I feel a little better now.

I just needed to get that off my chest.

Okay.

It's funny how posting on here lately hasn't been as frequent a habit as it was during the school/working year.  I suppose it's because since I've had so much to accomplish on my own this summer (wedding planning, selling my Oz collection on eBay), I feel guilty if I spent more than an hour or so doing pleasurable activities on the computer during my home-alone hours.  Then at night, when I do have time, I just feel like playing Word Twist while TVLand plays in the background.

I go back to work next Friday, so this Monday morning begins my last full free week.  And it's not even like my schedule is going to whup my butt or anything...Bossie's even letting me work five hours a day, four days a week so I have an extra day to plan each week.  And if there's anything I love, it's having my Fridays off.  For some reason, a four-day workweek is sooooo much easier to handle than a Mon-Fri schedule.

So how has my summer been?  Am I happy with what I've accomplished?  

Genny Dawson

Unit B, 3rd Grade

Mrs. Russell

September 4, 1985

What I Did This Summer

(Okay, obviously the date was just for effect.  I'm not really in 3rd grade.  I just felt like a personal essay, and I wanted an assignment.  One of my weirdest idiosyncrasies--and one that I have been forced to break--is vowing NEVER EVER to date something with a date that isn't today...or, the date I dated it.  Thereby forcing myself never to postdate checks.  It has been surprising to me the number of times I've had to date things differently.  And I think of this vow every time.  So in reality, I can't keep my promise to myself.  But in my heart, I wish I could.  Anyway, that's why the above doesn't make sense either--I didn't even date it the same month as now, trying to keep the illusion going of returning to school after Labor Day.  Remember when we used to do that?  Yeah, that was nice.  None of this August 20th bulls%$*t.)

But I guess I digress.

So, this summer.  I'm unna bullet-point.

