AWOL for a season

i have been AWOL for a short season this summer because of

- son coming home for a week - surprising Dave and i (i now have more gray hair - i wonder if i can blame it on that????)

- my parents spending the very next week with us - short stay, had to pack a lot in and spend time catching up (i don't get to see them very often, usually i am flying home for dad's unexpected surgery. . . upside. . . he always thinks of his daughters braving the frigid winters of Wyoming and Illinois and "schedules" those unexpected hospital stays for February and March.)

- anticipation of empty-nesting. . . getting all the baby birds' schtuff to them and out of my nest (not as successful at this as hoped. . . realized that above mentioned schtuff didn't belong to the babies. . . was my schtuff all along. . . )

- creative writing project. . . or is that projectS???? (began outlining children's books i want to write for my grandkids - ok, yes. . . Dave and i have no grandkids at the present time. . . and there are none on the way either. . . but i got to thinking about writing a book for each of my kids, starring each of them as the major character. a book highlighting the adventures shared by that particular child and dave and i. and when the time comes, a book they can share with their children as they experience their own joys of parenthood. ok, revenge and parental payback have never entered my mind. . . the creative writing aspect has been very therapeutic for me. . .)

- i started working a second part-time job (do i need to say anything else here?)

- getting youngest daughter ready for out-of-state move and college. (that is really not that true. she got her own self ready. . . i just spent a lot of emotional energy imagining helping her to get ready for the out-of-state move and college.)

- committing 1.5 hours a night to stretching, walking, jogging, staggering, walking, stretching, and cooling down while enjoying nature at the local Lake Arlington path. (who am i kidding? i'm 48 and out of shape. . . end of sentence. coolness factor - total God-thing. . . my next door neighbor who is a lot younger and more in shape agreed to this journey into sweat and insanity. . . and on the other hand. . . i did buy myself an IPOD shuffle and have it brimming with the musical encouragement of QUEEN's "we will rock you and we are the champions". . . of course, "another one bites the dust" is also on there. . . )

so i'm back. . . frazzled, leaner (not so much) and meaner (definitely much more so), and ready to blog on a wide variety of topics. . . meryl streep as Julia Child, empty nesting as a life choice, creative quiet times while soaking in epsom salt baths, and the new Harry Potter movie. . . just to mention a few.

Happy Wednesday!