Blah

I've been feeling rather blah all day. Unmotivated, unenergized, borderline grumpy; just blah.

Well, actually, I didn't feel like this until this afternoon. I went out with a friend for coffee this morning, and that was great fun. I guess it was after lunch (a rather blah Healthy Choice meal) that I started feeling, well, you know.

To cheer myself up, I started a haiku-writing game on Facebook. Lots of friends posted their lunch-themed haikus. Mine, to get it all started, was

I like Lean Cuisine
but I don't like Healthy Choice
disappointing lunch

Have I mentioned how blah my Healthy Choice lunch was? I bought a few HCs earlier this week, and have been disappointed in every single one of them. The stuff is darned near inedible. Even the entrees that sound good, like pumpkin ravioli, or Asian potstickers, are just too yucky to even finish.

In between poetry entries, I had a nice email volley with my sister, and started writing a piece for a Monday deadline, which I just was too unmotivated to finish. Blah.

Earl is in Canada tonight, cleaning up la petite maison and getting it ready for our renters, who arrive tomorrow. I am sure that has something to do with my blah-ness, especially since we had a tough discussion last night about plans for our vacation time at the end of this month.

Before we were blessed with la petite maison, Earl and I would always go camping in August, around the time of our anniversary. We did this for probably 6 or 7 years, until the property in Canada made it possible for us to afford a vacation somewhere that didn't involve sleeping on the ground. We haven't been camping since, and my enthusiasm for the prospect has cooled considerably in the interim.

Earl wants to take the kids camping this summer, just for one overnight. We've been talking about this for a few weeks, and I've agreed that it would be good for the kids, who would like it, for sure. But at the same time, I've been realizing that I don't want to go, and last night I told him so.

It didn't go well. Naturally, he was disappointed, and after discussing it a bit, I told him to let me sleep on it. This morning, I really didn't want to go any more than I had last night, but made the decision that I would go, and be cheerful about it, because it meant a lot to him and because the kids would love it.

This discussion will need to be continued when he's back home from Canada, as he told me he wasn't sure he wanted to go camping if I didn't really want to. I told him it was fine, I'd be okay with it, and everything doesn't have to be about me, anyway. He's still not so sure he's comfortable with the idea.

I resorted to writing a little note on a pretty card and sticking it in the bag he was taking to Canada, writing that I'd follow him to the ends of the Earth, starting with "our" little campground in Rhode Island. That's where the tent of my thoughts is pitched, for now.

Abby's ice cream poem

It's ice cream week for Abby in summer school, and one of their activities yesterday was to compose an acrostic poem. Here's Abby's:

I love ice cream
Chocolatey
Eat it at woods

Cone
Right flavor
Eat it in the sumer
Amazing food
My Mom likes vanila

***
Woods is the ice cream place we frequent when we're in Canada. And I do like vanilla.

Checking in

I haven't been writing here, and, for once, it's not because I have been writing elsewhere. There just hasn't been that much to write about.

Just about the only thing that's been new and interesting is that I played piano for one of the masses at church last weekend, instead of cantoring, and I'm going to play all five masses this weekend. The music director is on vacation and I offered to sub when he told me he hadn't found anyone to cover yet.

Last weekend's mass went okay; I played some wrong notes but held it together pretty well. This week's music is easier to play and I'm feeling pretty good about it, but the experience -- complete with performance anxiety -- has taught me that singing in public is much more comfortable for me than playing the piano.

Of course, this makes perfect sense, as singing is what I've spent a large part of my adult life doing, so it's really no surprise. I've been grateful for the opportunity to play, but the toll on my nerves is such that I don't think I'll be offering again any time soon. This weekend's masses will be okay, but I'll be glad to be behind the microphone again next week.

Music and movement

One of the best parts of my day is my time at the gym. Read about it in today's family column from the Patriot Ledger.

Sum-sum-summertime

Now this is more like it. Beautiful weather for several days running. Sunny, breezy, low humidity. I like it.

We were in Canada over the weekend, hosting my dear friend Kathleen and her family at la petite maison. It was so good to see her, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and her husband. Her sons played well with my three kids, and Kathleen and I had a chance for some girlfriend time, too.

Since we arrived home on Sunday evening, I've been playing catch-up: first with laundry, then I taught yesterday, then sang a funeral today and hosted a playdate for the boys. I've also been doing some brainstorming about work-related things, and that's taking some mental energy, too.


The big news in our household is that Splash went to that great fishbowl in the sky a couple of weeks ago. Poor Abby was just devastated. We knew Splash had been living on borrowed time; Santa brought him for Christmas 2007, and betta fish just don't live that long, usually.


With us going out of town, we held off on acquiring another fish until this week, when Earl took Abby to pick out another. Blueberry, as Abby christened the new fish, has taken up residence and is fitting right into family life. He is as brilliant blue as Splash was red, and has brought a smile to Abby's face again.

Funny how a happy Abby changes the whole vibe around here. It's sunshine in the house.

July 4th column

Here's yesterday's column, from The Patriot Ledger. The kids did much better this year at the Canada Day fireworks on Wednesday in Hatley, and our backyard sparklers on the 3rd.

Why the 3rd, you ask? Because we spent the evening of the 4th at the rodeo. The French Canadian rodeo, in the rain. Remind me to write about it sometime.