Category: Sunday Contentments

I have had a very long busy week, made even busier by the sudden realization at the last minute that I had a story that needed major proof-reading and correction yesterday, in time for a deadline today. Between that rewrite and producing next week’s episode of the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, I ended up spending most of the day in the office, working. I didn’t get to bed until around midnight, then woke up half-dead this morning. I was so foggy headed, I actually put the coffee grounds in the coffee maker before I put the filter in. Yeah, it was that kind of morning.

However, I did manage to get things turned around after that, and I’m now enjoying a nice Sunday afternoon. I’ve still got work to do, but it’s at a level I can handle and still get some time on the couch knitting and reading later today. With that in mind, here’s this Sunday’s contentments:

Running – I was a cadet in ROTC during college, and had to run at least 3 times a week in formation for four years straight. I hated it. I never ran before college, and I spent a lot of time in college yakking up my guts after going miles with my fellow cadets. It wasn’t until after college, when I was out on my own, that I discovered the joys of running. When I could run at my own pace, choose my own route, and not have to listen to someone scream at me to “Pick it up, cadet!!” I used to do a lot of running, prior to having the girls. Then after the third knee injury, I stopped. Running just hurt too much. Recently though, I’ve been getting back to it. Maybe it’s because I’ve been keeping up with my glucosamine supplements and physical therapy, but my knees no longer ache after going a couple of miles around the neighborhood. This morning, after my disaster with the coffee maker, I threw on my sweats and sneakers and headed out the door. The sky was a perfect Autumn blue, the weather was cool with a light breeze, and a few of the neighbors were out gardening. Perfect running conditions. I love it.

Reading – I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with my netbook most nights the past few weeks and do some serious reading. I know I’m staying up waaaaay to late, devouring horror stories and such, but I’m enjoying the hell out of myself. Drood by Dan Simmons is excellent, as was The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens. Once I get past this month, I’ll put up a list of recommended reads for October.

Time to myself – both girls are in school, and I’ve got most days to myself now. Yeah, I miss having the munchkins run around the house, screaming and giggling and generally tearing the place apart. But I’ve got plenty of ways to fill those hours. I’ve been catching up on e-mail and work, and can actually now look forward to starting work on some new projects, maybe even this week. It’s so amazing what I get done in the few hours I have to myself each day!

Swimming – this one goes right up there with running. I never did a lot of swimming until I realized it hurt too much to run. Then I really got into it. I didn’t go swimming this summer, not laps at the Y anyway, because I had my hands full with the girls. I went back to the pool for the first time on Friday. Since I didn’t have to drag anyone with me, I wasn’t restricted to the hours that the Y nursery is open. That meant at noon, when they’ve got the most swim lanes open for lap swim, I had a lane all to myself. Heck, I almost had the whole pool to myself! It was nice.

Getting published – sometime in the next week or so, I’ll have four short stories out from Logical Lust. These are the stories that I’ve been running this past month on the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast, and they include some of the best pieces I’ve ever written. I’m hoping more published work will mean more sales. Help a mother out and buy my books!

I think I’m going to leave it at that today. Princess is playing with the Wii right now, and Pixie is out shopping with the Hubster. I’ve got some artwork to finish – the cover art for my upcoming releases. I’m going to go play with my graphics programs now, and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. You have fun today, too!

I know, I’ve been a bad blogger. I haven’t posted here all week. All I can say is, I’ve been busier than usual. But now it’s Sunday, and I’m taking the afternoon to relax and chill. Here are this week’s contentments.

