Friends

I know it's early in the month to be pulling this one out, but today I've got to.  Today I am thankful for friends.

I'm thankful for the friends who have kids and tell me "it's OK, this is normal" when Boo has a button pushing day (like today)...
Long story hopefully short, bumper league finally started today because another little boy wanted to bowl.  Well.... despite being very interested and asking me every week (until a week or so ago) about bowling, when it finally came time to actually bowl today, we melted down.  It boiled down to me telling him we're here to bowl not just hang with the cousins and if he wasn't going to bowl we were going to go home... so... we disappointed another little boy (who did bowl) and we went home to Boo crying and whining about being hungry and tired.  So, I made him a second bowl of cereal and after that he lay down for about an hour or so.  He never did nap.  He only partially stopped pushing buttons.
I was so hoping that bowling wouldn't become the debacle that soccer did this spring/summer because he is very familiar with the place and the people and it was something he knows how to do, likes doing and asked to do.  Well, as soon as it became a "had to" instead of a "can I?" thing, he wanted nothing to do with it. So, yeah, already grumpy and frustrated with him and then he's been good at pushing buttons the rest of the day. And so, of course I'm even more worried than I was about Kindergarten next fall.  I just don't want to tackle that ball of wax right now.

But, I'm also thankful for friends who help each other out.  Scott had several trees come down in the storm.  So, Kat, Steph, Steve, Shelby, Randy, Chris and Dianne were all over helping him cut up trees and haul them to the front and all kinds of good things like that.  Since I was already making chili today because it's great weather for it and I promised Gak, I offered to bring it over for everyone.  Everyone was very thankful that I did, especially since Scott still doesn't have power.  Scott was very thankful for everyone's help today, and I believe people are going to gather again tomorrow to help with more cleanup.

But now, I am cold and tired and am dealing with a boy who never did actually nap today and is being a combination of whiny and good at pushing buttons... thankfully it's almost bath time for a boy.  (Although, I want to keep him up late tonight because, joy, it's the end of daylight savings time...)

So, I'm off to run a bath for a boy, maybe camp him out in front of a movie for a bit and then try and enjoy my evening....

Peace to all and my no one be pushing your buttons but you have friends to lend a hand if they are.

Electricity

Tonight I am thankful for electricity.  Yes, this is a continuation of yesterday for the most part, but today electricity is important and I'm thankful for it.

No, it's not because I live a very "connected" life and seem to have an electronic device (or several...) within arms reach at all times, but for other reasons.  I'm very thankful that we only lost power for less than a day.  But, what I'm really thankful for is the fact that the power is finally back on at Gak's work.  This means that he gets to go back to work tomorrow.

Normally Gak's not very happy about working every Saturday.  But, after being home all week, climbing the walls, he's more than happy to go back to work.  Not just for the fact that he gets out of the house with something to do, but because without going to work this week, his next paycheck will be half of what it usually is.

Several of my friends are still without power, and that stinks.  I know for a fact some of them won't get it back until Sunday, or maybe even Monday at this rate.  That really stinks.  But, we make do and I've let everyone I know who is still without power they are more than welcome to come over and charge phones or  take a hot shower or grab some hot food.

Peace to all and may you have the power you need, when you need it.

November

Well, it's November again.  How did that happen?  I haven't a clue.

All I do know is that I have a lot to be thankful for this year, and especially this week.

I'm thankful that my boy is growing and healthy.  And boy is he growing!  He's just shy of 40 pounds fully dressed.  So, that means he's big enough that we removed the harness from his booster seat and he just "goes click!" now.  Yep, his booster is really just a high-backed belt positioner.  We did that last week.

But, what I'm most thankful for is the fact that we survived the hurricane with as little damage as we did.  We lost power from almost 9:00 Monday night until about 2:00 Tuesday afternoon.  I have friends that are still without power and it is Thursday night.  Some may not get it back before Sunday.

It was an interesting few days of the storm.  The week after has been even more interesting.  Gak's been out of work since he closed on Saturday as the store doesn't have power.  Thankfully, he will be back at work, unfortunately, no work equals no pay.  I'm thankful that I was able to work from home Monday and I was able to make it in to work for a few hours Tuesday to finish up a few things that had to get done by the end of the day.  (Thanks EPA for not extending the reporting deadline for the storm...)

Anyhow, I'm going to attempt to post daily in November.  I'm going to attempt to find something I'm thankful for every day, even if I have to look very, very hard.

