sunshine cure-all

Whew - I feel so much better today! It's amazing what a few hours outside can do. Clara & I got out of the house early today. We made a stop at traffic court to settle up with Libertyville for my lead foot last month and then spent some time at the library. I decided to walk her over to O'Plaine park so that we could check the progress of our vegetable garden and just get a somewhat different view. I like our neighborhood park, but kind of wanted to just get out of here for a while. We met a really nice woman (Mary!) and the little boy she watches, so I'm looking forward to seeing her around again soon.

Clara is cracking me up right now because she has found an old CTA card and keeps telling me about how she needs her "library card" to check out books. And she wants to make sure she can bring it with her tomorrow to the Shedd Aquarium. Maybe we can check out a sea horse or something... Every once in a while I think about where she was developmentally last year and can't believe the change in one year. The concepts that she has in her head amaze me. Kids are amazing in general - I never understood that til I watched one go from a blob to a person who gets it in a short time.

Looking forward to tomorrow's adventures downtown and yoga again on Thursday. Having hot yoga in the 'burbs is wonderful beyond belief. And having a hubby that is supportive of it is even better.

we have reaffirmed the decision to have only one child.

my GOD. I decided to watch a neighbor's children for the summer - just 2 days a week, and they are kids that I like a lot when they are not my responsibility. I feel like the older of the two is not who I believed her to be at all! It's just shocking to me that someone who is 7 can spend the day at someone else's home and jump on beds, and other furniture, start examining the contents of my bedroom, flat out ignore everything I say, and go behind my back and undermine my instructions to another kid. Loved how she instructed me to "cook something up" for her today. I'm distinctly unamused at this point and thinking about what a long ass summer this is going to be. The funny thing is everyone acted as if the 2 yr old would be the problem. So NOT true and I am in a position that I find myself stunned and a bit at the end of my wits. I don't want to be a bitch, but nor do I want a little punk running rough shod around here - it's not going to happen. The more I think about it the angrier I get.

ps - if my kid begins to act like her, she'll have her ass in a sling.

black & white clouds.

A couple of days ago I started a post that was me under a deep black cloud. I just felt hopeless and ineffective. In all ways - it seemed that everything I tried failed for one reason or another, right down to running on my treadmill thanks to my daughter peeing on it (after sitting on the toilet for 15 minutes). Funny how 2 days later & I feel completely different.

Life has actually been very good lately - lots of fun with Clara and cousins, followed by lots of fun with neighborhood friends and their kids. When I feel like this I feel like anything is possible - when I have my days like a couple of days ago it feels like absolutely nothing is possible and all attempts are futile.

I'm really looking forward to trying the hot yoga offered at the new Grayslake studio! When you live in the city and have everything available it's easy to take it for granted, then when you move to the hinterlands all of a sudden you think that you would go to hot yoga every day if only you could. Middle path, middle path, middle path... maybe once or 2x a week?

The farmer's market starts this week and I'm looking forward to that - Big Bird will be there from 3:30-4!! PARTY. Also there is a man there that sharpens knives. Mine have not had a professional sharpening in the 10 years that they have been in my possession & it shows. Boning a chicken was an exercise in strength the other day (and luck that the knife didn't slip & cut me based on how hard I had to work at it).

In other news of slackerly behavior I just organized the cupboard that holds our drinking glasses and located my to-go cup that I have been looking for for THREE years. It's like getting a surprise gift to find that thing!! I loved that cup. My co-worker at IBM, Mike Scordino, gave that thing to me about 15 years ago because the crappy Caribou Coffee one that I was using had a leak and I walked around with coffee dribbled all over my shirt. Gotta love it when someone sees a problem and fixes it for you - particularly a small problem that is overwhelmingly annoying on a daily basis and requires just a small tweak to result in long term happiness.

Today's business:

Treadmill for 45 minutes

buy drapery hooks / rings for my new drapes (do NOT forget the damn coupon!!)

grocery shop

get veg. glycerin to make my home-made soft scrub that I love.

make home-made pizza!

and now I have to go get the dough started so that it will be ready for chomping tonight.