Football – I swear to God, I can’t stand the game. I spent way too much time in high school and college being forced to sit in the bleachers and watch a lot of football, and I loathed every minute of it. So it’s pretty ironic that I’d call it a contentment now. But! There’s always a but(t)… I married a man who really enjoys the game. Early in our marriage, he used to spend all day Sunday watching the games. He’s a Redskins fan and a Virginia Tech fan (we both graduated from Tech). I used to loathe those days, because I’d completely lose him. Then slowly, I discovered that if he was watching the game, I could do other things, like commandeer the dining room table to sew or make jewelry. Game days got to be lazy afternoons for both of us, and for certain games, we’d invite friends over and whip up a lot of comfort food. The men (usually) watched the game while the women (usually) made jewelry, worked on costumes, drew, etc. We got out of the habit of doing game day after Princess was born. Hubster said he just couldn’t justify spending hours in front of the TV when there was so much to do, and a baby to explore the world with. But I’ve been run ragged this summer, what with all the travel and work and getting the kids back to school, and I want a break. So I’ve re-instated Game Day. This afternoon, the Redskins play… someone. The Giants, maybe? I don’t care. It’s not the game itself I’m interested in. It’s the excuse to sit on the couch with my sketch pad and pens, or at the dining room table with my beads, and do something creative that isn’t work-related. Speaking of which, the next contentment is…

Beads – I’ve had to make a lot of trips to Virginia Beach the past few weeks, and there’s a Michael’s craft store down in the area I’ve been visiting. Since traffic coming back on that trip is always the suck, I decided one afternoon to stop in at Michael’s and pick up one or two items. Just one or two, mind you. Then I walked in the door and ran smack into the bed section and that was that. I found some really chunky orange nugget style beads that I just had to have. Then I found a pendant with a Tibetan Buddha on it. It was all in oranges and dark greens, and it just so perfectly matched the orange chunky things I had picked up, and oh! Look over there! Dark green glass beads, slightly marbled with orangy red, and several strings of various shades of green beads next to that, and… And I walked out of the store with enough beads to make a new necklace. A nice, chunky, ethnic style piece, very Tibetan in design. Tres cool! I haven’t been in a Michael’s in years, mainly because I couldn’t leisurely stroll through the place with two small children kicking each other all through the store. That day, I was on my own. I don’t think I’ll go back again for several months, though, because I’m so starved for new craft supplies, I think I’d go waaaaaaaaaay overboard.

School – School has finally started, and this year, Pixie is in preschool and Princess is in first grade. That means yours truly is on her own most of the day. I had one day last week when I wasn’t traveling to appointments, a day when I could stay home, and I was so frikkin’ amazed at how much stuff I got done! Tomorrow is Monday, I can stay home again, and I expect the day to be peaceful and productive.

Foooooooood – Yummy, yummy fooooooooood. For the game today, I made a big pot of chili, with rice and corn muffins. I’m salivating just thinking about it. I think I’ll grab myself something to eat as soon as I’m done here.

Fall weather – It’s no secret, and in fact I may have mentioned this last week or the week before, but I can’t stand summer weather. It’s too damn hot and sticky. The last couple of weeks have been just beautiful. Cool enough for jeans, and I love that.

New patio furniture – We’ve been in this house 14 years, and have only owned a couple of second hand plastic chairs and a tiny plastic table. Then last spring, one of the chairs collapsed under Hubster (and he is not a large man). It was obviously time for new patio furniture. Hubster waited until this weekend though, to get a nice set on sale. We’ve got six chairs and a nice long table. We can have guests and eat outside! WIN!

T-shirts – Threadless.com had a sale this week! I love Threadless t-shirts! I bought three. I can’t wait until they arrive. SQUEEEEEE!

Yeah, the entire list is pretty materialistic, but you know, sometimes simple things like t-shirts and craft supplies really do make the day brighter. The game is starting soon, so I’m going to get some chili. Have a very content Sunday, folks!

Well, my week has been a complete, COMPLETE train wreck. The whole family is massively off schedule, trying to cram in that last bit of summer fun before school starts on Tuesday. In addition to this, which would be enough madness in and of itself, I’ve got several doctor appointments right now. Nothing’s wrong, I just have something I need to see a specialist about, and it requires several trips, almost on an every-other-day basis. It does not help that the doctor I’m seeing is an hour’s drive from my home. Nor does it help that a few minor mis-communications have resulted in me having to return to the doctor’s office, or to a special pharmacy near the doctor’s office, twice in the same day. And it helps even less that the road I have to travel is notorious for traffic jams and cluster fucks galore. I’ve had two days this past week where I’ve done nothing but spend all day in the car, shutting back and forth from my house, to the doctor’s office or pharmacy.

