spt

one of my favorite signs of fall in my house is my collection of Martha Stewart Living hallowe'en issues. every year i put them ceremoniously on my coffee table, to be lovingly thumbed through while drinking coffee in the mornings.



it's definitely a Good Thing.

what once was lost...

...has now been found!

somehow, this past weekend, i managed to find it!! that one thing that has been eluding me for oh, so many months now. TIME!! i found TIME to do fun stuff!! (it's amazing how much time you can lose working 6 days a week for 4 months).

here is a sample of some of the fun stuff i did:


yummy, yummy bars from a recipe i snagged over at momentary madness. i swear, amy s is my new rachel ray!

fun youth day with hours and hours of free bouncing castles. got to sell a lot of hotdogs, with the profits going to our playground project. (this is my sister, jen, setting up for the big day.)

my favorite bowl, a wedding gift that i only bring out in the fall. here it is, full of the remnants of apple pie making.

*easy* apple pie, recipe snagged from BHG's *100 days of Holidays.*

the lovely cast of godspell. only one more month until opening night!! you can read about our adventures here.

i am so happy to have found time to do all of it, and more!

spt - *fall* into autumn!

it's here!! it's finally here!! even for you *pursists* among us, the date on MY calendar shows that fall has officially begun!!

how have you welcomed fall into your home? are you a pumpkin patch family, or do you pick up your big organge gourds at the supermarket? has the weather turned cooler yet? or are you secretly still running your A/C? is their an autumn-themed festival in your town? apple picking? cider pressing? pumpkin catapults?

some of us have been busy creating a fall scene on the front porch. others are crafting pumpkins. and still others have already carved jack-o-lanterns!!

have you *fall*en into autumn yet? take a deep breath, jump into a pile of leaves and enjoy the season!

disclaimer: i am not suggesting that you literally "jump into a pile of leaves" if you are currently pregnant, over the age of 37 or suffer from chronic or even semi-chronic back, neck, shoulder, knee or "self-esteem" pain. i also am not suggesting that you "jump into a pile of leaves" if that would involve trespassing into someone else's yard under the cover of darkness. or even the cover of noon when they might be at work. ALSO, it might not be a good idea to "jump into a pile of leaves" for about 26 other reasons too numerous to list. but, hey, if you wanna...

is it "officially" fall at your house yet?

(no, i did not get a new camera. photo courtesy of better homes & gardens!)

frustration

one of the things that blogging has given me is a way to enhance my love of journaling with photos and snapshots. in fact, i am more often drawn to blogs that feature pictures of accomplished craft projects, successful recipes, babies toes, and, of course, self-portraits.

my current frustration is born of the fact that i can create beautiful photographs... in my minds eye!! unfortunately, they very rarely look *on paper* the way i wish they would. this is due to the fact that during an intrepid search for the perfect spt post last spring (lights, camera, action!), my trusty point and shoot digital Nikon Coolpix hit the dirt, er, sand. since then, i've been *making do* with a dime store variety giveaway camera and the 6 year old digital camera we keep on property at the hotel.

they. are. awful.
my beautiful images turn out fuzzy, slightly green, hazy, you name it. i have a fear that when i look back on this year, it will look like we lived the entire year in grungy aquarium!!

case in point - last night, i came out from my bedroom to this fantastic sight:


i purposefully posted the image smaller so that you will focus on the subjects, and not the blurriness. rrrggghhh!! i'm almost ready to go back to my Nikon SLR (you know, the one that uses *film*...)

of course, the camera i would love to get is out of my budget by, let's say, oh... $700.00. actually, my current budget doesn't really allow for a new camera at all right now. so please, please, for the love of blogging, keep posting those crafts and recipes and babies toes!! a girl's got to get her fix somewhere!!

spt

when i first dreamt up this spt challenge, i honestly thought i would get a lot more accomplished. goodness knows, i have about 14 different things to *do* that i just can't seem to get around to *doing*...

and? when it all came down to it, at 11:00 last night, i hadn't *done* any one of them!! what i accomplished, at 11:03 last night, was to organize my mail supplies. we had gotten a wonderful, beautiful stationary box as a wedding gift. only, the stationary wasn't, exactly, me. so, after i cleaned up 7 years worth of dust, i emptied out the stationary (packaged it up to use for business correspondence), and filled it up with good mail supplies!!



i've been meaning to do this for a long time. i'm so glad i finally got around to it!

my sisters will appreciate this

You Belong in the Upper West Side

You have what it takes to be successful, but not snooty. That's why you belong in the New York of Sex and the City and Seinfeld!

Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?

thanks, sandi

spt - insert photo [here]

so this week, i am going to give you the caption of your spt. all you have to do is go out and take the picture! easy enough, right?

the caption is

i've been meaning to do this for a long time. i'm so glad i finally got around to it!

have fun!!

holidays 101

are you hopelessly drawn to holiday images, websites, magazines?!? do you flip with the possibilities of decorating every nook and cranny of your house? does this image give you a warm, fuzzy feeling??


i am guilty of all of the above. and yet, i know that i will never *get around* to half of the projects or recipes that catch my eye this time of year.

but that doesn't stop me from looking!! every year i enjoy *100 days of Holidays* from Better Homes and Gardens. you can sign up for a daily email here. the countdown starts on monday the 24th (next monday). if you're not into the daily emails, you can always check out the daily inspriation through their website.

warning! TONS of cute info to take you through fall and Christmas. i am not responsible if your brain explodes from the cuteness potential!!

spt

i wash my hands a lot, and encourage my family to do the same. maybe i am ultra sensitive after so many years of working in the food service industry. i know that it is especially important this time of year, as the kids go back to school and enter the germ-sharing population again.










jack is somewhat of a handwashing master. his Montessori school has done a fantastic job of teaching not only the benefits of handwashing, but also the various steps of handwashing. i thought i would snap a quick spt with him. it turned out to be a valuable lesson (for ME) on each of the proper steps. (he was insistent that i include a photo of each of the steps in this post!) he has not missed any school, due to illnes, in over 2 years. he could be a poster child for the benefits of keeping your hands clean!


if only we could have this much fun teaching all of life's important lessons...

do you wash your hands as much as jack does?

friday night lights

photo courtesy The San Francisco Bay Area Press Photographers Association (i WISH i could take pictures like this!)

on friday nights, we head over to the local high school for football! matty, jack & i started going to games last year. now that we have a JV cheerleader in our family, attendance at the games has been pushed up the priority ladder!

i have always loved going to high school games. growing up on Long Island, we had Saturday afternoon games. everybody was there! it was coooold, too. they sold baked potatoes wrapped in foil at the concession stand. they warmed your hands while you were eating them - a great use of the *hot potato*!

in high school, of course, i was in the marching band. when you are in band, you get a very unique perspective of the game. i always felt very cool (a cool marching band geek?!?) marching into the stadium. touchdowns were important still, but not so much because of the score, but because it meant playing the fight song again!

our high school team is 3 & 0 so far this year, which means that friday night games are already humming with excitement when we get there. (two weeks ago, they beat their arch-rival, in a contest they have lost every year for the past 18 years!!)

jack has taken up with a group of young boys who run around on the far side of the bleachers, throwing around a football and looking up to the *big* players.

taylor sits with her squad and give us the mandatory wave, but then spends the rest of the game pretending we are not there (geesh, 16 year-old-girls... what? does she think we might embarrass her?!?)

matty and i stand near the fence. it's a great position from which to watch the game, toss a football with jack, and embarrass taylor from time to time. we can socialize with just about everyone from our community. and, of course, i do my fair share of cheering on the band. all of this for $10!! that's what i call a great family night out!

this week is homecoming. taylor went off to school in her PJs for pajama day. do you remember spirit week? she's also thrown her hat in the ring for junior homecoming attendant. not too shabby for a girl who is brand new to the school!

from now until november, you know where to find me on friday nights! do you go to your local games?

spt - national clean hands week

edited to add (for all you *rule breakers*): my original intent was to post an spt featuring you extolling the virtues of keeping hands clean. so that might be an spt of you, of you and your littles, of you showcasing a place where it might be important to wash your hands, etc., etc. have fun!! (and, as always, your personal spin on the topic is always welcomed!)


i come from a family of public health promoters. so i couldn't pass up the opportunity for an "spt public service announcement."

september 16 - 22 is national clean hands week!! according to the CDC,

"Keeping hands clean is one of the most important steps we can take to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. It is best to wash your hands with soap and clean running water for 20 seconds. However, if soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based product to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast acting.

When washing hands with soap and water:
Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend!
Rinse hands well under running water
Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet

Remember: If soap and water are not available, use alcohol-based gel to clean hands.

When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
Apply product to the palm of one hand
Rub hands together
Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.

When should you wash your hands?
Before preparing or eating food
After going to the bathroom
After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom
Before and after tending to someone who is sick
After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
After handling an animal or animal waste
After handling garbage
Before and after treating a cut or wound"

go here to learn some fun ways to get everyone around you to wash their hands!

do your family a public service, and spend some time promoting clean hands this week!!

dress up

i'm really thrilled that kristi opened up the halloween costume discussion now, because this topic came up in my house earlier this week. (it's never too early to discuss halloween costumes, is it??)

one of my very first posts was about how much fun i have making jack's halloween costumes. we had a tradition in my house, when i was little, of making our costumes. this is a tradition i have lovingly carried on.

just the other night, jack announced that he wanted to be a storm trooper for halloween. my mind began racing immediately: which kind of storm trooper? *original* storm trooper from episodes IV, V or VI. or a *new* storm trooper from episodes I, II or III???

and the challenge of making something with a hard shell, smooth sides? i sew, for goodness sakes. but this could prove to be a great challenge.

and then? and then, he said, "and i want to buy it at the store. so that it won't be itchy."

a store-bought costume?!? it's not even in my vernacular!

i'll keep you posted.


halloween 2006

spt

i will come back to this post at some point, to jot down my "back to school memories."