Anyhow, I've got a few things I want to do before bed, so I'm going to wrap it up here.

Frustrated

First things first, my girls and I had a great time at the Halloween Parade on Sunday.  Boo had a great time handing out candy to kids and just being cute in general.  I'm having a lot of fun with the girls this year (not that last year wasn't fun, but this is a different kind of fun with four times the number of girls...).

But....
I have to rant and rave and just scream and pout and whine.  This has nothing to do with my girls or Girl Scouts or anything along those lines, I just wanted to share that yesterday was a great day.  We walked a good couple of miles and the day was beautiful.

But... today I'm tired.  And I'm cold.  Scratch that, I'm not even really all that mentally tired, just tired enough that simple things are pushing my buttons and I couldn't focus worth a damn at work today.  I'm physically more tired than I ever should be for the amount of low-key walking we did.  I'm freaking freezing cold.  Gak is sitting here in shorts and a t-shirt (and complaining he's warm) and I'm in jeans and a sweatshirt and I'm still freaking freezing.  And hot at the same time.
I just don't get it.

I'm sick and tired of being so flipping worn out all the time.  I'm tired of not having the energy to do what I want to do.  To not have the energy to make it through a day of work and come home and play and have fun with my boy-o without wishing we could just curl up in front of the TV or something.  I hate not being able to focus on much of anything for more than a short time without getting distracted or frustrated because I've lost my train of thought.  I'm so sick of feeling freezing cold and the only way to feel warm is to stand in the shower and waste so much hot water.  And even then my skin feels warm, my inside feels warm but I still feel cold if that makes sense.  I'm tired of feeling hot and cold at the same time.

And I'm totally frustrated by my doctor.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Dr. F.  She's been great and listened to me when I first came to her complaining of exhaustion and achyness and general ugh.  She's the one who sent me for such thorough blood work that I felt like I should have just donated a whole unit instead.  But... at my 4-month follow-up she wasn't overly helpful.  Sure, I don't feel anywhere near as bad as I did back in May.  But as I've whined a few times here, my energy level just isn't anywhere near where it was a year ago, or even at the beginning of the year.  I'd say my old energy level used to be around a 7 or 8 out of 10 most days, meaning that I could keep up with Boo if I tried hard enough and I had more than enough energy and attention span to make it through work without too much difficulty.  (My difficulty staying on task last year had very little to do with being exhausted, but just feeling kidna stuck and out of sorts with the job in general... I'm more or less over that, but just can't get through a day it seems...)  Now, if I'm lucky I'm around a 5 or a 6, but probably hover somewhere around a 4.  Back in the spring I would have said I was around a 2 or a 3 for energy.
So, yeah, I don't have the energy I did.
And I want it back.
I want to drop the 15 or so pounds that I picked back up over the summer because the  office snacking has totally gotten out of hand again and I haven't been able to get out of my own way enough to swim more than once a week, let alone get any other real activity in.

And then when I do, like yesterday, I pay for it so badly the next day that it really wasn't worth it.  And all I freaking did was walk in a parade that was around 2 miles long all told, if that (my pedometer app wasn't playing nice yesterday and I didn't map it on Google... just guessing here...)

And what's worse, is that I end up taking it out on the poor innocents.  I grumble and fuss and Gak ends up ignoring me and leaving me alone because I'm in no mood to be fit company.  He wants to do things with me, but he doesn't want to make me feel like I have to, so he just leaves me totally alone.  Which makes me sad. He shouldn't have to feel like I can't be approached with a 10 foot pole.  I shouldn't feel like I have to decide between doing what I want (playing RIFT or something like that with him, enjoying some together time) or what my body says I should do..... And I think I owe Boo about 15 apologies, just for tonight..

Anyhow, back to being frustrated by my doc.  Like I said, she's wonderful, but my appointment last week wasn't very helpful.  I told her my energy still wasn't where it was.  That I was still feeling cold a lot.  She asked me if I still had the muscle and joint aches, and I said no, because I don't.  She asked if I was feeling any depression or anxiety, and I said no, just frustration at my lack of energy and that it's been keeping me from exercising and hasn't helped to keep me from gaining 10 or 15 lb back since the spring.  She said that my vitamin D levels were in the normal range back when I had it retested in August and that chasing a kiddo like Boo around was bound to cause an energy drop and that vitamin D levels don't jump back up right away and we'll check again in December to see if they've stabilized.  Yep, she wasn't listening last week.  I really don't want to have to wait until December for more blood work.  I don't want to have to wait until April for my next follow up appointment.
I wonder why seemingly so suddenly my energy levels headed to the basement.  I don't want to be taking my multi-vitamin and an additional 2000 units of D for the rest of my life.  I want to feel like I have answers and reasons for why I feel the way I feel.

