headache with a side of encouragement

I'm thinking that seasonal allergies are for the birds ... big, ugly vulture-like birds. You feel like doo-doo and you constantly take medicine in the hopes that you'll feel somewhat normal.

Which is never the case. Until summertime, when the sun can sizzle out all the bad sinus beasties.

Anyhoo. I'm feeling a bit under and slightly stressed and rather silly for feeling either of these things.

But in spite of my pounding/aching head, I did mangage to do some really good things recently: I made an appointment with the dermatologist to check all my suspicious spots, I helped my daughter launch a major fundraising initiative (it's going to be called: "D.C. or bust!"), I had all the friends over for pizza night last week (even though the place was a pit!), and somehow I have no laundry to fold and put away in my bedroom!

*phew*

Now I just need to refocus my energies and motivate myself to finish reading the six books I've started (namely Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution: and How It Can Renew America) and sooner rather than later I need to make a decent stab at storyboarding this 'fiction brew' I've got cooking up in my head ... along with all the other nasties causing my brain to feel likes it's about to pop off!

feeling good

and looking tan! That's what a week in Florida will do for ya, boys and girls!

The drive there and back (two days each way -- no small commitment, folks) was bearable and thankfully uneventful. We ate tons of crap food (I don't think I want to ever see McDonald's ever, ever, ever again until time lapses and time crunches force me to darken the golden arches' doorway once again!)

As a family, we bonded, watched a total of 47 1/2 movies and totally trashed the van. We took pit stops in some of the nastiest little gas stations off of I-95 to be found between here and Santibel, FL.

We played with friends, went bike riding, played rollicking rounds of beach volleyball and managed to consume not one but three birthday cakes for my daughter's sweet 16.

We dined in. We dined out. And we certainly dined well.

We played hard. We slugged thoroughly. And we truly enjoyed having no real schedule.

Upon our return, the bunnies were found to be alive and well; the dog was thrilled beyond belief. And I, yes I, am struggling to make my way through 379 pounds of post-vacation laundry before we return to school tomorrow.

Yippee!

continuous gratitude

I may be one of the luckiest people I know.

I have an incredible husband: he cooks, he shops for groceries, he schleps our kids everywhere, he is funny, smart, extremely literate, kind, considerate, he indulges my rages with admirable patience, and he never ever demands anything of me that he knows I simply can't give.

I have three amazing kids: they are healthy, smart, kind, socially successful, resilent, considerate (like their dad, I might add!), funny, they make dinnertime a real party and for the most part they are happy.

I am friends with some of the best people you'd want to know: they go out of their way to help me out, have fun with me, take care of my kids, take care of me, provide me with regular allotments of good red wine, make me laugh, they are tremendously kind and considerate and when we get together we always have a good time

I am healthy, I am happy, I have great interests that keep me happily occupied and for the most part I feel complete. I need to take stock of my life like this more often ... gratitude is a nice thing to indulge in.

checked out

I feel like an old worn out library book

with a scummy scratchy hard avocado green cover

that no one ever pulls off the shelf

to consider as an viable reading option.

In short, I'm not feeling the literary love.

Because my mental circuitry has been clogged with other more pressing matters, I haven't had the time (nor the inclination) to stroke the keyboard. No words come forth and want to pour forward. No real urge to share. Or care. Sorry.

I'm going to blame other things. It certainly can't be because I'm lazy. Or feeling stupid and inarticulate. It must be because it's cold and wintry. It must be this extra fifteen pounds I'm lugging around on my outrageously disproportionately sized thighs and all that weight is surely weighing down my sluggish brain.

Regardless of my lame excuses, I am still thinking about my story. A lot. And I'm doing lots of lovely research about my story. A lot. And I am trying not to be too afraid to get serious and final get down to business and start plotting my story.

In the meantime, (to press my analogy a bit further) my card hasn't been stamped here in awhile because I can't seem to get the gumption to "get off the shelf" and make the words work.

attempting to excerpt

Peering up from a low crouch while re-situating dusty, sweat-smeared hands filled with random bits of debris, Hope finally hisses, "I have no idea what you're talking about. I've kept my end of the bargain; you keep yours."

Joshua sighs. "You don't get this, do you. There is no deal. There is no bargain. And heaven help me, if only I could make you finally understand ... there is no competition. It's all been a lie!"

An indrawn breath is all that registers. Then its slow, forced release. Followed by a steady grind of teeth.

"Then what the hell am I doing here! What the hell are we doing here! Josh, since you know so much, tell me why ... are ... we ... HERE?!

Joshua, obviously playing for time, pushes the toe of his left boot into a partial decomposed clod of garden soil and squishes it flat. "I'm not quite sure. But I have a few theories. I'll share'em with ya if you're interested. But only if your interested."

comfort food in a crust

[2:59 pm -- text from highschooler]

*im hungry i need quiche

[3:01 pm -- text response by me]

*quiche?! why?

[3:04 pm -- text response by highschooler]

*i need protein

[*sigh*]

And five hours later ... with much fiddling with the oven temperature ... I managed to make my daughter happy with this --Spicy Sausage Quiche
(poured into 2 unbaked pie crusts; a gluten-free one for the high maintenance highschooler):

• 1 pound bulk pork sausage
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
• 14 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain and crumble. Spread into bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, onion, chile peppers, and jalapeno pepper. In a medium bowl, mix eggs with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour over contents of baking dish.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then cut into squares.

I hope you all had yummy dinners as well (and hopefully you all ate before 8 pm ... unlike us!)

been captured by vampires

and I'm not afraid to admit it!

I know, I know ... I've been majorly MIA these past few months (eerily quiet for someone as loud as me!) but I have a good/lame excuse. Recently, been reading. Lots. Remarkably for the past six days straight! No cooking, no cleaning, no decoration take down and certainly no worthwhile human interactions. I've simply disappeared into some lovely light fiction and haven't regretted ONE moment of it!

My husband and kids have been extremely kind and indulgent to have let me "check out" like that and I'm eternally grateful to them. I guess, in a way, I really needed to get outside of my own life and be able to experience someone else's for a change (in spite of the criticisms I've heard from online sources). I was completely immersed and obsessed and only reluctantly took breaks when my wimpy body needed sustenance and sleep.

And yep, I read more than one: I read ALL four, in a row, non-stop, until I was done. And again ... no regrets.

But tomorrow, it's back to work, back to the grind, back into the drudgery of a time-laden routine. *sigh*

Maybe Spring Break has another series of all-absorbing books in store for me ... one can only hope and see!