Housekeeping

Beast Mom has written an excellent short story which received an Honorable Mention at the Mom Writer's Literary Magazine. Go check it out! (I'm so proud! sniff, sniff)

I've re-started Atkins for the bazillionth time. So should be having regular updates on my Atkins Blog. (which is nothing but talk about weight and stuff, so don't feel you need to check it out if it's not interesting to you...I won't be offended or anything. That blog's more just a food/weight journal, really.)

Found an interesting site called Remember the Milk. It's basically an online list site, to help in organization. I'm not sure if I'll sign up or not, as I'm a little addicted to paper lists, but we'll see. I'm getting a little tired of being so disorganized around here, I need to get it in gear.

Amy at Tea and Bonbons put me on her blogroll! I've gotten quite a few hits from it, too...very exciting. Thanks, Amy!

Mark has started running. His future soccer coach has "assigned" a running program for him, of 2-3 miles, at least twice a week. This morning was Mark's second run, of 2 miles. I've been dying for him to get into running for the longest time, he's got the right build for it (those looooong legs) and I think he will really enjoy it. So far, he seems to. We've measured out distances along my road, and he is eventually going to build up to a 3.5-mile distance. I landmarked distances by the half-mile, thinking he would start out with maybe a mile, but he hopped right into the 2-miles, and seems to be doing great with it. I wish I could join him. Way back in my youth a million years ago, before ankle and knee injuries took running off the table forever, I used to love the feeling of flying along the road with long strides, unconnected to the earth. sigh.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a surprise comment on my other blog from a guy I graduated high school with. (Hi, Peter!) We've since exchanged a few emails, catching up, and the next time he's in the area we're planning coffee. He's doing some amazing things, traveling around the world. Right now he's in Korea for a seminar. I'll tell ya, it made me feel VERY much a loser. I don't feel I've accomplished anything in my life. I've decided, if anyone asks me what I'm up to these days, I'm going to answer with the usual about doing the mom thing, and that I'm also working on a novel. (Now, so that nobody thinks this is just a spontaneous lie, I actually *am* working on a novel. And also another book. Possibly two. All unrelated subjects. Mostly because I couldn't decide on just one.) I may not ever actually FINISH any of these novels, but at least I'm *working* on something.

My parents got Mark a pair of digital drumsticks at a yard sale. They're pretty cool. I like the headphone feature, so they don't get too obnoxious. Speaking of obnoxious, Ro gave Kira her old TracFone. It was about to expire. So for two whole days, Kira had her own cell phone. She brought it with her to a birthday party, and she must have called me seven times while she was gone. She's also been just playing with it, changing the ringtones and stuff. She thinks she's pretty hot stuff. I'm about ready to take the thing and chuck it in the toilet. But I won't. sigh.

I need to do some *actual* housekeeping with, you know, my actual HOUSE kind of housekeeping. And my lawn desperately needs to be mowed. Dad's been taking care of it for me while my ankle is still in recovery (holy COW, it's taking forever). But he's also doing his own lawn and my grandfather's lawn, and he's averaging about every 10 days getting here to get it done. So it's in a constant state of overgrowth, even when it's just been mowed. It really needs to be cut, then cut again immediately. I was planning to have Mark take care of it, but right now it's past where he could handle it. Also, Dad has taken the lawnmower WITH HIM. So even if I *wanted* to do my lawn, I can't. big sigh. The *plan* is for him to come today and do it. And leave the mower here. So hopefully on Thursday Mark will mow it again. (Mark's going off for the day today, and tomorrow the kids are with their dad.)

Well, this is NOT getting my housework done, so I'm off. mk