What HAVE I been doing?

Every day feels packed with activity, but when I look back and reflect on what I have done the past month....umm.....what?

Plus Hightouch blogs the list with such linguistic proficiency, I thought I'd just do the list, because you know, it's a list.

1.     So I guess I've been working on a novel, off and on, for almost 2 months and I haven't yet reached the 50,000 word mark, but, hey, I'm giving myself...more time.

2.     We went to Boulder, Utah for the long weekend (remember that long weekend?). We stayed at Boulder Mountain Ranch (highly recommended), went to our favorite coffee place (Kiva Koffeehouse), saw some slot canyons (I'm too much of a baby (claustrophobic) to actually go in them, but most others did), ate some bacon, went to an architect's cool house & had ribs (yum!!), did a hike, then drove home in a rain/hail storm (what?!).

3.     Reading: a disappointing Icelandic mystery (not by my beloved), a few good books (Rae's new book; I Think I Love You; Ross MacDonald; Box of Matches); the newspaper, etc.

4.     Eating and Drinking: I like wine and I think summer is made for drinking.

5.     Started an eating/exercising challenge:  because I thought I needed to start drinking less and doing other things more, like taking daily walks, stretching, and making sure I ate enough. So far, mixed results. I probably do drink less, over all, but on a few days I still drank a lot (I blame my wine friends), and I can never quite eat the right amount of blocks (Zone alert!). But, I have been pretty active and I am stretching...more.

6.     Started running again: two runs. That's a start.

7.     Had my body fat tested. Ask me what my body fat percentage is. Go ahead, ask me.

8.     Crossfit. This goes without saying. 

9.     Submitted one essay to one place. Again, it's a start.

10. Hey, I finally organized the Crossfit Women Trainers get together. That's something.

11. I did some (very little!) yard work.

12. I've cleaned my house a gajillion times for people who want to come look at our house, which is for sale.

13. Finally trying to do some personal maintenance: brows. Today a haircut, tomorrow a pedicure. Progress!

14. Swimming: once, but still.

15. Independent study with 3 students: this is only one hour a week, but still, somehow, it feels like more.

16. Staring into space: I'm good at this.

17. Ushering Son through his last days of school: this seems like it would be easy, but involved a lot more driving around than expected.

18. Baseball: Son has like 12 games a week (exaggeration!) plus practice, so I have to sit and talk to my friends while he makes excellent plays at first (go Son!), which is, you know, super taxing.

19. Cooking things that really take no cooking: like carrot sticks and tuna.

20. I saw a movie!

21. I told Son he could have a sleepover, so now I'm preparing for that: buying lots of vodka for self-medication.  

Hello Summer!

Summer offically starts now, since Son is out of school, the sun is shining, the roses are blooming, and, oh, etc!
What do I love about summer?

• swimming outdoors
• Farmer's market
• Camping
• Drinking coffee while camping
• Smell of campfire
• Warm sleeping bags
• When someone else gets up and makes the coffee
• Hiking
• Trail running
• Lakes at the end of hikes
• Any food consumed at the end of a hike
• Chilled wine
• Our anniversary
• Sedona 
• Island Park
• Idaho
• Salad
• Fresh fruit and vegetables
• Homemade salsa
• Market dinners
• tomatoes & basil
• BLTs
• Cucumber salad
• Pimms
• Any kind of drink in the backyard
• Iced tea
• Red Butte Garden concerts
• Sitting on a blanket in the grass 
• cool mornings
• cool evenings
• evening walks with the family
• casual bike rides around the hood (especially when they end with gelato)
• music
• the pool
• Son reading in his bed
• lazy days

Okay, maybe that's enough for now. What did I forget? 

