I don't mind you coming here and wasting all my time
Life is passing in a woosh lately. I feel like I'm being left behind, like I'm not doing anything. I keep intending to write things down, and that keeps not happening, jumbling up my brain instead and contributing to my feelings of unproductivity. Fortunately, I do write things down on Google.
So mostly according to my calendar, here is what I've been up to:
The garden is doing pretty well. I'm still a pretty serious Lazy gardener, but this year I actually attempted to start a few things early. Then I dumped them outside as soon as I was reasonably sure things wouldn't freeze, as my house is lacking in sunny window spots. We actually bought a couple tomatoes (early girl), some basil and rosemary; I planted seeds for asparagus, peas, onion, more basil, radish, chard, and spinach; I acquired some more tomato (mountain fresh) and cilantro as donations from friends; and various other things are perennials, reseeded themselves, or are volunteering, including MORE tomatoes (unknown kinds), green onion, thyme, strawberries, pumpkin, oregano, chives, and garlic. I'm tending the volunteer tomatoes in a big pot until I can determine which ones are not cherries, then tossing the ones that are except one (anybody want some cherry tomato plants? Will trade for a jalopeno...).
So far, we've been using the herbs and leafy things pretty regularly, and I just spotted two green tomatoes. Yay!
I've been running, but the frequency has dropped off significantly since the marathon, and the heat has increased. I should sign up for another race or a hash or something so I have motivation to train.
I've continued biking to work, although not every day (or even most days). New seat helps, bike computer makes it more fun (yay data collecting), and I've definitely noticed improvements in my leg muscles. Still hate the uphills, though.
Still climbing regularly, although need to work that around the extra hot days, as the gym is not well cooled.
We went camping over Memorial Day weekend in Ryerson Station State Park, where we hadn't been before, with friends and kids. The park was lovely and pretty well unpopulated, which was just great. I spent a great weekend eating and napping. It was buggy and hot, which was annoying, but that would be the case anywhere. The lack of lake and flush toilets did not actually bother me much. The lack of easily accessible showers kinda did. Getting a site with electricity was pretty awesome, though. We're off for two more weekends of camping in the next month, both with and without kids.
xuth and I have been out to a few shows lately. We went to see the latest Cirque du Soleil show, Totem. I was less impressed with this one than the other Cirque show I saw (Quidam), but it was still pretty fun. I'm disappointed that it looks like the Pittsburgh performance cut two of the main acts (unicycles and rollerskates), but the replacement act (partner acro) was one of my favorites, so I guess it works out. Last weekend we headed down to the Arts Festival, where we started on watching the Blind Boys of Alabama on the lawn, and ended up seeing Secret Museums at the Harris, then our route back to the car took us past the Pirates-Phillies game just in time for the end of game fireworks. Then yesterday, we saw a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Emotional and gripping and very good.
I've been to a few parties, had a small one of my own, had a few overnight visitors, and will be doing more of both over the summer. Heading to Seattle for a week in July.
The boys are almost out of school and I'm so looking forward to a quiet summer where I don't have to remind them about homework. The jboys are going to various summer camps, and the older boy will be heading (hopefully?) to Ohio. Looking for a couple bike upgrades so I can make them get out and get more exercise.
Work continues without a lot of fanfare. A bit slow lately, but overall I'm content.
There have also been a few annoying things:
I have been fighting a lot of fatigue lately, which is frustrating. I'm used to being able to get up easily in the morning, and that's not been the case. Could be lower iron, but with the the season of growing things (and this summer I'm trying out a CSA for the first time), I've been eating better, if anything. Could be excessive sun + dehydration, but that sounds odd coming from someone who is usually pretty solar-powered. I think I've been getting enough sleep and I haven't changed my caffeine/other drinking habits. I've been getting neither significantly less nor more exercise than I think I need. It's not greatly affecting things for me yet, so I will continue to ponder this and experiment more before doing any worrying.
Our household has been looking forward to an increase in income any time now, and the harder I expect it, the more stressful and frustrating it is to continue without it. We're not in a great need, and frugal habits are very useful (pretty much everything we've done lately has been thanks to free events, discount tickets, coupons, or splitting with friends), but when I'm hyper aware of the nearness of having more, it's so terribly easy to find dozen of small annoyances that could easily be solved by throwing money at them.
