15 October 2007

The Life and Times of a Slug

I admit it, I was a slug this weekend. I made it out of the house every day, but that's not saying too much, to tell the truth. The past month has been a busy one, and I still felt like I hadn't caught up from last weekend, so I intentionally kept my weekend clear of much activity.

While it doesn't speak highly of my social life, I spent Friday night finishing a book Maria had lent me on Tuesday and working on a knitting project that I have to have done by next week. "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Julia Spencer-Fleming is an interesting and entertaining murder mystery set in the New York Adirondacks, and of all things, the main character is a female Episcopalian priest. Finishing the book was part of what got me out and about a bit on Saturday...to return it to the library and pick up some lunch. But before and after that, I was simply knitting, sleeping, watching TV, and reading.

Saturday evening I did venture out to Judy and Scott's house in rural Kentucky (south of Frankfort). Judy had invited me to come and enjoy their dinner and bonfire. Two of her sons were there with their friends, as were two couples of friends closer to Judy and Scott's age. We all collectively painted a chair, watched UK beat LSU in football (Go Cats!), ate lots of good food, and laughed together. I did finally get to go for a walk back in their woods, which was so peaceful, and allowed another chance for Judy and I to have a few good conversations. It was a fun evening!

On Sunday I decided to skip church, mostly because Lisa's cat thought that it was time to wake up at 5 a.m., when I'd only been asleep for about 3 hours, and I just didn't want to try to stay awake through the service. Despite that lack of structure I did go out briefly again on Sunday...to the knitting store for needles and yarn and back to the library, this time to pick up the next 2 books by the same author.

So, you can see the theme of my sluggish weekend...sleep, knit, read, sleep, eat, knit, read...and the worst of it is, I'm still sleepy!

08 October 2007

A Disturbing Development

I got a call from my mother a few minutes ago, asking me why I hadn't posted a new blog yet. Good grief, it's only been 5 days! I posted all of 2 blog entries in the entire month of September. My response was that I've been a little busy, which is true. The other part of it is that I hadn't even thought about a new entry.

But here I am, feeling pressure from Mom to put something down. With my work travels, I was in 5 different airports over the course of about 38 hours between Thursday and Friday. I spent most of Saturday trying to sleep off the dregs of the traveling. I don't know how people travel for work, week in and week out. They must find a well of stamina somewhere that I've never tapped.

Saturday night I met my friends Pam, (Kim, but we never call her that) Crady, Gina & her husband Nick and their two boys, Jackson and Charlie, for dinner at the corner Mexican restaurant, and then the girls and I headed to the movie theater. We saw "In the Valley of Elah," which is by far the best performance by Tommy Lee Jones I've ever seen. But it is also one very sad, depressing, and tense movie. We all walked out in total silence, and didn't speak for over a minute. I found myself thinking about the movie later that night and again on Sunday, which is always the mark of a good movie. Next time, though, I think we'll seek out a comedy.

Sunday I met Mom at church and was glad to see Nancy and Davis Gray visiting St. Paul, too. Then Mom and I headed down to the St. James Art Fair, which I look forward to every year. Of course, it's not over 90 degrees every year, either, and the heat and humidity took it's toll. We didn't stay nearly as long as we have in past years. But I did find some beautiful pieces of pewter, and even have a pewter nativity to look forward to as a Christmas gift (thanks, Mom!). The rest of Sunday was pretty quiet, at least for me. Lisa was running around like crazy getting ready to leave for her chorus competition in Calgary. I dropped her off at the airport on my way to work this morning. I hope the competition goes well and that they place at least as high as they did 2 years ago, if not even higher!

So, Mom, I hope you're happy. I've caught everyone up on the excitement of my weekend, and have spent some time today just trying to catch myself up.

03 October 2007

A Quickie

(Oh, if it were only so! Hahaha!) Anyway, I'm getting ready to head off on a little adventure including a work meeting in Eastern Kentucky and then a quick one-night trip to D.C. for another work related meeting. There's nothing like meeting the expectation of legislators away from the office and trying to coordinate all of that. And since this is my first time at this, it's been an eye-opening experience.

Besides all of that, it's been a busy few weeks. I've gotten a chance to catch up with some friends over coffee or knitting, got to shop at some funky stores I don't visit often enough, and found a few moments to hole up in my bedroom and just veg. I finished my first official knitting project, a cool little hat (I'll put up a picture whenever I get a chance). Woo hoo! I'm so proud of myself and it just whets my appetite for learning more.

Gotta run, time to load up the van with a cooler, water, soft drinks, US and state flags, meeting folder, gavels, name plates, coffee cups, a state seal....now you see what I mean!