If This is Summer, I Must be Happy

What is going on? Absolutely nothing!
My daily schedule includes cooking meat (three kinds today, oh wait, make that 4), eating, working out (two times), trying to submit writing (on-line) and only submitting two things before deciding that it's hard and time consuming, culling through books and dividing them into piles: give away, home office, school office and What book is this? Who brought this into the house?
Also: cleaning the tub (isn't that someone else's job?), worrying (definitely my job) and trying not to obsess (about selling the house, not writing, running).
I somewhat successfully freed my run by running without music or a watch. I had a sort of route which went to a friend's place of work (running store) and back in a kind of loop that I thought was probably about 3 miles. It was more and I know this because though I "freed" my run from accessories I can't not know what I ran even if I don't know how long it took me. So I mapped it. But it was mostly free from obsession, so that's good.
As I was trying to submit stuff on-line I thought: who will even read it, even if one of these places takes it? It was my stab at not caring, because I forget to submit stuff. I don't think I've submitted stuff since the fall.
But it's sunny! Welcome summer! Please stay for more than one day!

2009: Summer

Here's a picture from one of the highlights of June: The Wasatch Back. This is my colleague, the lovely and amazing Marianne, who runs faster than she has a right to.

This is the summer in reverse order, but whatever. This one is from August when we went to Arizona. Here we are with Nik.The other reason we went to AZ was to visit family and stay in Sedona. Gorgeous!
Remember this project: folly! Here I am digging and cursing.
My handsome boys at MB's best friend's wedding. Fun trip to CA.

Recent Obsessions

1. Robyn: Swedish pop star. Why? Unknown. I heard about her on Fresh Air, and then I downloaded her music for running. My favorite is "Be Mine!" She swears a lot. As in "I should have seen it comin'/ I should have F*@%in' known." But somehow it's more powerful when I'm sitting on the couch, drinking white wine, surfing the net while Son plays with the neighbors.
2. Bald Men: Is it just me getting older or are bald men getting sexier? Or is that sexy men are getting balder? Witness one Michael Chiklis, who has been sexy for awhile. Bruce Willis is sexy when bald. But isn't he just sexy? (Don't think about his politics! which may be suspect!) I know there are others, but mind has just gone blank. I'll get back to you on this one.
   
3. Wasatch Back Relay: Why the fuck am I doing this? Okay, I know why. Because one agrees to be part of a team, and then one has to. I haven't been training enough and I've been drinking too much wine and eating too much, but what the hell. I'll finish. I know I will, because I have to, and, if nothing else, I have a strong sense of obligation. And also, I have learned in the years I have been me, I'm mentally strong even if I am weak of the flesh.
   
4. My unwritten novel: I think I'll write a book called The Novel I'm Not Writing. Then at least I'd be writing. But Sleepy E is in town, and he of the hypographia gave me a bit of a pep talk (spurred on by Middlebrow). I also got some inspiration from Walter Mosley's book This Year You Write Your Novel. In general, I just need someone to tell me, with infuriating regularity, You can do it. Just do it, you stupid fuckhead. But maybe in a nicer way.
   
5. Chris Noth: this picture. Enough said.
6. Plot: I like mysteries. I want to write a lyrical novel. Who the fuck am I? And why am I swearing so much?
   
7. Other people's sex lives: Do other people have more sex than me? Probably. Do they also have house cleaners and no children or at least nannies and are they having sex with the nanny? Maybe. Are they less neurotic about their non-wage earning "work"? Definitely. Let the dust bunnies reproduce. I'm in the basement "writing."
8. Writing: is the same as number 4? Yes. See number 7 under neurotic.
   
9. Not deserving all the wonderful great fantastic awesome gifts of the universe: do I need to go to therapy again? I haven't got time! See number 7.
   
10. Summer: hiking. going to the pool. not writing. Whatever. It's summer!
    

...and Done!

I submitted my grades this morning. Let the flurry of student emails reading "D??" begin. Sigh.
And so begin my ambitious summer plans. So far I've dusted under the bed and the dressers and mopped one-fourth of the bedroom. I wiped down the door and door frame. I subtracted all the transactions from our checking account. I'm listening to the new KRCL. I'm trying to get rid of T-shirts I haven't worn in the last year. Why does that seem so hard? I'm also looking for new storage options for my shoes. It's probably time to mop another part of the bedroom (trying to clean the floor without moving the bed into the hallway, which would involve taking it apart. Just not worth it). I may dust the dresser, but then I have to go swim in order to recover from my weekend which involved standing in one place for 5-ish hours and running 10 miles (half up hill!). And my arm hurts.
Watched "Juno" finally. Loved it!

