feeling rather accomplished today....

Aim low and you'll never be disapointed, that's what I jokingly tell my kids. I had an invisible To-Do list this fine morning...this fine morning which started a bit too early for my liking. Paul forgot I didn't have to get up with the kids. It was a half hour later than I usually roll out of the comfy bed, so he shook me quite insistently, wondering why I was not up...he was very sorry when I so nicely reminded him I didn't have to get up. Not sorry enough to be super quiet as I tried in vain to fall back into that yummy sleep....naw, he was rumpling through a bag for something, ugh. Then my stupid brain started ticking...oh, the things I had to do! Nothing earthshatteringly important, just enough things to make me decide to just get up...

I walked my mile with Suri. One thing crossed off the mental list.

Got the turkey breast into the oven by 9 a.m.....

Washed a load of socks and a load of darks. To be fair, this wasn't on my Dang I Should Get Up List, but it needed doing.

Swept the floor. Not on list either.

Filled and ran the dishwasher. Not on list.

Picked up the car I dropped off yesterday for a state inspection.

Worked out. Definitely on list!

Took a shower and washed my long tangly hair.

Phew. Then Emily texted and invited us to go walking on a local nature preserve.

Yes! She said, "I am the Good Idea Maker", which is an expression from when my little brother Casey and I were little.

She was certainly the Good Idea Maker, because it was just plain fun. Emily, Samuel, Kathryn, Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, Camille, Suri-The-Dog and I...it was lovely in the woods. Suri got to run free, and thankfully she stayed with us nicely. We saw a few snakes and some butterflies, and a huge turkey buzzard. We saw a huge rock commomerating the park and remembering the place which housed German prisoners of war during WWII.

We walked too far, then had to turn around and walk back. Camille got a few piggy-back rides. Suri is still pooped out! She is snoring on the kitchen floor.

Turkey breast, a light yogurt, and a cup of afternoon coffee while I sneak in some computer time...then it is ready to get ready to go to the Dome!!! Never a dull moment, but life is good. As I drove home from the garage this morning all by myself, I had a rare five or six minutes to think....and I mulled the fact that for all intents and purposes, my life is more than half over. If I were so lucky to live another thirty years....thirty years! That's nothing! Thirty years ago I was seventeen, and it seems like five or ten years ago!

Then I thought how good my life is. I am in no hurry for it to pass by. I enjoy my days, enjoy my kids, and my biggest longing in life is simply to be good. Obviously that is encompassed by being faithful to God.

It's funny because my kids are growing up, life is simpler, I am not as frazzled. But there are still messes. Kids who cook. My puppy eats her food too fast sometimes and yarks all over the floor, and this morning one of the kitties didn't make it outside, I think he was afraid to go past Suri, so he pooped on the floor, yuck. Suri didn't make any messes during the night though, so I can't complain.

Well, I have to go braid my hair and get ready to go to the Dome...