So, I'm frustrated.  And I'm tired.  And I had a Monday of a Monday and couldn't focus on a damn thing past 10:00.  And I've been freezing all afternoon.

On the plus side, Boo and Amma made chocolate chip cookies again today.  (Which is something I both needed and didn't need at the same time.... but the apartment smells soooo good...)

Oh, and then Mom had to give me an update on Dad.  It's breaking my heart.  And there's nothing I can do about it.  And I'm just not thinking about it right now because I've decided to spend this evening wallowing in self pity and ranting about my own personal problems.  But, yeah, not a great news day.  I'm tired and frustrated and just want it all to stop being so crappy.

I promise I'll try and post more "real" posts like the notes one.  I'll try not to wallow in self pity too much, but tonight I just needed to rant.  So, now I'm off to soak away the day in the shower and curl up with a book.  (My crochet project I'm working on is at a tricky spot and I just don't have the concentration for it right this second...)

Peace to all and may your energy be high, your health good and your  life filled with only small frustrations.

Written Windows

I’m sitting here at work, working on some equations from a customer.  We’ve been going back and forth on these silly things for way longer than I care to think about.  First it was with one person from the site, now another.  It’s going much better with this second person than it was with the first.  With the first it really seemed like even though we were speaking the same language, the words weren’t meaning the same things.

Anyhow, I’m a pencil and paper kind of gal.  I have stacks and stacks of notebooks I’ve filled over the years at my job.  My earlier ones even have tables of contents (listing site/problem and even page number, sometimes date) and several have lots of sticky notes sticking out the tops.  You can trace all that back to my chemistry and other lab classes in college.  If you didn’t take notes, and in your official lab book, it didn’t happen.  Of course, it had to be in pen, pencil wasn’t allowed.

I just can’t take notes digitally.  I draw too many arrows and diagrams.  I write thoughts and cross them out as they are disproved or underline and exclamation point them when I was right.  I doodle in margins while I try and wrap my brain fully around what I’m thinking or working on.  I use color when I need something to stand out, or to differentiate between things that are similar or need to be grouped together.  Somehow the physical act of tracing the letters and numbers onto the paper makes it actually stick in my memory some how, and in a way that typing just doesn’t do.

That’s kind of a side note, leading up to the heart of the post, but a little background I felt was needed.

So, back to the equations I’m tackling for a customer.  I’ve gone through them and in my notebook I’ve written them out, crossed out units of measure that cancel each other out, just as I was taught throughout school and drawn my arrows, written my thoughts and doodled my doodles.  I then typed up my findings into a Word document and send them off to the customer.

What do I get back in return?  A scanned copy of my document with notes and scribbles all over it is what I find.  And he also sent three pages of hand written notes and scribbles on the equations.

I smiled at this.  I feel like this man is a kindred spirit when it comes to how we figure things out.  We physically move things around, even if it is just symbols on the page.  Suddenly, working with this guy doesn’t seem so impossible.  Maybe, just maybe, we’ll finally put these issues to rest and we’ll be able to move forward.

Then I think about how personal sending someone your writing is.  Sending someone the scribbles from your notebook is like sending them a picture of the innermost workings of your brain. 

Mine are messy and dynamic and impermanent in pencil, and colorful yet super organized and downright anal in places.  And yes, that really does reflect the inner me.  I’m a total mess, but if certain things aren’t “just so”, I go crazy and can’t function.  I need my color and my action and direction, but there has to be a central calm to my world as well.

My customer’s are neat, in pen and permanent, with sparse use of color, and no real arrows or anything dynamic to speak of.  He must be a much more organized, calm and “settled” kind of person than I am.

I know I’ve reflected on writing before, comparing my writing to my dad’s, and even my mom’s.  I see a lot of my dad’s stability and logical thoroughness in my notes and how I take them, but I also see my mom’s dynamic attitude and visual and spatial learning.  Those aren’t quite the right words, but they’re the best I’ve got.