Back to What?

I know. We can't fight it. It's coming. At least it's not a Monday. We have that to be thankful for. I have finished my syllabi, I have found two new articles, I have selected a movie. I have received the obligatory before school emails from pre-panicked students, and one from the distant past who wants to come discuss his grade. What? They never cease to amaze me, those wily students.
I still have not made pie this summer, but I may do that tomorrow. I still have to find a recipe.
Oh, back to school. It sends me into a "what did I accomplish this summer?" panic. I didn't finish my novel, but on the plus side, MB and I took Gus on a hike yesterday. We went on a picnic with Son this week. I'm (pretty much) back on the running/swimming schedule. I picked up my dry cleaning. What more can I expect?

If it swims, grill it!

When I worked at a summer camp the year after I finished college, I became good friends with the lifeguard. She and I would take nightly trips into the closest grocery store for ice cream and double dipped chocolate peanuts.
Once, we wandered back to the seafood department where we found and stole a sign that proclaimed, "If It Swims, Grill It!" She kept this sign inside the pool shed. I like to think it was a warning to wayward campers.
It seems appropriate this week, as MB and I have finally become the proud owners of our first grill. It was no easy process, acquiring this grill. We had to go to no less than three stores. We waited at the second for them to tell us that they didn't actually have the grill we wanted in stock. Off to store three, where we obtained the grill in no time flat.
Then the real fun began. I should have taken pictures of what I like to call "Assembly for Humanities Majors." Every instance of confusion was seized upon by MB as both an example for him to share with his classes AND as the epitome of bad technical writing. For us, what the box proclaimed was a grill that "assembles in minutes!" became a one hour plus extravaganza of trying to figure out the difference between a 20 1/4 X something screw and some other screw that looked exactly like it only was thicker and shorter. Whatever. Luckily we had plenty of beer and hard lemonade on hand to assist us.
To christen our grill, we had tuna.
Tonight we had friends who moved away (to Nebraska) and who are back for a short visit over. I took the opportunity to make something new. Lamb burgers with apricot salsa using a recipe from Bon Appetit. I've never made anything from that magazine before, because it usually looks too complicated or has tons of cream or cheese. But I highly recommend this. I made the salsa using apricots from our beloved Farmer's Market. I ate one this morning. It was delicious. The salsa also had red onion, roasted red peppers, pistachios and mint. It was a hit!
Our friends brought over their son who is Son's age. They also have twins who are about 17 months. They are incredibly adorable and surprisingly low maintainence. They just kind of hung out and walked around. Even Gus was good. Big fun all around.
I might post pictures of MB manning the grill eventually. But we expect to eat a good portion of our meals outdoor and straight from the grill.
*As a side note, while looking for a grill we found a stylish outdoor bar complete with bar stools and umbrella. That's going on the wish list.

New Strip

Let the Summer Writing Begin

Today was offically the first day of Summer Writing, wherein Dr. Write gets the mornings (until noon, I suppose) and Middlebrow the afternoons (when do they end? Unknown). The bonus is that Son is still in school until the end of the month. So Monday through Thursday we both get afternoons.
I have signed Son up for an ungodly amount of camps: language camp, swimming lessons, bug camp and weather camp. And that's just June!
I am hoping that I can finish a draft of my second novel. (the first, of course, remains fragmentary and incomplete)
In July we will travel to Washington state for some vacation. But we have vowed not to let some ideal of a "balanced life" interfere with writing. Meaning: no good intentions in regards to camping, gardening, socializing. Maybe some hiking. That's as far as we'll go.
So, my goal is a chapter (25 pages) a week. That means five pages a day, with weekends to catch up if I fall behind. I hope I can keep it up!!
Today: word count 1,665. So far, so good.