481: Life is Good.

Early evening yesterday, I was watching Family Feud and looking forward to watching Law & Order SVU followed by two episodes of Burn Notice.

But nature would not be cheated (as one of my exes liked to say). Steve Harvey's antics were not enough to keep me awake. It was time to add some zees to my sleep deficit.

When I awoke it was dark; The New Adventures of Old Christine was winding down.

Five hours had passed.

Waking up at 11:30 p.m. is disorienting but not unusual. My sleep schedule is... different. Learning to work around it has become my forte.

So I've been up all night, Facebook-ing and checking my favorite online news sources.

No plans for today since my daughter doesn't have to return to work until Friday and I've already gotten groceries for the week.

There are things to be done of course but isn't that always true?

Today I'm taking it easy and thankful to be able to do so.

Amen.

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480: More family ties.

The family tree grow-eth massively larger! (See this post for more details: family ties.)

I forgot to mention that my mother, daughter and I had lunch with a cousin from my mother's generation while we were home. He filled in a lot of missing info for us regarding my grandmother's birth father and the great uncle who raised her. Some of it fit in perfectly with info we already had. Some of it only confused us more due to several family members having same or similar first names and some only being known to our cousin by nicknames.

Either way, it was still good info and the stories he told about some family members were hysterically funny. A few times we laughed so loud, i thought we might be asked to leave the restaurant.

Since we've been home, I've been using Family Search to gather corroborating data where possible. It's both fun and frustrating.

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479: Working it out once again.

One of my daddy's sisters is my favorite auntie. Lately she's been checking in at the gym on Facebook. So have lots of other folks.

One day my brain told me that I too could benefit from a lot more exercise than I've been getting. Especially now that we've moved to a smaller place.

Yesterday morning as I sat on the couch checking e-mail, I heard splashing and talking at the pool. I glanced out the window and saw one of the maintenance staff talking to a swimming resident. The pool looked very inviting and I had a thought to do my workout in the crystal clear water. However, by the time I finished my Facebook duties (I update our church's page), did a few necessary things in here, dug my bikini top out of the closet, and found a pair of shorts suitable for wearing into the pool, it was already hot out.

And though I love the ease of working out in the pool, taking a shower/to get dressed/to get in the pool/to workout/to come back in for another shower -- well, it felt like too much work to do, to get a work out.


So instead I decided to work out here in my living room, where it was cool.

I won't lie. It was hard. But I'm proud of myself. I was able to get in 27 minutes of movement using a combination of dance and exercise moves before I was too tired to get off the floor.

And imagine this: even with the air on, I still worked up a mess of sweaty sweat. My shower was heaven on earth.

After, I sat down to work and forgot to eat until a couple of hours later.   :(

Surprisingly, I don't feel at all sore right now. Let's see how I feel after a night's sleep because I plan to work out again later today.

I also plan to go out dancing with the girls Friday evening.

My fingers are crossed for swift alignment of mind and body because I can't let my exercise plan get in the way of a good time this weekend!

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478: My my, how time does fly!

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Has it truly been over a month  -- almost two -- since I've posted here? Not for lack of fodder, I assure you.

There has been lots going on, mostly mundane but a little excitement as well.

Thank you God for an interesting life!

Let's see...

Earlier this month, we traveled several hundred miles home to visit family and attend my third annual elementary/junior high school reunion.

We always visit my daddy and stepmother on the way up the road or on the way back down. They live a few hours before our destination. It's good to go to daddy's because we're heading home and not because he's in the hospital.

During our visit home, there was time for lunch with a long-time friend who I talk to often but hadn't seen in years. Lunch wasn't long enough but I was thankful for the time we had.

My daughter and I were blessed to spend a few hours visiting a cousin I hadn't seen since my (paternal) grandma's funeral 11 years ago. We also got to meet two of his children but sadly, his wife was at work so we couldn't meet her. :(    My favorite auntie was there too.   :)

I had a blast at my reunion. It was priceless to reunite with so many folks from back in the day and to meet the new folks too. People brought their families, our principle popped in, my 6th grade teacher came, lots of folks from the old neighborhood who didn't attend school with us were there, and I suspect some folks saw a party in the park and just dropped on in.  *chuckle*

It was especially wonderful to see friends from my class and the youngins from later classes who I'd met at the previous reunion.

