Really?

12 days?

Seriously?

huh.

Well, since I (don't really) have some time

I thought I'd do some random talking.

And to make up for the lack of insight into my

oh-so-interesting-life

I give you

22 Random Thoughts

on the 22nd:

1. The picture is of my sister-in-law. She's married to my brother. She cracks me up. She was doing the holiday cooking last Memorial Day when we all gathered at Mom's house. I really enjoy her!

2. I can feel Autumn in the air. I'm not ready for that.

3. We had a great family week at Snowbird last week but I was on the road a lot with Sam so it wasn't as relaxing as it usually is. That's kind of a bummer.

4. I spent 12 hours deep-cleaning the laundry room yesterday. I filled a garbage can and have 3 big bags of clothes and a box of stuff for donation. It feels good to have that done.

5. I'm in a big cleaning kick but I don't have very much time to do what needs doing.

6. This summer went by wa-a-a-a-ay too fast.

7. The above picture of Malinda has nothing to do with anything. I just really like it because she cracks me up.

8. I know I can come up with 22 things, but they may not interest you.

9. Nick and Sam are moving home this week for a little bit. They have some debt to us that they need to work off. I think it's honorable that they are going to pay it off by doing some pretty major work around here.

10. It is going to be strange to have 2 more kids home for a few months. I was just getting adjusted to cooking for fewer people and now I need to adjust back up.

11. School starts around here in a couple of days. Abbie is excited to start her public school experience. She's going to take choir and orchestra (violin).

12. Abbie wants me to take her shopping tomorrow to get a new outfit for school. School shopping.

13. Somehow I scratched a mosquito bite on my wrist and it was been bleeding and I didn't know it until I noticed blood all over the corner of my laptop where my wrist rests. It is still bleeding.

14. We had an amazing summer and I'm going to enjoy documenting it in some form or another. Our unplanned trip to Yellowstone was really wonderful.

15. I had to have Doug do an intervention with me yesterday when I was cleaning the laundry room. I had to have him tell me it was okay to get rid of a set of curtains that I'd made for my bedroom in my first apartment after graduation from college and having my first real job. Then those curtains were used in Nico's (that's what we called Nick when he was small) room when he was born. Then I used them in Abbie's room until just a few months ago when we re-did her room. I had a lot of sentiment tied up in those curtains and Doug had to talk me through the letting-go thing. I cried a few tears.

16. I guess those curtains sort of represented some really good times in my life. Before life became so complicated. And I yearned for that simplicity, I guess.

17. Another sister-in-law called us on Friday when we were leaving Snowbird to tell me she was at a store and had a 50% off everything in the store coupon and was buying Cricut machines for her married daughters and did I want one? She actually talked to Doug and he actually has been teasing me for a few years about getting one of these. So I met up with her and I did buy one, and some cartridges.

18. I haven't been able to bring myself to learn how to use the Cricut. It seems so complicated and I don't have the brain power right now. I did take it out of the box. Actually, Abbie did. She is really excited about it. I'm supposed to be reading the book right now to learn how to use it. I'm sure I'll use it a lot once I know how.

19. There are so many books and articles that I want to read. We cancelled our satellite a few months ago because it just needed to happen, but I don't find that I have that much more time for reading. I didn't really watch that much TV, so I guess I wouldn't necessarily have any extra time. But I do love to read and I need to make it more of a priority.

20. We've been eating tomatoes and squash from our garden for a month. And strawberries and raspberries. We haven't been home a lot so the garden has kind of suffered, Not everything has survived the summer.

21. I have a to-do list that keeps growing. Why does that have to be so?

22. If Autumn is just around the corner, then Winter is just around the corner and down the block. I am so not looking forward to another one of our Arctic winters. The older I get the less I enjoy the cold. That could also have something to do with my thyroid.

Well, I may or may not be better about posting. Hopefully life will settle down now that school is starting and we won't be going somewhere every other week.

But I tell you what: it has been a great summer!