Free Dreaming

Hoorah! This weekend officially marks the beginning of summer. And it could not come a moment too soon. Sun dresses are hanging in my closet just waiting to be worn in the warm sun and maybe get a tickle kiss from the ocean this summer.... Hey, why wait until this weekend to start dreaming?

When I was in school, summer meant that I had a chance to write for a couple of months about anything I wanted. I would lay in my parent's back yard and listen to the wind or stare at the clouds and that fed my imagination. This was how I use to take full advantage of that time I once had and now I have a really old collection of things I wrote anywhere from 10 to 15 years ago. I have been setting a lot of that on the back burner pursuit of a now satisfying career. Well, it is time to knock off the rust and get back to it.

I will be relaxing on the lake this weekend and exercising my imagination for a change. Like they say, if you don't use it, you lose it. Losing it seems to be something I am doing these days. Plus I got a friendly reminder from my creative writing teacher about classes coming up and my drop in entries... Argh... I really will get this stuff together one day. In fact I am starting this weekend

Here is to summer and free dreaming. Cheers to all!

So it is Monday

Today is a good day so far. I came in the office early to get a jump start on my week because I am so tired of being so far behind on things. So far, so good. My phone has only rang three times today. Tomorrow it will ring thirty. My desk is once again organized, but my in box is still full. I will have to get to that after lunch.

The weekend was good. Dinner on Friday night to celebrate a friend's birthday. All day yard work on Saturday, furniture hunting and a cookout Saturday night to celebrate another friend finishing grad school. Sunday more cleaning, some work and Star Wars Episode II. Greg thought a refresher before we see Episode III would be a good idea.

After the movie last night the puppy and I stayed up to do a bit of reading. I am trying to read 4 books right now. I do not know what my problem is. We both fell asleep in our favorite spots on the recliner. Our dog is still crazy but I am beginning to pick up on how much she is learning. When I sit in the recliner she sets herself in position to jump up on the chair with me and snuggle into her spot. We have the same routine every time we sit down. Cassie likes to lay on the left side of the chair so I get the right side and her little head just rests on my leg until she gets hot. Then she starts to inch her way to the end of the recliner. She has gotten really good at that, she use to inch her way down and fall off, but not anymore. I woke around 11:30 and looked down at her. She felt me stir and she just looked up at me with those cute groggy eyes and when I told her it was time to go to bed, she jumped off of the chair and walked down the hall to our bedroom. I was so impressed with her that I wanted to pick her up and squeeze her. Love that dog.

Today is one of the highlights of my month- the book club! I am so excited. This month was my turn to pick a book and I selected Girls Poker Night, by Jill A. Davis. It ended up being a little more thought provoking than I originally thought it was. I guess I will find out tonight what everyone thought.

That is all there is for now. Cheers to all!

So it has been ten years

.... Since I graduated from high school. I got an email from our class president yesterday and our reunion is going to be the first weekend of August. I am really excited about. There are not as many people on the list as I thought there would be but I am sure we will find more along the way.

I still keep in touch with a handful of folks from high school. We have been to each other's weddings, had dinner clubs briefly and emailed sporadically. There are several people on list that I have not seen in a long time and I am really looking forward to catching up with them.

I know the email about our reunion coming at this time of year has been part of the reason that I have become so nostalgic this week. On my way into work this morning I heard a song that reminds me of my senior year of high school and the memories were so vivid that I almost transported myself back to May 1995. Now I feel like my reunion will not get here fast enough. I guess I have not been out of school long enough to feel like I have to get a make over, lose twenty pounds and have a high power job to look like I have done something since I was a ponytail, ribbom wearing cheerleader. Or, it could just be that I am as happy with my life as I feel that I am. Thankfully, I will not be going all Romie and Michelle on you guys over the next month and a half. But, I will have to get with the program and get a digital camera before then so I can bring back some good pictures. Reunions are a little like marriages... They do not happen every day, you know.

Funny thing about reunions though is that they remind you of how immature you once were and how such trivial things could make or break your day. We had a five year reunion and as class officers we got together at the class president's house to plan it. At the senior breakfast our last week of school he had all of us fill out an index card predicting what we would be doing in five years. And if I remember correctly at the five year we wrote something about what we thought we would be doing at our ten year. One thing was for sure- I was dead wrong about what I thought I would be doing at my five year. I was not a writer or a teacher at my five year. I am not even sure what I wrote for my ten year though. Who knows. I am probably wrong about that one too.

So here is to graduates, live strong, live large. Do not take yourself too seriously, life is much more fun if you live it and not worry about. Enjoy your friends, your freedom and take a risk here and there. You might just be glad you did.

On Being A Home Owner

This weekend I awakened some muscles that I must not have been using much. My back is soar, my shoulder is making some weird noises and my forearms have had a workout. I am hear to say that I am not complaining though. Not one bit. That is because if you walk in our house where you use to see some nappy carpet that our sweet cocker spaniel liked to throw up on, you now see these beautiful, shiny hardwood floors. Greg and I just stand and stare at them. It is the greatest feeling in the world to have a major project at the house complete.

We also figured out a few things that we must keep in our house at all times. One is professional strength drain declogger. I am talking the type you need a funnel to use with. We tried Drain-O more times than I care to mention and the sink in the master bathroom just would not stay unclogged. So we brought in a big chemical. Greg poured it in the sink while I was cleaning the tug and if you had lit a match anywhere in our house the whole place would have exploded. Between floor stain, furniture stain, drain declogger and tub cleaner we were a major explosion waiting to happen. But, it got the job down and now brushing our teeth does not require a 5 minute break as you wait for the water to drain out of the sink.

The other major item we will always have in our house is, Howards Restore-A-Finish. This is the best stuff I have ever seen. We have a beautiful dining room set that we got from Greg's family. I am in love with it, but there are scratches on the chairs, water spots on the table and a heat stain that is the size of the pizza box that was sat on top of it. We took some super fine steel wool and went to town on the table and it looks beautiful. I could hardly contain my excitement. Our table looks wonderful and I can not wait to finish the chair, buffet and liquor cabinet.

The next major purchase is new living room furniture. The next major project is the yard, a ramp for the shed and a bench we have decided to build out of an old truck tailgate.

And I am back to looking my age. I got those beautiful braces off yesterday. I now have a permanent retainer behind my two front teeth and a clear retainer that I have to wear all of the time for the next two weeks. Beauty has a price and I guess I am paying up.

So now I have to catch up on the rest of my life.... You know, spend some time with my husband and catch up with my friends.

It Is Chaos- Baby!!

So I started a draft on Monday and I was pulled away for something and never got back to it. Here I am, trying to catch up with myself. I have not been in the office much this week and I have not been staying at my house. Our hardwood floors are complete though. Greg and I went by the house last night to check them out and we were both so excited. If we had been allowed, I think we both would have run and slid across the floor. I am not sure we can do that yet, but you better believe I will do it today when I get home.

I look sixteen again. Monday my braces were put on and I have been trying to get use to them ever since. I had a meeting at a base outside Atlanta on Wednesday and two of the guys we were meeting with asked if I had a pass from school so I could be there. Funny, real funny.

So, I have to send props out to my sister and brother-in-law. They put up with puppy, honey and I all week. We owe them big time. It was kind of nice though. We do not spend as much time together as we would like so it was kind of nice to stay in the same house with them over the week.

As for the house, we have living room furniture to buy now. After that, I think we are pretty happy and can basically stop with the inside of the house. Now, the yard work will really begin. We are going to win first place for our yard at some point. Not sure when, but we are.

Well, work awaits and so here I go. Time to catch up and get out today.

Cheers!