I just think it’s really amazing what you can learn about a person just looking at the how they take notes, digitally or with good old pen and paper and by what those notes look like.  The written word is very much a window into the mind and soul of the person writing them, and not just for the verbal content.

I just had to share these observations while they were fresh in my mind.  I’d best head back to my calculations and enjoy the act of writing my notes.  (I really don’t know what would happen if I couldn’t write…)

Peace to all and may you have pleasant surprises in your day and windows into peoples’ souls.

Where Was I?

Well, it's been a week since I've paid any attention over here.  Any long-time follower (all three of you) know that October is reporting month.  And yeah, it's reporting month.  That's about all I can or will say about that.

I have lots of things rattling around in my head.  Most of them have to do with the fact that my energy level is still nowhere near where I want it to be.  And that what little focus I can muster up are gone way too quickly.  And the fact that I'm sick and tired of feeling cold more often than not.  I mean, I know the cold of exhaustion and used to feel it if I stayed up too late, say past midnight or so, but feeling those waves of goose-bump raising cold starting at 8am?  I mean, I'm not bone-achingly tired or cold anymore, but I just can't seem to get my energy levels back to where they should be.  I'm tired of not being able to (and not really wanting to) get back into my workout routine.    In short I'm tired of being tired.

I did get my blood work checked a few weeks ago and well, it came back normal.  Slightly on the low end of normal, but normal.  I've got a follow up appointment next week.  We'll see what Dr. F has to say.  I'm just grumpy about it and want my old energy levels back and to feel good again.

In other news, I've finished up several crochet projects in the last few weeks (you saw several a week or two back in my crafty-girl post).  I'm glad I've been spending more yarn time, but you know, I just wish I had more time and energy for everything else.

Girl Scouts are going well this year.  I have 19 girls in my troop this year.  Yeah, I went from 5 to 19.  I'm still trying figure it all out and get this herd of cats going in the same, slightly quieter than a rock concert, direction.  We've got some interesting things in the planning.  I just hope we have a good year.

Anyhow, it's 8:30, I want to curl up with a book for a few (I have been reading more, which is nice... but...). I've got a ton of work to head in to tomorrow morning and I just want to get it over with.  Or something like that.  My train of thought seems to have derailed a bit there.  And I'm not going to try and fix it.

Peace to you all and may you have happy times and good health.

Apples

 Today was a great day.  Boo, Amma and I got to go apple picking with Lissa and the Piglet!  (Gak was going to join us, but he was having an out of sorts say and didn't really feel up for company... which I totally understand.)

Anyhow, I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  We had a lot of fun picking apples and just hanging out and catching up.  Boo and Piglet had fun playing together, as they usually do.  Mom, Lissa and I got to catch up.  And there will be much applesauce to be enjoyed by all for a long time.  We went to Freecon Farms right outside of Boyertown.  It's a nice easy drive for us, and not too bad of a drive for Lissa.  Hopefully we'll be getting together again sooner as opposed to later.  Living 2 hours or so apart is tough for getting together, but it is always so worth it when we do.

Crafty Girl

Well, looks like September is going to be a sparsely written month.  Anyhow, I've rounded up pictures of most of my crochet projects over the last few months.  There are a few that are in the works and a few more that I haven't photographed and have already gifted...  Anyhow, in no real order....

Here is the second pair of socks I made this summer.  I don't have pictures of the first ones.  The other pattern was nice, but I'm not sure I'll make it again, they get a little sloppy around the ankles when you wear them.  This pattern is an adaptation of a "basic sock pattern" that I've done before.  But, instead of all single crochets, I decided to use a "crunch stitch" pattern of alternating single and double crochets.  I love the texture it creates, even if figuring out the heel gusset was a little challenging.  Of course, I also love the purple color.

This is a ripple wave blanket I've been working on for the better part of a year now.  It's mostly a stash buster using yarn purchased for two other projects that I either chose other yarn for or scrapped entirely.  This is only part of it.  I'm not sure if I'm crocheting in lengthwise or width-wise.  It all depends on how much yarn I have... Either way, it'll be warm and snuggly when I finish it.  It was originally going to be for some friends, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be mine instead.  (I found a different pattern I want to make my friends... and since it's a surprise it doesn't matter what the finished blanket is, so long as I think they'll like it...)