Top this off with the story I’ve been trying to write this week, which I really wanted to have done before midnight last night so I could turn it into my critique group for the weekend. I blew my deadline by two hours, and at 2AM this morning, still didn’t have a good working draft. In times like these, there’s only one thing I can say, folks. FIDO: Fuck It, Drive On.

But enough of all that crap. Today’s blog post is about contentments, and yes, in spite of the upset and general disasterousness of my week, I do have a few things I can point to and say, “Yep, that gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling but good.” Here’s this week’s contentments:

Music – I don’t often listen to music these days, mainly because I’m not the kind of gal who can write while music is playing in the background. I prefer peace and quiet. I would listen to music in the car, but I’m not in my car that much these days, and rarely if ever make long trips. But we know I made a few this past week, don’t we! So what did I listen to? The soundtrack to River Dance, which always gets my spirit pumping, The soundtrack to Fellowship of the Ring (I LOVE that movie), ABBA Gold, and a mix CD the Hubster made for me aeons ago when we were just engaged. It was all good stuff, and it kept me humming along when I got stuck in traffic over and over and over again this week.

Kids – I got two of the little twerps, and they never cease to amaze me. I get the giggles just watching Pixie run around the house. She’s so in charge of whatever she’s doing. Meanwhile, Princess continues to delve into Egyptology with a vengeance. We spent this afternoon, after I returned from yet another trip to the doctor, drawing pictures of the artifacts she found in her excavation kit. She says she can’t draw. I explained she couldn’t draw perfectly. But she could draw well enough, and she’d get better with practice. She did quite good when she finally settled down.

Cuddling and tickling – nothing boosts my mood like a cuddle with the girls, or a long hug with the Hubster. I’ve been bitching all week because Hubster bought scented laundry detergent and now we all smell Spring Time Fresh! I can’t stand it. But today, either we all dug out pre-new detergent clothes or my nose has finally gone numb, because I could hold everyone without getting a massive headache. I’ve also had the opportunity this week to curl up with one child or the other for a nap or late morning snooze, and to chase after the kids and tickle the stuffings out of them. Their laughter is the best medicine ever. And Hubster? Nothing makes me happier than to spoon up behind him in bed, and know that I’m not going to get up until the kids roust us from delightful, golden sleep.

Books – there just so happens to be a Border’s near my doctor’s office. I got a coupon last night for 40% off, and had an appointment this morning. I decided to stop in and get myself something I wanted. My purchases included two birding books, The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (and it was on massive discount to boot!), and the latest installment of one of my favorite mangas, Bizenghast. I can haz reading material, LOL!

Birds – I’ve gone nuts lately, trying to figure out which species are visiting the bird feeders in our backyard. Ever since I put the squirrel baffle up, we had tons of birds show up. I checked out a birding book from the library, and of course, bought two new books today. I can finally tell a purple finch from a cardinal, and a gold finch from a black capped chickadee. We’ve even got a tufted titmouse showing up, plus several others I can’t quite pin down yet. And we’ve got two regular visitors to the humming bird feeder, a male and a female ruby throat. I never in my life would have guessed I’d be so entertained standing at my dining room window and watching the birds zip in and out of our yard. I have truly gone round the bend.

Manga – as I’ve mentioned, I picked up the latest installment of Bizenghast. If you haven’t heard of it before, it’s an OEL (original English language) manga, drawn by M. Alice LeGrow. The art is very spooky, delicate and gothic, and the story is bizarre. Right up my alley, of course. I’ve been waiting for this book for a while, and I’m delighted I found it today.

