Where random wins the day

  • I’ve never been a good one for “being at rest,” but lately, things have been a bit out of control. My muscles will scream in soreness from me pushing them during workouts — yet, if I have an hour to myself? I feel the need to run. Or ride my bike. Or something active. Normally, I’d say that’s great, but I fear that I’m wearing myself down – and that’s not a good feeling.
  • Fortunately/unfortunately, my garden is providing ways for me to fill any down time I might have. The number of tomatoes I have is truly staggering . . . for the foreseeable future, I believe I’ll be picking & washing tomatoes through the week and then making stuff with them on the weekends. This weekend? Salsa (because I have tomatoes, onions, and jalapeƱos) and tomato sauce.
  • The lawn & yard have always been a bit of a bane to me. This year, after years of “just working around the edges” of ground cover that the previous owner had placed, I went in and weeded areas of the landscape that have gone, essentially, untouched, for the past 13 years (because, if they’re not facing the house and/or facing the street, I haven’t cared). It was a lot of work, but I’m left thinking about what I want to do around my house:
    • We have one significant hill that has always caused me a difficulty in lawn mowing. I’m thinking about leveling out said hill (putting in landscaping timbers between each step) and, with each leveled-step, starting grape vines (on trellises that I’ll build myself).
    • A small portion of the yard fronts onto a pond — I’m tempted to build steps leading from the back yard to the pond and setting a pump to pump water from this pond to a water feature heading from to the topmost step back down to the pond. And, at the pond, putting in a fire pit along with a small, leveled patio . . . this might take me some time to do.
  • I love my kids like nothing else. Truly. But I’ve found myself, when I’m alone in the car, driving to the sound of silence because, well, my children are not silent.
  • I’m working my way through the Harry Potter audiobooks, once again, because they’re such a fun tale and Jim Dale is an amazing narrator. This has become a yearly tradition — we leave on vacation, I listen on the way down, get hooked, and work my way all of the way through.
  • On the topic of listening to things, though, we signed up for Amazon Prime when we ditched cable. At first, I’d say that it was mostly a bust — most of what we wanted to watch through Prime wasn’t free on Prime. And two-day-shipping, while nice, isn’t a necessity for most anything. However, the free selections of music on the Prime Music store are wonderful – especially for someone like me, who prefers listening to classical music while at work.
  • I’ve been obnoxiously watching my diet as of late — not only keeping my caloric intake in check, but actually ensuring that I’m getting types of foods that I want (always aiming for less than 30% carbs, at least 25% protein). This means that I’ve been avoiding the Chinese buffet. But I’m going there for lunch today . . . it’s going to be fun to let loose.
  • I’ve always though I’d be a “it’s just hair, it’ll grow back/grow out” parent. But, lately, my son has been asking me to cut his hair really, really short1. Part of me wants to give into this whim of his — give him a buzz cut (I won’t shave his head, like I have mine, just because I know the pain of a burnt scalp and I don’t trust a four-year-old to keep a hat on when it’s necessary), but I don’t know if he truly realizes:
    • just how slowly hair comes back
    • how much other people enjoy his curls

    . I haven’t cut it yet — we’ll see if the end of the summer leads to the same decision.

  • I’m getting really good at brushing little girl hair.
  • A local band has asked me to join up with them . . . it sounds like they’re good & everything, but the idea of spending less time at home just isn’t sitting well with me. I love playing, truly – but there are reasons I chose not to make my living as a musician . . . I’d fear taking on an additional band would push me one step closer to always looking for that next paying music gig.
  • I have two half-marathons and a full marathon over the next three months . . . despite the whole “not resting enough” item that I started with? I need to get myself running more (though, don’t worry, I’m working out aplenty).

  • 1 This started with a fight about combing his hair . . . he didn’t want to have his hair combed because “it hurt” when his hair was combed, but he agreed to let me trim his hair with hair clippers. I now, somewhat-regularly, set hair clippers to the height of a single curl & trim to that height.

10 comments

  1. I love random things.

    Little man wanted his head buzzed and while I was against it at first, we finally went for it, and he loves it. It’s actually really cute and he has a decent-shaped head for it. He wants it shaved all the way down, too. Funny how kids are.

    HP is always the answer. I don’t think I could listen to them on audio books, but I do make it a point to read the series annually.

    Being at rest is hard for me, too. I just can’t sit and relax. Ever.

    1. Another factor with the not letting the kid’s curls go the wayside is that my sister-in-law may kill me if I do it . . . CJ’s curls are pretty remarkable — after his first haircut, my sister-in-law may have spent the night crying.

  2. 1) Wearing your body down is never a good thing. Listen to it before you hurt yourself.
    2) I’ve never listened to an audiobook. I may have to reread Harry Potter. I did love that series.
    3) Amazon Prime music is AWESOME. Although I really don’t use it. Because I listen to Sirius online.
    4) I admire your attention to your diet and exercise. That is some damn good dedication. I have zero of that.
    5) Allie’s hair is really long. I have to cut it at some point. It would probably look cute in a bob. I can’t do it yet.
    6) Whoa. That’s a lot of races. You’ll do well, I have no doubt.

    1. Honestly – I worry more about wearing my sanity down (whatever is left of it) than my body. My body is resilient.

      I LOVE audiobooks – I find that I barely have time to read-read, so these are the only way that I can fit “reading” into my schedule.

      If I didn’t have Amazon Prime, I’d sign up for Sirius online.

      Thank you. But methinks you have more than you give yourself credit for.

      I think I’m buzzing CJ’s hair tomorrow.

      I hope I do – I’m worried about the full marathon, I’ll admit it. Part of me really thinks that I have the ability to pull a half-marathon out of my ass when I need to.

  3. Random things are the best!

    I fought with myself over getting my 2 year old’s gorgeous curls cut. His hair was just getting out of control, so we took the leap. I’m glad and sad at the same time.

    1. CJ’s four at this time . . . so he’s had several haircuts — the curls, I think, are permanent . . . it’s just a matter of how much we let them thrive.

  4. Okay I have to ask. What instrument do you play, and if you’re good enough to have people coming to you like that … is there a way to work it into your family’s schedule so you’re not detracting from your together time, but you’re still getting a musical and creative outlet?

    1. I play a few instruments — bass (upright bass & bass guitar) and keyboards primarily. Right now, I play in a bass in a symphony orchestra (rehearsal are one night a week), keyboards in a classic rock band (rehearsal one night a week), organ for my church (Sunday mornings), and I play bass guitar for random community theatre musicals (every night for a week, a few times a year). So I have the creative outlets — but adding anything more is, really, taking away from family time.

  5. So many things I can relate to! My friend is growing tomatoes and has been giving them to me. I hadn’t thought to make salsa. Great idea! I didn’t know Amazon prime had music. Totally going to check that out. I just gave in and cut my son’s hair. I really fear doing this with my girls though bc their hair takes forever to grow back . My sons hair though seems to be on hyperdrive. Amazing job on the running!!!!

  6. I so love Amazon prime. I buy a lot of my books from Amazon.

    And I LOVE homemade salsa. I can’t grow stuff though. I kill stuff. On accident. It just happens.

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