Leaving on a Jet Plane (Not)

As expected, my thoughts today are consumed with 'we would be heading to the airport; we would be boarding the plane; we would be winging our way towards our paradise'.  We're not.  I am sad about that. Then I feel immediately, completely, totally selfish and possibly the worst mom in the world for thinking like that.  We are where we need to be.

It's just that H. is so 'normal' in spite of the complete, train-wreck lack of normalcy we are living through. He doesn't technically need us....but he has another round of chemo on Tuesday.  He needs a ride to/from and some gentle encouragement during the hard few days after to take his meds and try to rest a bit.  Heck - if we could have timed it right, he could practically go with us for a few days...but oh well.

Fingers crossed we can make it to Playa in October.

B. arrived home Friday night and it's always a joy to see him.  The most fun part is watching Chloe slowly figure out that the person she is barking her head off about is her beloved human brother and then the two of them proceed to have an hour long love-fest.  Lots of cuddles and playing.  It's so fun.  She smiles from ear to ear for hours.

J. and I spent time outside yesterday - we are cleaning out the compost bin and inventorying items we will no longer compost.  The bio bin is full at the moment (J.'s been trimming trees, too) so when it's emptied on Tuesday, we will continue to clear out the 'old' not great compost and start over.  We took lawn chairs over to the grass area under the shady trees.  Even ran the heater a bit to take the chill off the pool.  Cleaning out the bin got me hot enough to take a dip in the pool.  We lazed around for a bit.  It wasn't beachy but it was fun.  More of that today -

I started juicing on Monday this week - make concoctions of lots of spinach; apples; cucumber; celery; nectarines.  It's delicious and surprisingly satisfying.  I'm not doing the 100% juice fast thing - I can't manage that...but drinking healthy juice for one or two meals a day leads to eating healthier pretty much most of the time.  [We had Taco Bell for dinner last night.  I know.  But it was quick, easy and inexpensive. And made H. happy.  B. was out and about so it was just the three of us....].

I was off on Friday and am off tomorrow as well....though lunching with a colleague tomorrow but that won't feel like work.  Then at work Tuesday and Wednesday and then off.  I'm excited about being off but a little worried 'cuz I feel sad being home vs. in another country.  I can't handle 18 days of sad.

J. and I are going to take a day trip up north - Lodi/Galt area and just look at new homes for the fun of it. I look at around at all this stuff and think 'how will we ever move all this stuff'.  Time to cull!  I'm sending my banjo off to a 17 year old son of a friend in Memphis.  Selling it on Ebay for pennies on the dollar doesn't give me joy - while blessing a young man who's obsessed with music and will enjoy it beyond words does. So off it goes - after a visit to our local music store to have new strings put on.

Today, I'm going to try to make a homemade pie crust and some berry cobblers to go with dinner.  I have no idea what dinner is going to be yet but I'll figure something out.  Maybe shrimp fettucine.