What's Up?

It's been tough lately. But things feel a little better at the moment. I posted the other night "I do believe that at this moment in time all of the right balls are back up in the air where they belong. Let's see how long I can keep them up there this time." and got a few likes on it, so I guess that means people understand where I'm coming from.

So, yeah, the last few nights I've had a chance to watch some TED Talks, Groundswell came back to the library again and I did some reading in it last night. Over the weekend I read a few more chapters in the atheism book. I think I'm getting caught up on Google Reader. Last week the weather was nice enough to get a run in. Although since then it's been just raining like crazy. I'm using Lose It again - I want to drop about 8 pounds - five new ones plus three that came back. I like the rain, but I'm ready to start running again. We're trying to get to bed earlier and the doctor's appointments for our children were pretty good. And we ended up having a date out of the deal. I got the laundry room re-plumbed and put back together and am getting caught up with the laundry. Things are going better at work. I've even scheduled a week of vacation for mid-May. And what will I do on vacation? Read books and magazines, do house projects (maybe build a fortress of solitude in our crawlspace*, a workbench, outside access to our crawlspace, an outside toolshed or my new outside office. If the rain stops, I'll re-kill all the vegetation alongside the house, cover it with a few layers of weedblock and work on the backyard hangout place I want to build. Or maybe just fix the grout problem in the kitchen tile and finish the chair rail in Ben's room). I've been toying with the idea of completing everything on my to do list or reading every single post in my Google Reader, just for the idea of completing something.

My side of the bed is a mess, my car is a mess and finances are a little broken, but I'm feeling a bit better again, a little less stressed. I guess we'll just wait and see how long I can keep it all going.

I heard this TED Talk yesterday that said everyone should listen to birds (recorded is ok) for five minutes a day - because if bird are singing, people know it's safe and it puts them at ease. I found that interesting.

*I had an idea earlier of building a nice quiet room under the house with a lamp and comfy chair and ottoman and a small stereo to plug an iPhone into for white noise or music. A place of occasional escape for either Lori or I. I think I would just need some blocks, some gravel, some flat bricks, the leftover linoleum from the bathroom project and then a few simple walls. There's already power there, so it could be a really simple design.