My lousy first draft of my story – hands down, a lousy first draft beats no draft at all when it comes to writing. I was pissed as hell last night when I blew my deadline, but there was nothing for it. Then I dreamt all last night about the subjects I was writing about – Lovecraft, nuclear bomb tests, and mermaids (are you intrigued yet?). This morning, bits and pieces of narrative have been filtering through my brain. I haven’t caught all of them on paper yet, but I did get some key ones down in my notebook while I was waiting in the doctor’s office. I think I’ll be able to finish this story soon, AND I’ve got ideas for four more to write for next month’s podcast. I hope you guys like horror };)

Finally, the weather – I loathe summer. Really, I despise hot sticky weather, and the clothing that goes with it. I much prefer cool autumn days where I can wear jeans and a light sweater or jacket. All my favorite clothing is fall clothing. It’s still summer, but the weather this past week has been so cool and nice, I’ve been able to break out my beloved jeans and enjoy. It’s a very simple thing, but I love this weather. Love, love, love it!

And that’s the contentments for this Sunday. I’ve got a story to work on, and hopefully finish, today, plus more blog posts to plan for the rest of this week. Hope you all are doing well, and have a contented Sunday.

I had a lousy day yesterday, filled with temper tantrums and howling and pouting. All on my part, that is, not the kids. I think three weeks of travel and visiting family and having no time for myself finally got to me, and like an over-tired tot, I finally had a melt-down.

But that was yesterday, and this is today. It’s Sunday, the Hubster has headed out with the girls, and I have the house to myself. It’s my first time alone, truly alone, in over three weeks. Let’s think about what’s got me feeling all warm and fuzzy today.

Early morning writing – I’ve been busting ass on a story the last two weeks, churning out 1-2K words at a sitting. This morning, I finally wrote the last words and finished the tale. It’s a good story, a funny story, and a good feeling to be done. Now I can get on with that horror story I need to finish by next Saturday.

Squirrel baffles and bird feeders – we finally got a squirrel baffle while my parents were here (they came to visit for two weeks, showed up right as we pulled into our driveway after getting back from Chicago!). This was a necessity, because one of the local squirrels, whom I have dubbed Lardo the Big-Butted Squirrel, has been wiping out the bird feeder every time we fill it. Since I also noticed a couple of humming birds buzzing around the rosemary bush in our backyard, I bought a humming bird feeder too. Since setting up these items in our backyard, we’ve seen gold finches, purple finches, cardinals, and what may be a Smith’s Longspur, although this isn’t the right range for it, so I’m probably wrong. We’ve also seen both a male and female ruby-throated humming bird. The girls get very excited seeing these birds, and I have a feeling we may end up buying a bird watching book before too long.

Spiders, cicadas and other creepy crawlies – yes, I am all about the Nature thing today! Earlier this week, while I was weeding the backyard, the girls found 16 cicada skins, plus bits of broken butterfly wings. I’ve saved them all, in hopes of photographing them, and maybe preserving them somehow. As for the spider, we’ve got a gorgeous yellow and black one that’s woven a giant web along our covered porch. We call her Shelob, and everyday I go out to see what she’s caught in her web. Again, the girls are fascinated (though Pixie is a bit creeped out by the sheer size of Shelob). The more interested the girls get in nature, the happier I am.

Shelob, with dinner

Tomatoes from my garden – I haven’t got a lot of tomatoes growing, but I do have a few. Today, I made a sandwich with sliced tomato from my garden. It was GOOD.

Homemade bread – let’s hear it for bread machines!! I’ve got a loaf of honey mustard wheat bread going in the machine downstairs right this minute. It’s going to be good!

Home made soup – also cooking downstairs, in the crockpot. It’s vegetable, with a few things thrown in from the garden. I love it.

Irish Breakfast tea – my mom picked me up a cannister in Busch Gardens, of all places, in the Irish section of the park. I can’t recall the brand, but it’s very good, and has been the kick in the pants I’ve needed the last few days or so.

Knitting – Mich got me started on knitting, saying that if I could teach Princess, she might learn to concentrate better at school. Princess has done some knitting, and enjoys it, but I’ve since become addicted. How addicted, you ask? On Thursday evening, I started work on a pair of wrist warmers for myself. By Saturday evening they were done. Damn that was fast! What can I make next?

My fancy new wrist warmers!

Tamarind soda – I don’t know where Hubster got it from, but it’s “Hecho en Mexico!” so you know it’s good.