OK, with all that written down, I don't feel quite as much like I've not been doing anything. Next month's plans include a lot of travel and camping. Schedules are not nearly as settled as I want them to be. Somewhere in there is a birthday, which I don't think I have time for. More later.
So mostly according to my calendar, here is what I've been up to:
The garden is doing pretty well. I'm still a pretty serious Lazy gardener, but this year I actually attempted to start a few things early. Then I dumped them outside as soon as I was reasonably sure things wouldn't freeze, as my house is lacking in sunny window spots. We actually bought a couple tomatoes (early girl), some basil and rosemary; I planted seeds for asparagus, peas, onion, more basil, radish, chard, and spinach; I acquired some more tomato (mountain fresh) and cilantro as donations from friends; and various other things are perennials, reseeded themselves, or are volunteering, including MORE tomatoes (unknown kinds), green onion, thyme, strawberries, pumpkin, oregano, chives, and garlic. I'm tending the volunteer tomatoes in a big pot until I can determine which ones are not cherries, then tossing the ones that are except one (anybody want some cherry tomato plants? Will trade for a jalopeno...).
So far, we've been using the herbs and leafy things pretty regularly, and I just spotted two green tomatoes. Yay!
I've been running, but the frequency has dropped off significantly since the marathon, and the heat has increased. I should sign up for another race or a hash or something so I have motivation to train.
I've continued biking to work, although not every day (or even most days). New seat helps, bike computer makes it more fun (yay data collecting), and I've definitely noticed improvements in my leg muscles. Still hate the uphills, though.
Still climbing regularly, although need to work that around the extra hot days, as the gym is not well cooled.
We went camping over Memorial Day weekend in Ryerson Station State Park, where we hadn't been before, with friends and kids. The park was lovely and pretty well unpopulated, which was just great. I spent a great weekend eating and napping. It was buggy and hot, which was annoying, but that would be the case anywhere. The lack of lake and flush toilets did not actually bother me much. The lack of easily accessible showers kinda did. Getting a site with electricity was pretty awesome, though. We're off for two more weekends of camping in the next month, both with and without kids.
xuth and I have been out to a few shows lately. We went to see the latest Cirque du Soleil show, Totem. I was less impressed with this one than the other Cirque show I saw (Quidam), but it was still pretty fun. I'm disappointed that it looks like the Pittsburgh performance cut two of the main acts (unicycles and rollerskates), but the replacement act (partner acro) was one of my favorites, so I guess it works out. Last weekend we headed down to the Arts Festival, where we started on watching the Blind Boys of Alabama on the lawn, and ended up seeing Secret Museums at the Harris, then our route back to the car took us past the Pirates-Phillies game just in time for the end of game fireworks. Then yesterday, we saw a performance of The Diary of Anne Frank at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Emotional and gripping and very good.
I've been to a few parties, had a small one of my own, had a few overnight visitors, and will be doing more of both over the summer. Heading to Seattle for a week in July.
The boys are almost out of school and I'm so looking forward to a quiet summer where I don't have to remind them about homework. The jboys are going to various summer camps, and the older boy will be heading (hopefully?) to Ohio. Looking for a couple bike upgrades so I can make them get out and get more exercise.
Work continues without a lot of fanfare. A bit slow lately, but overall I'm content.
There have also been a few annoying things:
I have been fighting a lot of fatigue lately, which is frustrating. I'm used to being able to get up easily in the morning, and that's not been the case. Could be lower iron, but with the the season of growing things (and this summer I'm trying out a CSA for the first time), I've been eating better, if anything. Could be excessive sun + dehydration, but that sounds odd coming from someone who is usually pretty solar-powered. I think I've been getting enough sleep and I haven't changed my caffeine/other drinking habits. I've been getting neither significantly less nor more exercise than I think I need. It's not greatly affecting things for me yet, so I will continue to ponder this and experiment more before doing any worrying.
Our household has been looking forward to an increase in income any time now, and the harder I expect it, the more stressful and frustrating it is to continue without it. We're not in a great need, and frugal habits are very useful (pretty much everything we've done lately has been thanks to free events, discount tickets, coupons, or splitting with friends), but when I'm hyper aware of the nearness of having more, it's so terribly easy to find dozen of small annoyances that could easily be solved by throwing money at them.
OK, with all that written down, I don't feel quite as much like I've not been doing anything. Next month's plans include a lot of travel and camping. Schedules are not nearly as settled as I want them to be. Somewhere in there is a birthday, which I don't think I have time for. More later.