Uninspired - to write, at least

You may have noticed that what once were near-daily blog posts here have dwindled to one, two, three-if-you're-lucky a week.

There's so much and so little going on.

Lots of work. As of July 1st, we lost one of my employees to job elimination. She was invisible to everyone there but me and the person who wrote her check, but I am feeling her loss in the myriad things I have to take care of and keep up with now. I'm training a couple of people in my husband's department to help, but I've taken over the monthly scheduling of programs and recordings. That's keeping me busy.

Being summer, the kid is out of school. I'm usually home with him in the mornings and Darling Man and I trade off at lunchtime. DM goes in to work around 6am, and I usually leave after 6pm. There's not much crossover. In order to get in enough hours and get my work done, there's also not much time for doing much of the stuff I'd planned to do with the boy either. It kind of sucks.

This morning, he came in and flopped on the bed behind me as I worked, and asked if we were going to actually GO anywhere or do anything this summer. Somewhere NOT in town. After tossing it about a little, we decided to go to Atlanta to visit the Aquarium, Stone Mountain and the Fernbank Museum (which is featuring Dinosaur stuff right now). It's not too far away so we can drive there. And it would only take two or three days. The problem is dogs. If we didn't have the second one, I'd have no qualms about leaving Kida with my parents, but now there are TWO. I'm not sure how we're going to handle that, but it may wind up that I take Z to Atlanta and DM takes him camping one weekend. I just don't know yet.

There are house projects that I need to do. Finish up the trim work in the stairwell, repaint the familyroom/kitchen, whip the yard into shape, declutter and make a massive donation to Goodwill, redo ZBoy's room, remodel the final bathroom. None of these things seem to be getting done though. There are piles of clothes on the floor in the bedroom waiting for bags and transport. I"ve been ripping out shrubs, but haven't replaced them with anything. Oh! And I need to put guttering up across the front of the porch and garage. So much to do, so little time and so little energy when there is time.

I need to slow down. I'm actually taking the weekends off and not doing work or checking in at work or thinking about work. And Saturday, I have my first massage in years scheduled by a real professional masseuse. I think that if I spend more time taking care of myself, I'll have more time and energy for taking care of everyone/everything else. So far, this summer has been a downward spiral into exhaustion. I'm tryig to rectify that.

And finally, my son brought this "puzzle" in just before he went to bed tonight. It's from the book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book by Jeff Kinney. Our answers varied wildly and we giggled like children at our results. So, just for fun, answer these questions - and if you want to share, you can answer them in the comments!

PREDICT THE FUTURE

1. I officially predict that 20 years from now, cars will run on _________ instead of gasoline.

2. A cheeseburger will cost $_______.

3. Pets will have their own _________.

4. Underwear will be made out of ________.

5. ______________ will no longer exist.

6. A ______ named _________ _________ will be president.

7. There will be more _________ than people.

8. The annoying catch-phrase will be _______________________________________.

9. Aliens will visit our planet in the year __________ and make the following announcment:
_________________________________________________.

10. The number one thing that will get on old people's nerves 20 years from now will be:
_________________________________________________.