These two projects also use stash yarn.   The top one is a "chain loop scarf" that someone posted on G+ and I figured I wanted to play with the pattern  It took almost an entire skein of Deborah Norville Serenity Bulky.  It's long enough to double up and be warm and snuggly.  It looks a little silly single.  I'm not sure if I'm keeping it or gifting it.  The bottom one is an octagon blanket that I started with what was left of the first skein.  There's another skein and a half in there and I've got another skein and a half to go.  Again, not sure who this is for, but I have some ideas.

This is the round blankie that I'm making for my cousins Rae and Kami.  Rae is expecting a baby boy around Christmas time.  This is the second blanket I've made with this pattern.  I really enjoy it, but since it uses sport weight yarn and a small hook, the outer rounds take forever.  This one is made from Knit Picks Brava in grass, the first one I made this spring for the baby of a friend of Gak's was in peapod, a much brighter green.  I think this one looks like a lily pad, which is part of the point, since Kami loves frogs.

Here are two shrugs that I've made.  The bottom one I made this spring.  It's a stitch pattern I found on the Lion Brand website and fell in love with a while ago, but didn't have anything to make with it.  The yarn is a fingering weight or so 100% cotton yarn from Katia.  It's quite yummy and the long color repeats give very nice stripes.  This one is a little shorter.
The top one I just finished.  It's for a September CAL hosted on Google+.  I kinda got roped into it when I was admiring someone else's progress.  This is another stash buster.  The original pattern called for fingering weight and to be a stole (hence the pattern name of "Mist Stole").  I don't wear wraps, but I do like shrugs.  So, I found some sport-ish weight yarn in my stash that is a riot of rainbow colors.  I think it looks like someone spilled a bag of Spree or M&Ms.  It worked up nice and quick.  The yarn is a cotton/wool blend and is soft and has a little bit of spring to it.  The sleeves come just to my elbows and is a wonderful length.

Here is a circle scarf that I did back in July.  I used Knit Picks Chroma fingering in the Galapagos colorway. It's quite beautiful and was a joy to make.  Unfortunately, the yarn is 100% wool and while nice on the hands to work with, just made me itch when I tried to wear it.  Therefore, I gifted it to Mary.  I made one using Knit Picks Comfy in a bright burgandy in the fingering weight for me.  It's really cool all in one color and I can't wait to wear it.  I have decided I really enjoy scarves and shrugs at work because they can dress up a Tee or a tank or any shirt and add just a smidge of warmth.

Anyhow, that's all the crafty girl photos I can find.  I need to get a picture of yesterday's project.  There's a new comic and gaming store down near work that just opened up.  So, for Gaks' birthday (which is tomorrow!) we went down there and I got him a new Warhammer 40K model.  I managed to get it assembled and painted yesterday and last night.  It looks pretty good.  It's not the best paint job ever, but it is good enough for a first attempt.   Thankfully Necrons are mostly black with a bit of bright green.

Anyhow, I've got off today and the boy-o and I are going to the Zoo with Amma this afternoon after we drop Gak off at work.  I promise to update the random adventures we've had soon.  And hopefully October will be a bit better for updates...

Peace to all and may you be able to indulge your crafty side.

Ack!

Ack!  Where has the week gone?  It's Wednesday already and I have no idea where the week has gone.
Oh, that's right, I've been struck by the first head cold of the season... and hopefully my only one.  Thanks Boo!  I really do love you for this, really.  (Boo was sniffly all weekend, and still is a bit, and I just thought it was seasonal allergy type sniffles.  Nope, Gak and I are both hit with varying degrees of head cold...)

OK, so the important stuff all happened this weekend.

Saturday morning we went to bowling, only to find out that bumper league isn't starting until the end of the month.  That's OK, we got to hang out with the big kids and watch them bowl.  Boo and I also bowled one game.  I got a 134, but that was mostly dumb luck and slightly assisted by bumpers.  (Most of my spares and one of my two strikes were legit, most of the time if I bounced off the bumper I missed anyhow...)  Boo managed a 71.  According to him, he won because 7 is bigger than 1... Guess we have to work on math a bit...
After bowling was lunch and then home for nap time.  After nap time it was time to pick up Daddy and we went to BJ's to pick up some drinks and stuff for the picnic Sunday and some stuff for the house.  Then it was home for dinner and Dr. Who.  All I have to say is: Dinosaurs!  On a spaceship!  Great episode.

