) but theirs has this new open layout and looks about twice the size of mine. We talked about the proposed school redistricting and Allison asked me to sign the same petition I just signed the night before. Believe me, I'd sign it as many times as I could get away with.

I finally got home around 7:30 and answered an email and got on Facebook and wrote on my friend's wall asking her to tell her husband that The Kings sing the song "Switchin' to Glide". We were trying to remember that last night at the housewarming party and it finally came to me when I was running. Around 8, I decided I needed to just stop and try to read my book for a second and calm down. That lasted about 15 minutes until I fell asleep and took a cat nap for another 15 minutes. Whew! Now, I'm really glad I took the night before off just to have a good time with my friends.

Thank god tomorrow is my last day of the work week before I take a 3 day weekend. It would be great if I could just sleep those 3 whole days, but I have a feeling that won't happen.

I Was Happier Then With No Mindset

Here is a photo of a bird at the garden store we went to this weekend. I took it with my phone and I still can't get the angle right. So, the bird looks like it's on acid, or maybe it looks like I was on acid when I took this.

This will be hopefully very short. I went to my friend's St Pat's/Housewarming party thingy tonight. It's late and I've had a few and I don't trust myself not to write something that won't sound very, very loud through the computer.

Basically, I didn't get anything done after work. I didn't run, I didn't do any cleaning, and I didn't work on my kitchen. What I did do, is hang out with some great friends and have an amazing time drinking, eating and talking shit - the trifecta of fun.

Soooo, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't plan on going out, since I celebrated tonight. Both my girls are babysitting, so I'll go running, probably stop by my friend's Allison and Bob's house (where Stinky's babysitting) and check out their house that has been totally gutted and remodeled. Then I'll have my place to myself to work in the kitchen and read some more of In Cold Blood. Who knows, maybe I'll get all crazy and drink a beer while I read.

Inquisitions and Suppositions

Here is a before pic of my backyard. The amount of work it needs is pretty overwhelming right now. Hopefully, the after shot will be amazing..Or at least a little better.

Oh, kids. I'm pretty exhausted today. I got a weird text from Mr B. last night at 2 am, telling me he was lonely and thinking about me. Um, wow. Really? I was so annoyed. I texted him back and told him that if he was lonely, the only person he should be thinking about or texting at 2 am, was his girlfriend. I really was going to work at being friends, but he's getting worse and worse. He started doing that thing he used to do when we were trying to date a year or so ago, where he would text or call me on Saturday nights around 12:30, basically to make sure I was home alone. He has a girlfriend. I still don't understand why he would care what I did or who I did it with. The whole thing just makes me feel so bad for his girlfriend and I don't want to encourage his sleazy behavior. Apparently, we can't be friends, and I basically told him that. I really have lost any respect I ever had for him. So, I doubt I'll be hearing from him again. One less thing.

Stinky ended the weekend with some friends in front of the fire last night. Please note the tiki torches in the background. I guess kids today are all about the tiki torches.

So, onto something better and less full of bullshit....My girls are on Spring Break this week. Which means they're both doing a lot of babysitting. It also means I'm going to take one of my furlough days on Friday, so we can try to do something fun. Of course, the weather is supposed to get crappy again by then, so who knows what we'll end up doing.

It's also St. Patrick's Day this week. I have some friends who invited me to a bar crawl that night. I haven't seen them in a while and they're really fun, but I don't think I'm going to make it. For one thing, it's a work night and I would be wrecked the next day. The other thing, is that another friend of mine is having a little get together tomorrow night and that should be way more mellow and end early and is much more my style. I'm really excited about it.

So, now I think I better quit writing and go rest up. Luckily, I won't have to worry about any late night phone calls or texts tonight.

I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain

Here is my fire pit as seen through the screen of my porch.

Wow, kids. If there was ever a weekend NOT to lose an hour of sleep, it was this one. It was a really great weekend, but packed with so much stuff. I didn't get half the stuff done that I wanted, but I did a lot of other stuff that I didn't plan on either.