Books – thanks to my mom, I am stocked up on books for the next couple of months. I’ve got “Age of Wonder,” a look at the time of scientific discovery and exploration prior to the Industrial Revolution. I’ve also got “Of Bees and Mist” and a few other choice goodies. The girls got a number of non-fiction books, including some of the Eye Witness books, which I love. We have plenty to read this fall.

E-books – to add to my joy, Barnes and Noble is selling e-books at prices competitive to Amazon.com, and their e-books don’t require you to buy a proprietary device! I have a netbook. I love my netbook. I can type on it, blog with it, write with it, handle e-mail with it, surf the net with it, and now I can read the latest best sellers with it at a price I can afford (Fictionwise.com is also a good place to buy e-books, if you’re interested). Between Barnes and Noble and my mom, I’ve done more reading in the past month than I’ve done all year! WIN!!

Egyptology – Princess was fascinated with the Egyptian mummies we saw at the Field Museum in Chicago, so we bought her an excavation kit in the museum’s gift shop. She started work on it last Monday, and have so far gotten a small plastic sarcophagus, various trinkets, and a Bast figurine. Some of the books my mom bought for her included an Eye Witness book of Egypt, and Princess spent an entire afternoon sitting with her grandfather, listening to him tell stories of when he lived in Egypt as a boy. We’ve also been recording shows about Egypt on the Discovery Channel, which Princess watched with rapt attention. And now I discover that one of our local museums will be hosting a traveling exhibit on Egyptian mummies and other treasures later this fall. I cannot tell you how happy I am to see my girl take such an interest in something like this, something that has nothing to do with Hannah Montana, makeup, Disney Princess, or other contemporary girl things that drive me nuts.

The archaeologist hard at work with her loyal assistant.

Naps – I’ve had a long couple of weeks, and a few times, I’ve just had to lay down and doze. I love that pleasant, sleepy feeling I get when I pull my favorite afghan over me in the middle of the day and drift off. In fact, I think I ought to take a nap right now…

It’s about 9:45AM this Sunday. Hubster has taken off with the kids for Busch Gardens. I can’t stand Busch Gardens — I worked there for two summers and have more bad memories than I can count about that place — but I feel sort of wrong about not being there with them right now. It’s a family thing, and I’ve elected to stay behind. Not without reason though. We leave for Chicago in a week, and I’ve got a ton of work to get done between now and then. So rather than indulge my sense of bad-mama-guilt all morning, let’s look at the good things in life instead. Here’s this Sunday’s list of Contentments:

Making the conscious decision to sleep late. I try to get up at 5AM most mornings, and I hate it when I over sleep. But ya know, sometimes I could use a few extra hours of shut eye. I decided last night that I would sleep in this morning, until around 8AM. I even made it part of my schedule for the day, working the rest of my to-do list around it. It felt really good.

Waking up to a two-kid pile on. Both girls got up a few minutes before I did and climbed into bed on top of me to lay down again. We were snug, cozy, and content. This must be what it feels like to be at the center of the puppy pile — sheer bliss.

Waking up to breakfast already made. Before I hit the hay last night, I set up my slow cooker with a breakfast casserole — eggs, ham, bread, cheese, potatoes, etc. I also programmed the coffeemaker, something I haven’t done in ages. Breakfast was nice and hot and waiting when I came downstairs. That’s a huge WIN!

As always, a good cup of joe. I’m on my second cup right now, sipping it while I sit on the back deck and type. Eight O’clock coffee, in my favorite yellow flower mug, given to me by one of my best friends. I love it.

Dinner out. Earlier this week, Hubster suggested we go out to dinner. I seriously turned around and asked him, “OK, who the hell are you and what did you do with my real husband?!” That’s how infrequently we go out to dinner. We ate at the Castle, a wonderful little place that serves the best Greek food I’ve ever had. I had moussaka and spanikopita and some gyro meat. I could have died happy that evening.

