Catching Up

I'm back.  I know, I've been gone a while.  Whatever.  I was going to make some big explanation about where I've been, but really--who cares?  I'm here now.

So it's the middle of the summer.  And it's damn hot today.  I'm not  complaining about it, though, since it seems like our winter didn't actually end until, well, last week.  Oh, I'm good at exaggerating.  

We've been remodeling our kitchen.  Ourselves.  And it has completely swallowed us for months.  We're still finishing it up, but I'll put out a big post about it when it's done.  You all better go visit it when I do, and then comment to me about how amazing it is.  I don't care what you actually think of it, I just need you to tell me how great it is, and then I might regain some of that "it will be worth it when it's done" feeling.  Seriously, though--do not take on a kitchen re-do by yourself unless you are made of some sturdy stuff.  It will break you.  Physically, financially, emotionally.  

But it will be worth it when it's done.

In the six months since we've begun this project, much has happened.  My husband is coaching the kids' baseball team.  He broke his foot.  He bought a Harley.  I bought a colorful metal owl.  I keep score at the baseball games.  Hubby broke a rib.  Then went on a 3-day motorcycle trip.  I have managed to keep a tomato plant alive.  

My 11-year old, A, pitched for the first time and rocked it!

 My 10-year old, J, started playing tuba, and he rocks!  

One of the crazy cats that lives in our yard had kittens.  Then another one did.  

We found a family for a kitten.  

Now she's knocked up again.  We adopted another kitten out.  Please, people, come get some more kittens!  

Freddy rolled in a dead deer.  Hubby bought me an AMAZING birthday present (I'm not going to tell you what it is yet because it's worth a post of it's own).  We put an above-ground pool in the yard.  

Our road has been completely torn up and is getting paved this summer.  We've had lots and lots and lots of rain.

I know.  My life is exciting beyond compare.  When I write it out like that, it's sort of depressing.  I felt really busy, honestly...

Mainly right now we're just trying to finish up the kitchen and keep the hubby from breaking himself anymore.  The kids have been having a fun, but what must seem to them uneventful, summer.  

I'm looking for a job.  Not aggressively, just kind of checking things out.  I have applied formally to four jobs, and got the polite "thanks but no thanks" form letters from them all.  Thank God I'm not in a position where I absolutely have to find a job, because man, it's ugly out there.  For a 42-year old woman who's been out of the workforce for 12 years, it's slim pickings.  So I have been counting my blessings that I'm only looking because I'm ready to get out there again, not because I have to.  I'll figure it all out.  I'm thinking of trying to find a way to get paid to write.  I'm playing around with writing a book, looking into writing columns, that kind of thing.  I don't know what I'm doing.  For now, I'm just irritated that I can't start learning how to ride a motorcycle until my road's paved.  

So thanks for catching up with me.  We have a ballgame tonight, so I better go figure out what to feed my family before the game.