Stream of Consciousness

Jordan is camping with his grandparents this weekend and I miss him. I miss coming home at the end of the day and playing games with him and making him dinner and laughing at the things he says and listening to him tell me about his day. I miss walking down the hall to the family room to see him passed out on the couch because summer camp is just EXHAUSTING. He asked me last week, "Mommy, can I PLEASE go back next year??" He is having a ton of fun there.

I realized in looking back at my recent posts (which there are not many of) that I haven't posted many pictures of my animals! And speaking of animals... one of my frogs got flushed this week. The cat knocked their bowl off the counter a couple of weeks ago and I'm wondering if he got injured or something. Anyhow, out of Larry (a snail), Daryl and Daryl, just the other brother Daryl is left. (By the way, Shade looks like a total freak in this first picture.)

Tegan is getting bigger and looking less kitten-ish but she's still super tiny, which I like. I guess her mom is a little tiny thing too so maybe she will stay small! I gave both cats flea baths this week and survived... I was surprised at how well they did. Which is good, because the fleas are BAD this year and they may have to have another bath in a week or two.

I have been stuffing myself silly on fruit this year. Blueberries and nectarines mostly, though also a ton of cantaloupe and grapes. I can't get enough. Oh, and egg sandwiches, my other new love.

Jordan and I have been talking a lot lately about names for his future brothers and sisters and it's so entertaining to hear his ideas. Although he has had a few good ones, too!

Today it's 97 degrees. It's almost 6pm so I'm hoping it cools down from here and doesn't get any hotter tonight. There is a heat watch in effect until Monday at 9pm so this weekend is gonna be a scorcher. On top of today's heat there is a hot, muggy wind. Ick. Ice cream tonight for sure.

The last River Rhythms was last night. Joe Diffie was playing and put on a GREAT show. I didn't realize going in quite how famous he was but it turns out that I know most of his songs and not the name behind them. I am a bit of a cowgirl at heart and had a fantastic time. Had the weather not been so hot I would have worn my hat and boots!

The next big thing coming up on my calendar is a camping trip with a friend/coworker next weekend. We're going to the coast and will be at a place that is RIGHT on the beach so I'm super excited. I'm taking along books and magazines that have been piling up and I plan to lay on the beach and read the day away. And when I get back it will be time for Steve and I to start planning our FIFTH ANNIVERSARY trip. (I can't believe it.)

Blogging is hard for me lately. Life is SO good and I am spending all my spare time just soaking it up. Two nights ago we went to Steve's brother's to celebrate his engagement with the family and had a great time sitting outside with a fire crackling, just laughing and joking. His fiance is a lot like me and the whole night was just FUN. (And somewhat hilarious how SHE told the proposal story a little different than HE did.)

My siblings and their SO's have been in Idaho all week and I miss those guys! I'm hoping to make it to Saturday Coffee with friends tomorrow and then might hit up the Farmers Market before the day gets too hot. It will be a challenge to stay cool this weekend... Perhaps a trip to a river is in order.

People ask my mom, "How are you?" and she tells them, "I'm just livin' the dream!" And for her it's true.

It's become true for me, too. This is the life I want and the life I craved while I was otherwise committed at Dorothy's. My boys beside me, my cats meowing, dirty dishes and laundry and little faces... Sure, it would be great to not struggle financially. But the important things? I have them. And I'm not taking them for granted.

Stream of consciousness

I'm always super stressed out the week before a move. This week is no different! It's just the tasks that are different.

Buy curtain rods and mount them to the walls
Hang all the curtains/shower curtains/closet curtains in the house
Mow the lawn
Have the carpets cleaned
Replace a section of floor
Install washer and dryer

Being a "homeowner" is weird!

The painting is DONE! And I hereby swear that I am never painting that house again, nor will I ever endeavor to paint and entire home by myself again. It looks amazing. But I officially hate painting. :)

Except watercolor painting. I got out Dorothy's watercolors over Memorial Day weekend and painted myself a masterpiece. I can't wait to show you. It's going to hang in my new kitchen.