Friday night was just about perfect. I rode my bike home from work and got right into my running stuff and ran my 6 mile route. So far, one of the tough things I can see about doing a duathlon, will be getting my sea legs after riding a bike and then running. My legs felt so weak at the beginning of my run right after my ride.

The night kept getting better and better. We ate, and then I went out to start the fire. Of course, it started raining the minute I got it going, but that's okay. We now have a screened-in porch to hang out in and watch it. Stinky fell asleep before I got the fire going, but Coadster sat on the porch with me and we planned her graduation party and chatted about what she was doing for prom. It was a really nice talk. It started getting chilly, so went in the house, I drank a beer and we watched Up in the Air.

Careful, IronMan. Those new counters might be a little slick.

On Saturday, I got a call from my co-worker's husband asking if he could stop by around 10 and put the counters in and rewire the kitchen. I, of course, said, "Hellz yeah!" He brought his ten year old son to help him and it took about three hours to get everything done, but it looks a million times better. I still have to work on those damn cupboards. I just bought 2 saw horses so I can finally get the doors done. My goal is to be all done with the kitchen, including the backsplash by the end of the month. It should be interesting.

Here is a before pic, just for reference.

My stove is now where the fridge used to be. It's so much better this way.

The rest of Saturday was cold and dreary. It seemed like a good day to start getting excited about outdoor projects by shopping around for some things. Stinky and I ran into an excellent sale and bought some canna and gladiola and lily bulbs. Both of my girls love doing yard work as much as I do, so it makes it even more fun to plan it out when we can all spaz out together. We also got everything we needed to start some seedlings in the house. I am so excited about what I'm going to do with my backyard, I can hardly stand it. I've spent the last however many years, helping other people with their gardens, it's going to feel even better now that I finally have my own. Woo hoo!

Some of the fun kids at the Dublin.

Saturday evening, I got a call from G. she was freaking out about a few things. I talked her down and told her we'd just go down to the Dublin, play some fun music on the juke box and have a good time with our friends...And that's exactly what we did. It was cool and I think G. felt a lot better after the first hour of being at our little sanctuary. I was super exhausted, so I went home by 11, but it sounds like G. went to afterhours and had even more fun. Good for her.

Today was another haze of working on the house, running and going on errands. Since it was so nice, I decided to grill for the first time this season. I made our favorite grilled foods - ribs and steak and we also had twice baked potatoes. Thank god, Spring is finally here.

I'm Coming Out of My Cage, and I'm Doing Just Fine

Here are some balloons. How festive.

For a while today it was really nice out. I decided to go home for lunch and ride my bike back to work. I'm so glad I did, because I got some fun exercise and then it rained shortly after I got home from work and I wasn't able to run. I did, however, take a quick nap. I've been so exhausted lately, that I finally wore myself down enough that I could sleep. Let's hope that works for me tonight as well.

Okay. So, it's the weekend again. My hope for this weekend is to calm down and slow down, while at the same time, trying to get a ton of stuff done. Yeah. I'm not sure how that will all work, but in my head it sounds great.

Hopefully, I'll be able to run after work tomorrow, then finally get a fire going in our outdoor fire pit if the rain holds off long enough. Either way, I plan to drink a beer and watch a movie at some point too. My girls are practicing Catholics, so they don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent. We're having fish sticks and mac and cheese for dinner. It reminds me so much of being a kid during Easter season, that I keep expecting to wake up and be able watch Hong Kong Phooey, Captain Caveman and Land of the Lost on Saturday morning.

Rumor has it that my counters might get installed this weekend, but I'm not sure which day, if at all. I have a ton of paper work to do as well (my least favorite thing) and I plan to start working on the bottom cupboard boxes and hopefully the doors too. I'm going to try to use my orbital sander for the first time. I don't really know how to use power tools and I'm a little intimidated. Wish me luck with that.

So, how about you all? Will you be spending relaxing nights in front of a fire or trying your hand at power tools?