Sunday was filled with all kinds of errands and running around.  There was breakfast to be eaten, groceries to be shopped for and laundry to be done.  Then there was some other odd and end things that needed doing all in getting ready for the picnic.

The Girl Scout picnic went great.  I made up 20 folders with registration information in i, I came home with three, and there were a few girls missing that I know will be coming.  So, yeah, it looks like 17 or so will actually be in my troop.  Unfortunately, I didn't get as much time talking with the girls as I'd hoped, but they all had plenty of time to hang out and play at the playground together and get to know each other.  Several already know one or more girls in the troop, but this way they got a chance to hang with everyone without too much leader interference, which is important.  I've got lots of parents ready and willing to help, I just need to tell them what I need.  I can do that.

This week has been kinda ugh.  That's the best way I can put it.  I started feeling icky Monday afternoon and by yesterday morning I was in full fledged ick mode.  Today was a bit better, but I didn't feel up to riding my bike this afternoon, which really stinks.  The weather has been so beautiful this week that it would be perfect for riding.  Oh well, maybe Friday.

Tomorrow is my company picnic and Boo's school pictures.  Oh boy!  It's also my first leader meeting of the year.  Ugh.  I have a love/hate relationship with them.  Love them because I'm actually involved with Scouts, hate them because... well... I've attended less painful meetings at work.  And most of those are pretty painful.  Hopefully I won't fall asleep or anything silly.

This weekend is going to be a good one.  I actually get to see three friends of mine from college who I haven't seen in ages.  And we're going to AC overnight.  Yep, I'm going away overnight again without my boy-o.  Or his daddy.  (Gak and I have got to get an overnight away just the two of us, we're trying to make it happen in November...)

I know, I know, I promise (or maybe that's threatened) a crafty girl post a while back.  I haven't sorted through the photos and I haven't taken photos of a lot of things... so it'll have to wait.  That and I can't seem to stop starting new things... I just started yet another project tonight.  At least that one should be quick and easy.  And one of my other projects should be wrapped up in another 10 rounds or so... but of course, that means each round will take longer than the last as it keeps getting bigger.  Oh well.  At least I have plenty to keep my occupied!

I'm off to stand in the shower and dope myself into a Benedryl induced haze...

Peace to all and may your sinuses be clear and your weeks good.

There and Back Again, but Not as Exciting

Ok, Ok, so it's been more than a week, almost two since I last posted.  When last I updated I was about to head out on my first business trip in just about 3 years.  I was both looking forward to it and dreading it for several reasons.

I wasn't dreading it because I was dreading leaving my son home alone with his daddy for a couple of days.  Leaving Boo with his daddy is never, ever the problem.  I'm so thankful to have a partner in this who is just as capable as I am at this whole parenting gig.  Actually, I don't think we'd have a kiddo if I didn't think Gak would be the awesome daddy he is.  This whole parenting thing isn't one I'd want to do alone if I didn't have to, and well, I don't have to.  I've got an amazing hubby.

Sorry, not sure where that bit of ramble came from... maybe I've been reading too many "mommie's rock, daddies suck" kind of articles.  That's far from the truth in my corner of the world.  Just about all the dads I know (there will always be exceptions to every rule) take parenting just as seriously and work just as hard at it as the moms... sometimes more so.

No, I was looking forward to it because it meant I was going to be out of the office.  It meant I was going to be able to focus on one problem, and one problem only, for the entire day.  It meant I was finally going to meet with people face to face that I'd been talking over the phone with for almost 12 years now.  Guiltily, it also meant I was going to have two whole evenings of not having to be Momma.  Now, don't get me wrong, being Momma is the best title in the world to me, but there are days when it is nice to just be Addey.  When I don't have to be employee Addey, or wife Addey or Momma Addey.  When I can go out to eat and not worry about wrangling a kiddo into his seat every 30 seconds or trying to get a little elbow room at the table or all the other fun adventures of eating out with a four-year-old.  When I can watch what I want on TV or not and not feel guilty about ignoring the world and playing with yarn.  Everyone needs some moments like that, kids or not.

