First directions:

Thruway to XXX South

Exit XX – take left at light

1^st light – take right onto XXXXXX Road

1^st light – take left onto XXXX XXXX (this is a few miles down the road)

When you get to the center of town XXX Street will be on your left. There is a canon on the corner and the post office is on your right.

House is about ½ way down street. #XX

Second:

I may or may not have gotten it in my head to paint the upstairs bathroom 2 days before your visit. This could have resulted in the rest of my life getting away from me. Also, I may not have use of my arms any longer. I am going to apologize now for the disaster that is my home. This is one of those errors in judgment that will provide you with a story to tell for the rest of days. It also may cause you to run screaming from my home.

Third:

The painting is still not finished.

Fourth:

Will you be in time for dinner? I’m not sure when the kids eat. Also, what do they like for breakfast? At the rate my week has been going I will be shopping at midnight tonight when you are all asleep. I will however, make sure there is plenty of wine so you will perhaps not mind the chaos quite so much.

Can’t wait to see you!!!

Of course, I missed it. Yesterday was my five year blogiversary. FIVE. YEARS. My God that’s a long time.

I know I haven’t been consistent and I know I’ve lost most of my regular readers – yes, my readership is actually down rather than up but no matter how many times I try to quit or move or abandon this place I’m still here.

So in honor of still being here I’ve decided to do a giveaway. A giveaway of a matted photo of mine. Now maybe you don’t want that. Maybe it’s a horrible idea. But if you do, or if you know someone who might like one of my prints, enter by leaving a comment on this post telling me which one you’d like. The final size matted will be your choice of 8×10 or 11×14. Your choices can be found here – just click on index. There are currently 3 pages of photos to choose from.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for sticking around. I’m hoping to post more in the coming months. Summer is slow at work so it should be busy here at the blog. (Please note use of word “should”)

• Making out with Shelfari
• Knitting
• Going on a Girls’ Weekend/Group Therapy
• Baseball
• Baseball
• Track
• End of year concerts
• Baseball
• Did I mention Baseball?

I want to talk about a couple books I finished recently but I’m not sure I’m really in the mood at the moment. Also, I’m at work and have actual work type stuff to do. BUT! If you’re looking for an excellent read you may want to try The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano or Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center. The first was just amazing. I’m not sure why I fell in love with it so completely but I did. The second I felt I could have written. Really. Not in the “I could do that” way but in the “if I could write a novel well and have it loosely shadow my life, this is what it would say” way. I don’t think I’ve ever identified with a character in a book so completely. Now, do not think she told my story. She didn’t. She did however define aspects of my life.

This past weekend amazed me with the growing of nature stuff. Seriously, it was like you could watch the flowers bloom. My yard went from a few leaves to full blown flowers. I took several walks around the yard to check out the progress and each time more things had grown or got leaves or went from tight green buds to bright red tulips. It was kind of wild. I guess that’s what happens when the weather goes from a high in the 40′s to the mid-eighties for a couple of days. Of course, yesterday it was back in the high forties.

Saturday morning on my walk to the post office to get a couple of the boys passport cards I noticed two cherry trees whose leaves were just starting to sprout. On Monday night (when the temps had already started plunging) I walked to the library and the same trees were in full bloom. That’s some wild growth right there. Mother nature is amazing.

While Mother Nature was doing her thang I was… not. Not a stitch of yard work was done. No, I napped. I did laundry. I didn’t shop or even cook. I was TIRED. Oh so very tired. I did knit. And read. It seems I forgot to get my B-12 shot the previous Monday or you know, decided I could wait another week and guess what… nope. Every two weeks or I end up sleeping and dragging around. So I kind of lost a beautiful weekend to the fatigue. Still, I did enjoy it even if I didn’t get any of the eleventy billion chores done that needed to be done. Anyone want to come over and paint? Prime? Replace a garage roof? Garden? No? Fine, be that way.

Today finds me making lists. Lists of things that need to be done before I leave for my Girls’ Weekend on Saturday. Lists of things that need to be packed. Things like laundry and shaving my legs. Packing wine and the Grey Goose. Download all the photos off the camera and charge the batteries. Stopping at the liquor store and some place to pick up a gift for the hostess. These are the things I must do in the next day and a half. And must not forget to take a photo of the boys to show off. I think the last time I took one of the four of them was last Girls’ Weekend in the fall.

There was something else I was going to write about. I have no idea what that something else was though.