Several people I expected to see were M.I.A. One of them I was really looking forward to seeing. He made it to last year's reunion, where I had up close and personal time with everyone except him. Which caused me a bit of anxiety later because he's one of those people who has a special place in my heart. My plan was to have a few kind words with him at this year's reunion but we know what they say about the best laid plans. Hopefully I can see him next time I'm home.

There are a few other people I wanted to see but time was on its own schedule. With the exception of the year my daughter and I spent the whole summer at home, summer visits are too short. I find this thought amusing because the thought of moving back up there is a teeny bit vomitrocious. I guess it's a sense of nostalgia mingled with the feeling that because we no longer live there, my hometown has become a vacation destination where everyone knows my name

There's talk of returning home next month for an upcoming neighborhood reunion but gas prices have gone up again. We'll see.

Any who, if we don't make it back up the road this year, I have good memories (and pictures too!) of our most recent visit.

And just in case, I'm planning all the fun I'll have if August finds us back on familiar streets.  ;-)

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477: On a less urgent note...

This weekend was a good one.

Mr. Bliss and I did a little grocery shopping Saturday morning. We picked up a few things for the house and a few things for the Memorial Day cookout our minister has every year.

As soon as we got back in, I remembered that I needed to return an overdue book to the library and pick up some items I'd reserved. So we grabbed the book and went back out. We came home with two movies: "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and "The Social Network".

Mr. Bliss and I watched "The Social Network". It wasn't what I expected. Which is not saying much because I'm not sure what I expected from the movie. We both agreed we were glad we didn't pay to see it at the theater.

I'd seen "Their Eyes Were Watching God" twice already but surprisingly didn't remember much of it. Which was strange because I also read the book in English honors and at the time, my life was taking a similar path as Janie's.

A friend dropped by while I was watching. She and I had a high old time, cackling and commenting on the racier parts of the movie. I was also led to research current treatment for rabies. It's not as awful as it was because you no longer have to get the shots in the stomach. But you do have to get shots and apparently right away because if symptoms start, you're a goner.

Here's to never getting bit by a stray. Or even licked, if there's an open sore or wound in an uncovered area where a stray could reach, as rabies is transmitted through saliva.

Sunday, Mr. Bliss got called in to work around sunrise. Bleh. Baby Bliss and I went to church. Baby Bliss took a friend along. It was a long day, as usual. We usually get home around 2 because after church we:

1. have lunch in the multi-purpose house next door to church.
2. check my PO box before we head home.
3. sometimes stop at the Dollar Tree or Goodwill because they are near the post office.
4. sometimes stop at Trader Joe's before we head home.
5. sometimes stop at my grandma's before we head home.

Mr. Bliss worked Monday too so he missed the cookout. Baby Bliss and I had fun without him.

Although I intended to arrive at the BBQ at the appointed hour, we were an  hour late. Not unusual for us and we didn't miss a thing.

Baby Bliss did just what she intended to do which was frolic in the pool all day. I was surprised she even took time to eat anything. I like to exercise in the pool, not play in it. And since play was the order of the day, I stayed on the hot, hot, hot sidelines with a few others.

I didn't mean to stay as long as we did. My plan was three hours, maybe four; help clean a little, then home. We got there at two and stayed until eight. So much for planning...

But I'll blame it on Baby Bliss. She was having a ball with her friends. And I was running my mouth and not keeping track of time. And we didn't have a specific time to return home. So we hung until we were among the last stragglers. Also one of Baby Bliss's friends had to wait a while for his grandma so we waited with him.

We got home in time to see the remnants of what must have been a really big pool party in our community pool. Thank God we missed most of it. I probably wouldn't have had a parking space if we had come home any earlier.

All in all, it was a good weekend and I'm thankful.

Amen.

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476: I didn't do it.

Yes, I know I said I would make the homemade dishwasher detergent that weekend.

No, I didn't do it.

Because I forgot, that's why.

And now that we have run out of regular dish detergent, I'm wishing I had made it already.

Ahhhh, the life of a procrastinator.

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475: No-Cost Dryer Balls

Saving money on doing laundry?

Of course!

Here's help:

A Back To Basics Lifestyle: No-Cost Dryer Balls

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