Top Ten Reasons I'm a Flake

For your reading pleasure, I humbly offer . . .

Top Ten Reasons I have been a Flakey Blogger in the last month

10. Yard work. Though Mr. G. has done most of the hard stuff in this area, there's plenty of the administrative, managerial type work that has kept me busy. Sitting on my hiney on our comfy deck chairs sipping lemonade and saying, "Yes honey. I think shimying 25 ft up that ladder to trim wayward branches on that tree is a mah-ve-lus idea. *sip, sip* You go right ahead and be careful now!"

9. Making sure the feathered friends in our neighborhood don't starve. (See my last post.)

8. End of the school year broo-ha-ha. OK - I'm married to a teacher and I still don't understand this one. Why do teachers wait until the end of the year to do all the big report projects and testing? We've been learning all there is to know about Rhinoceros Beetles and Uterine Cancer. Go ahead, ask me a question . . .

7. End of the school year broo-ha-ha part deux. Not only do we have academic projects up the ying-yang, but they decide to do all the social activities at this time of year. Field trips, parties, field days, carnivals etc. Add church stuff to the mix and the little calendar boxes are looking pretty full these days!

6. Slow time at work. "What???" you might be saying. How is that an excuse for not blogging? You should have plenty of time on your hands. Yes, friends, it's true. There is a bit more flexibility and open space in my brain and in my time thanks to a slow down at work but unfortunately, my brain tends to hunker down in "power-save" mode during those times. I haven't done anything with my personal writing projects in weeks (head hung in shame). Any advice on this? I don't want to go back to the way it was (insane busy) but I need to find a happy place where the momentum of work and personal life keep me creative.

5. Playing with, er . . . learning how to use . . . the camera. Took a "day off" last Friday to play while the kids were at school and went back to the rose garden to try some more rose pix. Gotta love those digital cameras and the macro setting. It's the closest thing to meditation or yoga for me. Breathing deep, holding the camera still and trying to capture just a tiny bit of the beauty before me.

4. Planning the "Reunion from Hell" for my family this summer. Don't ask. I'll be blogging plenty about this in the days to come. I've said it before, I love my family, but in small doses. Someone had the brilliant idea that we spend 6 days in Sunriver this August together. (I'm praying for an emergency Root Canal that week.)

3. Speaking of dental work. Had my first crown put on. Agghh. That puppy hurt! My mouth was sore for over a week. (OK - lame excuse. I don't need to talk to type but I'll use it anyway.) But let me tell you, I have the best dentist in the world. He called me the night of my first appointment, the one where it felt like he drilled ten teeth down to nubby stubs while his lovely assistant nearly drown me with the slow trickle of water on the back of my throat. He called me at home at 6:30 pm that night just to check on me. I told Brad he was lucky he was such a good cook or I just might have to leave him to run away with my dentist.

2. Raising a tween. She turns 13 in less than two months and boy howdy, do we all know it. My brother-in-law said once raising a girl is "a fast ride on the Hormone Express". That pretty much sums it up. We've had lots of slamming doors (well, ok - not lots but some) PLENTY of ATTITUDE (with capital letters, a hand on hip and sneer on your face) and a fair share of DRAMA come our way. With more to come - oh joy.

1. And (drum-roll), the number one reason I haven't been a very good blogger lately is . . . . I have been trying to get through the 19 million books I have started reading in the past few years and are at various points of completion. I really had envisioned that by taking a vow earlier this year to buy no more new books and read the ones I have, I would see some progress. So far, not so much. The fun thing I have done for myself is start a new novel (one I bought a year ago). Haven't read one of those since January and I miss a good story. It's called "The Whole World Over" buy Julia Glass. She's the one I borrowed the title of this blog from (Three Junes). Seven pages into her new book, I remembered why she is one of my favorite authors. One of the characters laments how he "thinks too much" (something I can totally related to) and says "It wears down your soul. It's like grinding your spiritual teeth," Yes, yes, yes! Dear God, could I please write like that someday?

More soon . . . thanks for hanging in there with me!