I was also dreading it because the work I was heading out to do isn't fun.  It has to do with state regulations and reporting and well... this state is just plain wacky and very painful when it comes to that.  Much more painful than just about any other state out there that I can think of.  I was also dreading it a bit because I was only half looking forward to the site visit I had planned for the drive home.  I was only half looking forward to driving 3/4 of the way across the state and back.  (It can be a nice drive, but you can also get stuck on some of these roads that turn it from an enjoyable drive to slow moving torture...)  I was also not really looking forward to Velcro-boy over the next couple of days after I got home.  I get attacked by Velcro-boy often enough when he's had a full week of full-day daycare or Wednesday evenings after Girl Scouts start up that I knew being gone two whole nights would mean I'd have my arms full of a boy-o who didn't want to leave his Momma's sight for a couple of days.

The trip went well over all.  The drive on Tuesday got maddeningly slow only in one or two places.  The work Wednesday was long, mentally rough and time consuming.  I don't want to think about how long it would have taken me if I'd tried to do it remotely over a modem.  It wasn't difficult, but it involves a lot of data entry and a bit of math.  And when you're dealing with 10 sets of reports, it just takes time, pure and simple.  The lunch we had planned with two other sites nearby (who use our software and are all friends) didn't happen because of various other things coming up.  I did have a nice lunch with the guy at the site I was at.
But, I'm also very glad that I did make the site visit I was half dreading on the way home.  I was just wanting to pop in, say hi, just sort of check in for a few and be on my way.  I was figuring I'd be there an hour tops.  I was there almost two whole hours!  It was all very good conversation and let me bring a lot of good information about the plant and happenings to the office.  They were glad I stopped in and gave me lots of information to take back with me and I was able to answer a couple of questions.  So, yeah, I'm glad I stopped, even if it meant I put in a 12 hour day all told.  (4 hours at the site I was working at, 2 hours at the other site and about 6 hours driving time all told with stops for food and gas...)

So, the end of last week was fairly productive.
I wish I could say the same about this week.  My low level exhaustion has dropped my energy level from about a normal 4 out of 10 to about a 3 out of 10 I think this week.  And actually, it's not so much my raw energy level that's been the problem, but the lack of focus that goes along with it.  My mind has been all over the place other than on what I'm supposed to be working on.  I've got to fix that today and salvage something good this week!

But that's all work.  I'll tell you, getting home last Thursday was nice.  Boo and Gak were over at Kat's house because I wasn't going to get home until about 7:00.  Actually, Gak had just gotten there a few minutes before I had.  Steph had picked Boo up, and Boo and Zoe were playing in the back yard when I got home.  They actually didn't even notice my car pulling up.  I stuck my head out the back door and just yelled "Boo!" and you'd have thought I'd promised free ice cream for life the way they both came running.  (What can I say, Zoe loves me too...)  The funny part was I got a quick hug and then Boo was off and running again with Zoe.  That was fine by me as I had a headache and wanted to catch up with Steph and Kat a bit before rounding up a boy-o to then go return the rental car and go home.

The weekend was nice.  I did have Velcro-boy a bit at night, but that's been happening frequently these days.  It's become part of the bedtime routine in a way.

We spent Saturday doing laundry and running some errands.  Sunday morning was cleaning, a few more errands and some blob time.  Sunday night Gak and I went to our friend Scott's surprise 40th birthday party.  Kat did an awesome job planning it.  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed a nice evening out with friends and not having to be Momma and Daddy.  Monday was rainy and icky.  Boo and I went down to Amma's around lunch time.  We even went over next door to play with Henry and Lia for a little bit.  Boo was being a bit clingy and shy and Velcro-boy so it didn't last long, much to Henry's disappointment I think.  But, over all it was a good day.

Like I said earlier, this week at work's been tough, even though it is a short week.  I'll get over it and move on.  I get the feeling I need a followup before October though on this whole exhaustion thing...

This weekend should be fun.  Tomorrow Boo starts in his bumper bowling league while the bigger kids continue to bowl in their league.  Sunday we're having a family pot-luck and meeting for Girl Scouts.  I'll be having a brief meeting in the first part to go over registration and goals for the year and stuff and then it'll be relax and get to know everyone time.  You see, I've gone from 5 or 6 girls to probably 17 or 18.  Yep, my troop has tripled in size.  I'm actually looking forward to meeting all the new girls.  A lot already know each other because there are a couple of troops that have dissolved over the past year and some are girls from the Junior troop some of my girls last year came from.  It should be a lot of fun.

I've now got 5 minutes to snuggle an awake boy, get dressed and get out the door.  Wish me luck.

Peace to all and may your travel adventures be good, and your focus remain strong.