Bad Blogger and the Summer Update

It has come to my attention that I'm a bad summer blogger. I wondered the other day where all the time for blogging has gone, but tonight, as I was checking in with my sister, I realized just how busy we've been since Chelsea arrived. We flew home from Orlando two weeks ago today, and since then, we:

stayed up late
slept in
shared novels and spent time reading
went swimming
had two doctors appointments
spent time laying in the yard
caught up on laundry
watched a Law and Order marathon
played video games
played Sodoku
humiliated one another with phone Bejeweled
went to the gym
took a Yoga class
clipped and organized three weeks of coupon inserts
went grocery shopping
made the thrift store rounds -- several stores, several days
took a road trip
spent a whole day dealing with auto repairs
attended a lecture
went to the movie theatre three times
watched three or four movies at home
ate out
spent some time teaching and learning in the kitchen
twice went to Six Flags
made one trip to the minor emergency center

Chelsea left yesterday for camp orientation in OKC, so we did all of that in less than two weeks. In fact, we did all of that in about nine days, because for about two days post-Orlando, I did little more than lay on the couch, and for the last couple of days, I've been on the couch again. No wonder I've been too busy to get anything down here!

As for the current laying on the couch, the ER trip was mine due to some really bad blisters on the very bottom of feet. It's dumb, and I don't know exactly how it happened. All I know is having the skin come off the bottom of your feet is a major inconvenience. I'm hoping to heal quickly and to stop hurting myself, to be more responsible about effective time management, and to work harder at not letting the summer sun totally sap all creative energy, so with that, I promise I'll try to be better at being a good summer blogger.

As for life around here, it's been really fun keeping Chelsea. She's such a good girl, and just a joy to have around. She's very laid back and I've had a great time having her here. But she's gone for now, and will be gone for the next ten days or so. As I mentioned, she has camp orientation in OKC for the weekend, and will go back to Tulsa tomorrow to take care of some things for school. She plans to come back at the end of the month, but with moving parents, a smitten young man at home, and things to be done before school in the fall, who knows she'll do. We hope we get her back for the rest of the summer, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, we're acquiring one of my other nieces. My niece Katie went to Oklahoma a few days ago to visit my grandmother, but I got an e-mail today with a strong indication that she was very bored. Because I am an eradicator of boredom, we're off to rescue her tomorrow after church. She'll be here through the first weekend in July and will go back to Oklahoma with my brother and his family who are coming here to celebrate the Fourth. After they all go home, my friend Marcie and her family will be here for a couple of days. Following that, I plan to collapse and soothe myself with mass quantities of Skittles.

Completely unrelated to Skittles or house guests, we went geocaching for the very first time today. Our friends Tommie and Amy geocache quite often and have shared with us some of their experiences. James was sold on geocaching immediately (because no boy outgrows his desire to hunt for treasure), but what appealed to me was the fact that after the initial expense of the GPS, geocaching is a fun and frugal way to spend time together. James got a Garmin for Father's Day, so today, we used it for a bit of hunting.

We had a hard time finding a few of the caches, and with my feet in their current condition, I was a little slower than I'd normally be. Regardless, we went on 15 hunts today, and found ten of the fifteen. (The ones we couldn't find were in rural locations near our house, and likely disturbed by nature. All the caches in town were intact.) The kids really loved trading some of their tiny toys for new prizes, and I loved spending a quiet day with my family enjoying some beautiful weather. The experience was so delightful that we've already mapped out a few hunts for the trip home tomorrow!

A Boy and His Toy


On the Hunt