The construction is done too. The guys weren't able to replace one little area of floor by the back door (and I think they kind of forgot about it because the fridge was sitting on it for 4 months - but I kind of forgot about it too) so that's being done tomorrow. The carpets were cleaned yesterday and today. The house is clean because my sister and I busted our butts on Sunday and I cleaned for five hours.

I'm broke.

I'm ready for my cats! I went to Petco yesterday and got everything I will need for them.

Nobody picked Jordan up at school yesterday. I got a phone call from his school about 35 minutes after school let out saying, "We've been trying to call everyone and we can't get throught to anyone. Nobody picked Jordan up today." I dropped everything and booked it to Albany (a 20 minute drive) to get the poor guy. We had a mommy-son date while we waited for Daddy to get off work. He was asking about our cats, whether they are boys or girls and when he found out they are one of each he was asking what we would do if the girl had kittens. I explained that she wouldn't because the boy cat is fixed. He wanted to know more about that so we had a little sex ed in McDonald's.

I've barely packed. I filled Dorothy's van (partly with things like space heaters and Jordan's bookshelf and this and that) but I have a long way to go. Tonight I'm gonna bust my butt packing because I want to make a big dent in it. I didn't actually realize how many books I have...

My internet gets hooked up at the house on Monday so I will go a very short time (like, one day) without internet. And once I'm settled I'm looking forward to blogging more.

I can't wait for Jordan's summer camp to start because I get to pick him up every day and spend the afternoon with him. I'm very excited about that. He's at an age where conversation is so fun and he is so curious and funny.

Stream of consciousness

I miss blogging! I really do.

I have had several really not so great days lately but yesterday was a good day. It's getting very hard to balance both of my jobs and my sanity. Some days I feel like I can trudge on and get through this season and other times I feel like there is just no way I can possibly continue this way.

I think part of the reason for this is that my caregiving job is getting more intense and more frustrating as the days go by. It is becoming almost rare for me to get more than 15 or 20 minutes to myself without getting interrupted. On nights when I'm trying to cook dinner or (like this week) do my taxes, this can get very frustrating very fast. I have been known to mutter a whole string of un-repeatables under my breath on some evenings.

Other evenings, like last night, are wonderful. I got some "me time" after work and even though I didn't nap I was able to go in my room and spend a quiet 45 minutes alone. I spent some time creating new pictures for Dorothys' communication board and talked to my mom on the phone. Steve came over after work and we watched Survivor and had a "dinner" of spinach/artichoke dip, chips, summer sausage, cheese and turkey. We cuddled and laughed and had a great evening. And through all of that I was only interrupted four or five times, which seems like NOTHING!

Communication is getting incredibly hard. It's frustrating for Dorothy and for me. We are brainstorming new ideas for helping with that because her handwriting is sometimes unreadable. I'm hoping this new picture board is really helpful.

I have some extra time off this weekend (well, more than I expected) and I'm hoping to get some more painting done at the house. I finally just took a break from it and decided to spend some time doing things *I* wanted to do, rather than forcing myself to paint when I REALLY didn't want to. The rest of the remodeling, etc. is coming along INCREDIBLY slowly. I think the friend of my sister's boyfriend committed to this job without really thinking things through. Pretty soon I'm going to start treating him like a contractor and not a friend because at SOME point I'm going to want to move into this house! I'd like there to be walls and a floor when I do that. =)

I've been in a total spiritual rut lately. And by lately I mean, oh... basically for the last 9 months to a year. I finally feel like I'm starting to pull out of that and I'm reading a great book called Sin Boldly. My cousin recommended it to me and after only about two chapters I'm in love with it. I knew it would be good with I turned the first page and saw my life quote staring back at me.

I want to start back up on my 15 minutes better posts. I miss those. And I miss the feeling of consciously making an effort to make 15 minutes of my loved ones' days that much better. It's been two years since my last one and I think it's way past time for some more.

But right now? It's time to get back to work! Happy Friday!