We now return to our program...

Silly me. I allowed real life to get in the way of my cyber-life. So, here's a scramble of what I've been up to...

The goob and hubby are back in school. I have a new job as the Public Relations Coordinator for a local marketing firm. It's really fun. I love the work -- I get to write, edit, do publicity and public relations for our firm and our clients, plan events, etc. They're very nice people and my schedule is perfect. I work three days a week while the goob is in school. Can you say FOUR DAY WEEKENDS!?! Very groovy. Oh, and I get these things called paychecks. They are a pretty color with nice words on them.

The election is over. Locally, not good. Nationally, woohoo!

In other news, my poor oldest sister got the same nasty flu that took me down for half the summer. Hers lasted six weeks, too, and she had all the same weird symptoms I did. It was kind of reassuring for both of us in a weird way, since we were both pretty sure the freaky symptoms were never-before-seen and meant something scary. Now we're both recovered, finally!

The goob is doing more than okay at school. Recent assessments show that at age 7 he has the vocabulary of a 22-year old and is reading at the highest level they tested for, which is "7th grade and above". He reads these 300+ page novels and stuff. It's amazing to see this little guy blazing through these big fat books. He's also playing soccer. The season ends tomorrow with a back-to-back double header. Ugh. I mean, "Yea, Team!!" Then he'll probably move back to swimming, since he is (thank you nameless deity) NOT playing basketball this year. Praise the sports gods, I could not spend another season in that cramped little gym listening to my husband yelling in my ear.

And now, suddenly, the holidays are looming. I will do my best to hide from the empty calories that will be coming out of the walls soon. I will try to avoid the crazy suffocating consumerism that thickens the air. I will remain calm and joyful and ever thankful.

Life is good...

Not sure what to pack in those lunch boxes?

Once again, Kraft to the rescue! I'm sure you'll find this both healthful and delicious.

Dear Mr. FUV Owner...

Check out this Craig'sList post.

Hasta luego, amigo...

And away she goes. It's official. We are selling the Steel Sausage. The transport truck is coming Wednesday evening and our van is headed to a new family in San Diego.

I was trying to reminisce about all the fun times the other day.

Me: Remember that trip to Mexico?
Hubby: Remember when it broke down in that hotel parking lot before we ever got there?

Me: Remember that Christmas trip to Vegas with Jen and Andrew?
Hubby: Remember me and Andrew sleeping in the van on Christmas night and you girls flying home because we couldn't find a mechanic on Christmas?

Me: Remember... oh, never mind.

We had a campout in the van in the backyard last night. We had a fire in the firepit and ate around the fire. Then we went into the van and played Uno and read Encyclopedia Brown mysteries to each other until we fell asleep.

My sleep lasted about ten minutes. Every time hubby rolled over in the top bunk it shook the entire van like an earthquake, shaking me away. Finally I just gave up and stayed awake, waiting for morning.

Now it's almost 11am. Hubby is taking a nap in the bedroom. The goob went back out to the van with some books and a pillow.

Farewell, big brown turd. It's been fun.

And just to make it worse...

These are my friends in Las Vegas without me. Six of my gal pals flew in from all around the country, but I had to cancel. Grrr.

Woe is me.

I've had the flu for ten whole days.
It sucks in oh-so-many ways.
The fever does not leave for long.
I think it will, but I am wrong.
I snort and moan and ache and hack.
I think I may have hurt my back.
My son is bored, my house a pit.
It's summer, damn it. I hate this shit.

Where have I been?

It's summertime and the livin' is easy. I have been enjoying time with my family. Playing in the pool, visiting with friends, exploring, going to the library, staying up late, watching television, reading novels, giggling, playing, and yes, even doing some chores.

We started the summer at a music festival and it's been fun, fun, fun ever since school got out. Speaking of school, the goob had perfect attendance this year. He was so proud. It was a big deal to him to not miss any school. He didn't even want to go out of town for his birthday, so we didn't. The other day we were talking about going to Las Vegas in the Fall to have some fun and celebrate our anniversary. We looked to the goob. "What do you think? It would mean missing some school." He looked up with a big grin and replied, "Last year was the year of perfect attendance. This year is the year of PARTY!" He even did that arm-pump thing to emphasize "PARTY!"

We have decided to skip the giant Labor Day party this year. We've been throwing it since 1992. We missed one year when the house was under construction. Hubby makes a bunch of carnival-style games in the back yard. Everybody plays games to win tickets. They can use the tickets to buy toys (kids), sno-cones (everybody), beer (adults), or shots of rum for the sno-cones (we'll call them adults, but the line is blurry here). Everybody has a grand time. Well, except for me. I'm too tired. Planning for it stresses me out, and keeping things running smoothly during the party is a lot of work. It's also pretty expensive. I convinced the boys that we could skip it this year, I could be relaxed for a few extra weeks, and maybe we could move to an every-other-year format. That might work.

And now, it's time for me to make waffles. It's almost 9am and the boys are still sleeping. I promised the goob I'd make waffles. Then we're going to the library so he can turn in his Summer Reading Program log. He was supposed to read ten chapter books by the end of summer. He's already gotten through twelve, because this is the summer of fun.