• I do not like the new horror-movie Verizon commercials, where people say not to go somewhere because it's a Dead Zone.  Do not like them.  Scary.
• I think my goal of finishing my eBay stuff by next Friday--at least, having all the auctions end--is doable.  And that's a huge relief.  I still have some to do, but the pile isn't going to be impossible to get through this week.
• I visited Emmsies a few times, and we got a lot accomplished.  The invite we made up last week, the special one, is awesome!  I'll probably need to go there once or twice more to finish up, but it feels so good to have something in my hand.
• I got my dresses, and though I'm having one altered, I like knowing they're procured.  
• Many decisions were solidified: Paul will officiate, I know what I'm carrying, we decided on an exact location, the reception and wedding dinner are beginning to take shape, and Steve, Joe and I visited Mike Straw's to practice the song they'll be singing.
• I finished Season 2 of 90210 and began the juiciest one, Season 3, with Paris and the Brenda-Kelly-Dylan triangle, this weekend.  And I'll never forget the mock-90210 credits on the Special Features of Season 2.  Worth the Netflix rental alone, people!
• Saw the SATC movie with AGA.  Awesome.  I laughed, cried, and it didn't seem to last 2.5 hours.  I don't see movies in the theatre a lot (despite living, basically, next door to one), so when I do, I'm selective.
• I joined Facebook, and have spent many merry hours reconnecting with folks and wasting my life away with word games.  One great friendship that has re-emerged out of this Social Network is Betsy Arthur, who I've known since we were THREE!  It's been awesome to read and write long chatty e-mails about where our lives have taken us.  Also, I need to go through all my friends' profiles to see if they have blogs.  Other old friends surprisingly found: Laura B., Andrea D., Bruce H., Paddy A., Kevin R., Elizabeth B., Lauren N., Aaron D., Ellen H.,  Jimmy K., Jen L., Amy G., and Joshie S.
• I am really starting to get on the FlyLady bandwagon (a community of mostly women who make changes in their lives to keep up with housecleaning without making it a full-time career), but haven't had time to keep up with the backed-up LOAD of ultra-long digest e-mails that come each day.  I've begun, though, and hope to keep on keepin' on.  For awhile, I made the bed every day even, but now that's probably only a couple times a week.  I do like the habit, though.  And dishes are never left in the sink for very long anymore.
• Sean has grown big-time (as painful as it is to recognize), and even though I know it's because he'd rather have the freedom of running around, I love it when he clings to my arm and tries to scramble back up it whenever I try to put him back on his driftwood after playing.
• BOTH Lily & Steve came into town, separately, so we had good family visits for two weeks.  She gave me some great advice about my dress and has dark brown hair, and Steve is funny and still denying his latent homosexuality.  (Kidding, ladies, kidding.  He's still on the market for touchin' some boobies.  I just like to tease.)
• I've been learning some terrific and awesome dietary recipes, ones that make my cravings for carb-rich foods surprisingly low.  I'll say it again, it was *extremely* helpful for this that I was dieting before I started the new plan, because all this meaty, cheesy stuff was restricted before.
• I re-read Twilight and am now on the second, in preparation for the third and Breaking Dawn.  Since I sped through New Moon so recklessly, I'm sure I missed some details.  Although...I'll be honest, I don't think these books have near the depth that Harry Potter explores.  They're just intriguing and emotional and fun.  And the second go-round, predictably, isn't as good as the first time.
• Speaking of reading...not much done on that front, I'm afraid.  And after I vowed to read an hour a day, too!  My other duties just took priority during the day, and I guess when I'm not home alone, I don't want to sequester myself in silence when there's a Neil around to play with.  I did finish A Light in the Window on audio CD, though.  It was pleasant and heartwarming, just as the first had been, with added bonuses of relationship drama to keep my romantic side satisfied.  I just got a message from DBRL saying I'd better return My Life in France soon or they have dibs on my first-born, so my goal this week is to finish it.  It's a wonderful read, but not....gripping.  I'm not dying to read the next chapter to see what happens when Bella and Edward finally get some alone time, you know?  I mean, does anyone read with bated breath to find out if Julia Child's going to be a famous chef some day?  Cat's kind of out of the bag.
• I got a really good start on the Reception/Gathering guest list, and only have one more paper resource to exhaust for our family's contacts.  Next is finding addresses, getting Neil's list, and making the final invites with Emily.  I feel like mailing everything in late August is definitely a possibility.
• Speaking of Emily...we've been able to have time for some wonderful visits, both over the phone and in person, this summer.  Ostensibly it was to get some planning done, but I have loved seeing my bestie so often and spending time with her beautiful glorious boy (Noah, that is.  You're totally effervescent, Joe, but I don't see you wriggle all over when you're getting ready for bed).  I have never seen a baby so happy to come home after we took a walk!  Or to have his diaper taken off for the bath!  Or having free rein to kick at my legs as I lean over him while Emily makes his dinner!  His whole body flails around and he laughs with joy and looks like he just CANNOT STAND ANOTHER MINUTE of this or he will EXPLODE FROM ALL THE GOODNESS MOM I'M SERIOUS!
• Lily and I have good long talks once or twice every week, and I love that we are of the ages where this doesn't seem like a big/little sister relationship anymore but that of close friends who happen to also be sisters.  After not getting along with each other through the majority of....well, the nineties...it's pretty cool to me that we emerged scot-free with no residual hatred or resentments.  (Well, I can't speak for her.  But I'm assuming she wouldn't be calling if she was hatin' on me.)
• Still sit on the porch one or more nights a week with Dad and his Muriel Coronella cigar (best in the business, sweetheart--so cheap you can only get it at the Gerbes on Broadway!  Dad's so used to them he can't even smoke good ones when people give them to him, thinking he can't afford them or he'd never be smoking them.  The same holds true for all of us and champagne other than Andre)...we get a lot of good talking done out there, to the point that it's our own little therapy sessions about Mom and our lives. 

Conclusion:

All in all, a great two months.  I feel like I got a lot done; maybe different things than I had in mind, and at a different pace than I'd planned, but I'm not panicky because things didn't turn out exactly as planned.  I do know that life will continue to go in Crazy To-Do List Mode for awhile, and may not be calm until January, right when the weather makes me want to just curl up in a ball under the covers all day.  At least I'll have time for it then.

Also, I have more than a week and a half left until I have to go back.  I'm talking like this is the last night before work starts tomorrow.   PLENTY of time to do nuttin'....