Leftovers!! The meal at the Castle was big enough I had to take some of it home. Had enough for lunch and dinner the next day. Then yesterday, a good friend brought over homemade Pad Thai. We’ve still got some sitting in the fridge. AND there’s a ton of the breakfast casserole sitting in the fridge to eat the rest of this week!

My favorite pair of jeans. I pulled on my favorite pair of jeans yesterday. They’re snug, hugging me tighter than my own mother, but they’re still comfortable and I look damn good in them. I paired them with one of my favorite shirts, a grey and white striped snug fitting polo. I love my favorite outfits, and I love that they fit good. I have a hard time finding clothes that fit right, given that I’m sway-backed.

Body weight, shmody weight. The scale and Wii Fit both agree I’m putting on the pounds, but the mirror and the Hubster (and my favorite pair of jeans) tell me I look good. I think I’m at that age where weight loss is an elusive holy grail. I should be more concerned about making sure I exercise and eat right so that I feel good, and maybe worry not so much about the weight anymore. So long as those jeans fit…

Karate class with my favorite instructor. I go to class twice a week, each class lasting two hours or longer. It’s pretty grueling, and I walk out of there completely sweat soaked. But I don’t mind the hard work so much when my favorite instructor is there. He connects with karate at a much deeper level than anyone else I’ve ever seen, and he’s not stingy about sharing what he knows. I always come out of his class knowing I’ve learned something.

Knees that work. Hell, a body that works! I’ve started doing my physical therapy again, and my knees feel better for it. They’re not completely pain-free yet, but I know if I keep up with the therapy, I’ll be doing much better. Just like if I keep up with the exercise, I’ll feel good in spite of not losing those few extra pounds. What matters is that I can move and play and do the things I want to do.

There’s a ton of other contentments I could list for today, like the comfy beach chair I’m sitting in or the knitting I’m doing now, but I think I’ll sign off with one last item. Kissing the Hubster. It doesn’t even have to be a big lip lock, tongue tangle sort of thing. Just being able to come up behind him, wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face in his neck is enough to make my day a good one.

And with that,. I think I’ll go enjoy my morning to myself. Have a content kind of day.

Thinking more today about things that make me content. It’s 1:30 PM right now, and I’ve had an extremely productive, yet relaxing, Sunday so far. Here’s what’s made my day full of contentment.

• Getting up at the crack of dawn and having the house to myself
• Working in peace and quiet
• Finishing a project early
• Working out without interuptions
• DDR
• Wii Fit yoga
• Sleeping babies (especially when they’re so chubby and cute!)

  

• A cup of coffee, eggs on toast, and a fresh peach for breakfast
• Clean laundry
• Clean house
• Time to read the Sunday newspaper
• An afternoon free to do a little light work
• An evening of dinner and conversations with good friends
• Time to knit (I’m working on a belt now!)
• Books to read
• A cup of hot Darjeeling tea

It really doesn’t take much to make me happy. Just a quiet life at a pace I can handle. I’ve been up since 5AM this morning, gotten in my workout and housecleaning, and I’ll probably sleep like a rock tonight. And it’s all good.

What do you want out of life? Where do you find your contentment?

I’m a Zen Buddhist, a very slacker Zen Buddhist, so I don’t head off to church on Sunday mornings.  I let my husband do that, and he takes the Princess with him.  Pixie stays home with me and plays quietly while I putter around.  So far this morning I have…

Recorded and done some production work on the next episode of the Heat Flash podcast.

Gone back to bed.

Had breakfast with the kids while Michael showered.

Read the Sunday funnies while I took a bath.  My local newspaper finally pulled it’s journalistic head out of its ass and began running “Opus” again starting this week.  However, one folded page of comics is still far too few.

Got dressed.

Made coffee.

Started reading blog feeds.  I’m reeeeeeeally behind on that.

So it’s just a quiet Sunday morning.  I’ve got my cup of joe, my laptop and the Pixie.  When Michael and the Princess get home, I think I’ll make a soft boiled egg and toast and then get ready to head to the library for the afternoon.  It finally feels like autumn around here and I can’t wait to get to the sanctuary of the library to do some work.

I’m loving Sunday.