pardon me while I ramble aimlessly...

Okay, to those of you thinking, "And how is that different from any other post you write?" I say, "Well yes, you've got a very good point there." :P

I'm sort of in a weird "mood" these days. It's not that I'm in a funk, not even a little one. Seriously, I'm not really in any way unhappy at all. But then again, I'm not feeling happy either. Just sort of blah.

On my mind this morning:

*Rich's Mom is having her hip replacement surgery today, so she is very much on my mind. While surgery is always a serious business, I am so looking forward to her being able to live without so much pain anymore!

*The weather is just plain yucky. I guess it seems especially so because last week we had a few beautiful sunny days with highs in the 60s and 70s right in a row. But the spring showers are back--it's been raining fairly steadily since Friday evening. And it's not a warm spring rain--it's a cold, miserable one. The high yesterday was in the mid-40s and it was windy enough for the wind chill to be in the low 30s. Today it's supposed to be slightly warmer (highs in the upper 40s) and slightly less rainy (off and on, instead of just on). The rain is forecasted to stay throughout the week, but temps are to start rising again, so it's not all bad news.

*Soccer season started. This is one of those mixed bags. I love watching the kids play, but to be honest I don't like having our weeknights so totally booked. (Max plays Mondays and Wednesdays/Annie plays Tuesdays and Thursdays.) Really not looking forward to sitting there in the cold miserable rain tonight!

*The boys have the day off of school today. Normally I treasure these days--like unexpected little gifts. But today, *sigh*, I'm worn out just thinking about it. Because Annie has a dentist appointment. And it's probably going to be a long one--if all is as they hope, she'll be getting her back braces off and they'll be making the molds for her retainer. Sitting in the waiting room with the boys for a couple of hours is *not* something I'm looking forward to.

*It's that time of year where school is absolutely drowning me. Though honestly, I'm not sure if it ever doesn't feel like that. ;) But with just a month and a half left, we've still got a lot to squeeze in. A lot. But this is Annie's last week of her college classes, with all three finals next week. So after that we'll have loads of time to concentrate on her finishing up her world history and her lit.

*Seems like forever since I've got to read for fun. Doesn't even seem like I'm getting that many books read for school, but I guess that's because I don't count how much time I spend reading textbooks. :/ But anyway, in actuality, it hasn't been forever--because last week one night, I blew off all my work for the night and just sat and read A Monster Calls. OMG. Best book I've read all year. Still can't think about it without just tearing right up. I've said it before, and I'll said it again--Patrick Ness is pure genius. And you know, even those who didn't find The Chaos Walking trilogy to be as freakin' awesome and moving and honest and human and perfect as I did--well, I think they would love this book.

*I am so ridiculously bummed about our big apple tree, I seriously want to cry. Every year since we've been here the tree turns into a see of white with tinges of pink. And then come fall, we have bazillions of apples. This year, however, I don't know what's going on--there's just a few patches here and there of blossoms. :( So much for my dreams of canning 40-ish jars of applesauce from the tree this year. Oh, I'll still can, but it won't be quite so satisfying to have to go to an orchard to buy the apples as it would have been just picking them from our tree.

*We got the results from Annie's year-end testing (a homeschool requirement thing here in NY). It's so stupid of me--every year, I worry about it. Luckily, Annie doesn't. :) Still 99th percentile, as high as one can get. Next year, I guess my worries will double as Gray will need to take them, too.

*And speaking of Gray and homeschooling, I spent many hours last week working on school prep for him for next year. Probably not the best use of my time, as I should be focusing on finishing up this year for Annie. But seriously, as interesting as it is, sometimes I just need a break from world history. (Thus the reason why I am sitting here blogging instead of finishing up today's lecture/discussion notes. :P ) Anyway, I am getting both more excited and more nervous about beginning the journey of homeschooling with Gray next year. But I assume that's only natural. :)

*Still making slow, but sort of steady progress around the house. Actually hope to *finally* complete one whole room of its decluttering this week. The library. And in addition to the many, many books that I added to Paperbackswap (many of which have already found new homes) and the several that we've given to various friends and family, we've boxed up about 15 good-sized boxes for the library sale. And I really think we've made massive strides in curbing the accumulation aspect, too. Not that we don't acquire books any more, but it's at a muuuuuuuuuch slower pace.

*We're beginning to get the garden ready. I got about half of it weeded last week in prep for another infusion of our lovely compost. If the weather ever gives us a break, hopefully we'll have it ready and be able to plant our radishes and lettuce and onions and kohlrabi this weekend. And then it won't be long after that until we can plant all our tomato and pepper seedlings. We probably won't plant much more than that this year. We'd considered adding another garden so we could still have beans and cucumbers (we've expanded our tomatoes into their previous territory :P ) and a few other things, but since we hope to move next year, we sort of decided that we probably shouldn't.

*On the crafty front, I haven't been accomplishing much. Been concentrating on making baby caps for the project my Mom's church is doing. It's one of those win-win things---babies who need them get hats and I get to use up loads of baby yarn I have leftover from other projects.

Holy crap...I really need to shut up and get back to work, don't I? For everyone's sake. :P But first let me wish everyone a week full of simple joys and heartfelt smiles!!!!