So, I went to bed relatively early last night, knowing that we were going to leave at 6:00 a.m. today to go to Baylor so that Chris could have a small basal cell carcinoma excised from his ear. I set two (2) alarms, and I don’t know if I heard neither of them or if neither of them sounded, but at about 5:52 a.m., I woke up and went into the bathroom where he was getting ready and told him I’d just woken up. He graciously told me that there was no need for me to go with him, that it would be too much trouble to wake Atticus and get him out so early. I appreciated that so much! I sort of feel like a crappy wife, but I have full confidence in this doctor and his staff, and he talked at the initial consult as if it would be a very quick and easy procedure. We would appreciate all your prayers, though, that this little bugger is an isolated incident and that Chris will be and remain -oma free! He laughed the other day, noting how whacked out my sleep pattern gets in the summer — it seems especially so this summer because I am not a nursing mother or going to graduate school, so I actually have a summer.  It’s nice, I won’t lie.

So, yesterday, to make sure I don’t get (characteristically) lazy and postpone the yard sale, I placed an ad on craigslist to hold me accountable.  Sometimes, I have to trick myself.  And it actually works, which sort of makes me sound like a total idiot.  But hey, whatever works, right?  I am pretty proud of ourselves so far this summer — we made a list of chores that we need to do on a regular (usually weekly) basis, we divided them up pretty democratically, and we have stuck to doing them.  I think I have mopped more in the past month than I had in the three years combined since moving into the house in October 2008.  That is not to say that my floor hasn’t been getting mopped — it’s just been my saint of a mother who has done it a LOT more than I have.  What would we do without her?  And other family, too?

(Short break for cup of coffee # 2).

I’m back.

So, as a result of becoming involved in the Forney Arts Council stuff, I’ve made a new friend, Christie, who has introduced me to Sunflower Farmers Market in Dallas — I’d heard of it, but I’d never taken the time to actually drive over there.  It’s on my side of Dallas (Ross & Henderson, just west of Greenville Avenue, and I love it!  They do this really cool thing where, unlike other grocery stores, they put their ad out on Wednesday, and it runs for a full 8 days!  So, every Wednesday, there are two weeks’ worth of sales in effect.  Guess what day I go?  They have their own in-store bakery, they have an in-house sushi chef, they grind and package their own sausages and beef (so no ammonia in the meat . . . you know how when you have a package of ground meat for a few days in your fridge, and you go to take it out, and it all of a sudden looks like the Goodyear Blimp . . . it’s the ammonia gas blowing it up . . . imagine what it’s doing to YOU!)  Their produce is so good, much of it locally grown, and they have TONS of gluten-free choices all over the store — specially labeled on the front of the shelf so you don’t have to dig and search.  A few weeks ago, red seedless grapes were on sale for .56 cents a POUND.  Of course, on the receipt, they show you your savings, and on my 2 bags of grapes alone, I saved nearly $17.00.  That, my friends, is worth a 25 minute drive.  I was picking out peaches a few weeks ago, and I had my back turned to my cart, and all of a sudden, I hear, “Ummmm . . . good!” and I turned around and Atticus had snatched himself up a Pluot and was 1/4 of the way through eating it!  I went to confess to the produce manager to see how I could pay for it, and he laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it . . . I hope he likes it.”  Atticus had juice running down both arms down into his shirt.  A few minutes later, we were in another part of the produce section, and the guy came and found me with three or four paper towels to clean the kid up.  What a hoot!

I am very excited to write again.  I am going to try and make myself do it, if not daily, at least every other day.  I feel like it brings a sense of balance to my life.  One that has been sorely lacking the past 3-4 years.

I think I rigged this thing up so people could leave comments using their Facebook login just to prevent folks from having to join another “thing” in order to comment.  Could be good, I think.

I find myself wishing that little boy would wake up so we can go take my “interview” dress to the cleaners.  I have an interview for a groovy-sounding job in the morning, and it’s the only suitable thing I have to wear.  I have now worn it three times:  1) for an interview 2) to graduate from UNT, and 3) for another interview.  Hmmmm.  Maybe it’s not such a lucky dress?  But no time and even less money to do anything about it, so they will just have to see it again.  Only this time, baggier.  I think I’ve lost about 8 pounds since wearing it the first time.  Maybe they’ll think I’m starving and just give me the job.

More later.