A Vicious Cycle

Ugh...I really dislike blogging droughts, because for me, the longer I go without writing, the harder it becomes for me to actually sit down and write. Then the day comes along where I remind myself that I only keep this blog to remember what is going on in my life and it suddenly becomes appealing again. I am just not a pressure girl...if I feel the slightest bit of pressure to do something, then I don't want to do it anymore. Mind you, my blogging pressure is 100% self-imposed, but anyway, here I am.

One of my big problems is that I feel like I have at least one picture in order to write. I'm going to try to get over that and see if I can actually produce more writing.

Another problem I am currently facing is that I am getting that message from my laptop that says, "although your battery can still charge normally, it is reaching the end of its usable life". In other words, one day soon I go to turn on my laptop and it will be dead. I have already decided No More Batteries for this sucker...they are soooo expensive and I have already been through three. So then it will be back to a 9-year-old desktop that doesn't like to blog so much.

In September, I got a Smart phone. This keeps me from even turning my laptop on, most of the time. I can quickly check email and news on it and get on with my life. So it has cut way back on my computer time, which isn't a bad thing, y'all.

Life is BUSY. After two months of relaxation and reintegration, Steve headed back to work in mid-November. This was the point in which I had some adjusting to do. I will tell you that the first week was very hard for me! It took some getting use to. I am happy to say that we are now officially back into our old groove of family life and it feels good. That being said, any spare time is consumed with karate, Cub Scouts, homework, gymnastics, and the like. But it is all good.

So, here I am, playing Russian Roulette with my laptop. Here's hoping this battery will hang on for a couple more weeks, since I am feeling a renewed sense of creativity and all. As for now, my coffee cup is empty, which means it is time to wake up some little boys and get this day in motion.

Kitchen Therapy

Butter makes everything better.

Oh goodness, my heart has been heavy these past few days. It seems my mind has been bogged down with worries that are fruitless, and situations that feel to be beyond my control. I do wish that I had that ability to look at something, place it into the appropriate compartment, and move on, but alas, I am not that good at it - - never have been. All I can do is keep trying, I suppose.

In the meantime, whenever I am feeling out-of-sorts, a bit of time in the kitchen is usually just what I need to feel like me again. I love to cook, and I love to feed people - - it makes me happy. So, this past Sunday morning, while all of my boys were otherwise occupied, I holed up in my yellow kitchen and turned a bunch of ingredients into food for my family. I made honey wheat bread. I made rosemary bread. I filled my crock pot, and set some beef stew simmering. Best of all? After ten years of marriage, I'm happy to report that I finally cracked the code to the perfect apple streusel pie, as declared by Steve on Sunday evening. The apples were soft, but not too soft. The pie sliced perfectly, with no runny mess left in the pie plate. Pie nirvana, I tell you.

Music is always an important part of a kitchen marathon. I am all over the place in that area - - I like a little bit of everything. Through the sifting, dicing, slicing, and kneading, I listened to Nora Jones, Jessie Colter, Margaret Whiting, Doris Day, Pink, Miranda Lambert, George Jones, and Justin Timberlake. See? All over the place.

When all was said and done, I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders, somehow.

What do you do, when you need to reset your frame-of-mind?