but, for now, i believe the photos may speak louder than any words i could string together.

i am frustrated that the scanned images will not upload, and that the photo-of-the-photo option is blurry, but i believe the essence of elementary school in the late 70s has been captured here.

behold...





as awkward as she may appear, i LOVE that little girl!

spt - childhood memories

the next challenge is going to send you back in time. i'm giving you an extra week, and a little freedom from the "self-portrait" guidelines...

just a reminder...

for tuesday, september 11, get out those family photo albums and really take a look at your old school portraits. what is your favorite childhood memory of going back to school? were those good times, or stressful times for the younger you? were you decked out in new clothes? did your mom give your hair a trim the night before school? did they still use chalk in the classroom then? did you have to walk uphill through the snow both ways?!?

i hope you will take the time to find those old photos! call your mom and ask her to send them along to you. ask your neighbor if you can borrow their scanner. take a few moments to get back in touch with your inner child!

spt

here i am, labor day, 2007. the summer behind me seems like it flew by in a heartbeat. and yet, if i take the time to think through each and every week, there were so many things going on.

i love that this photo shows my disheveled hair and ruddy complexion. it can only mean one thing: i've just gotten back from my walk!! i gave in to the heat and managed to let my walking routine slip by for the entire month of august!! aside from feeling sluggish, i've also realized how much i've come to crave that *me* time. so, here i go again!

i look more relaxed in this photo than i have felt in a loooong time. i am ready for my family to settle into the school-year routine. i feel more focused and more creative this time of year. more confident, too. (i'm not sure why that is.) but i'm gonna run with it!

pumpkin spice, everything nice

i grew up in new york, and labor day weekend was definitely *the end of summer.* school started shortly afterwards, and i remember wearing sweaters and knee socks, eating baked potatoes wrapped in foil at the saturday football games, jumping in the most color-filled piles of leaves you can imagine.

i haven't lived in new york in quite a while, and the transition into fall must be one of the things i miss the most. more often than not, here in coastal nc, we are still pushing 90 humid degrees well into october. not much foliage here to turn into lovely yellows and browns and reds (we have too many evergreens near the coast.)

over the years, i have developed my own way of welcoming *fall* back into my world. i don't wait for the autumnal equinox. no, not me. september first is the day! the day i light the pumpkin spice candle for the first time!!

slowly but surely, i will bring out my fall decor: pumpkins and pine cones will begin to replace the stars and stripes of summer. the path through fall and into the holidays is stretched out before me. it is my favorite time of year, by far.

happy pumpkin spice candle day!!

i don't make this stuff up...

look what was waiting for me at work today...


i'm hoping this is the last of the hampton inn alligator family. we certainly don't need the mother showing up!

spt - school days, school days

as promised, two challenges this week. i firmly believe in jumping right back into the saddle!!

for next week, how about a self portrait of the *end-of-summer* you? the you who is thankful for school routines, or the you who is pining at home for the schoolbus to return? are you waiting in endless carpool lanes? or relishing the "time off" in starbucks or the craft store? are you in school yourelf? or just frustrated to be stuck behind a schoolbus during your morning commute? do you even notice the shift from *summer* back to "school*??

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

the next challenge is going to send you back in time. i'm giving you an extra week, and a little freedom from the "self-portrait" guidelines...

for tuesday, september 11, get out those family photo albums and really take a look at your old school portraits. what is your favorite childhood memory of going back to school? were those good times, or stressful times for the younger you? were you decked out in new clothes? did your mom give your hair a trim the night before school? did they still use chalk in the classroom then? did you have to walk uphill through the snow both ways?!?

i hope you will take the time to find those old photos! call your mom and ask her to send them along to you. ask your neighbor if you can borrow their scanner. take a few moments to get back in touch with your inner child!

milestones

post #200 today. with the *lack of blogging* i did this summer, i'm quite surprised that i've come so far. i'm also amazed, looking back, at how much of my life i've managed to wrap into bite size packages.

so i'm going to take some time today to read through the past few months. to relish in the surprises that i will surely find there. and to give thanks for everything that this little blog has given me so far.

and tomorrow, i will give you two, count 'em 2 spt challenges!!

(check out spell with flickr to stylize your words and numbers, just like i did. thanks for the link, missy)

whodunnit?!?

i'm here!! i'm back!! the kiddies are in school and i am ready to get my life back together!! to celebrate the return to normal, we went to a tremendously fun murder mystery party on saturday night. it was a fundraiser for our playground project. this is the second murder mystery party i've been to this year (i actually have a post sitting in my draft folder about the first one...)

we were back in "1985" for a "class reunion." it was just like old times for me! in fact, when i walked into the party, all of my family said "wow. you look exactly like you looked every. single. day. of senior year!!"

(i'm not convinced that's a compliment...)



matty won a prize for "best dressed!" he even managed to keep the wig on all night! click here for more pictures, and to read about our TOTALLY TUBULAR party!!

look who went skinny dipping last night...

i got a call to come back to the hotel at 11 pm, because this *little* guy was having a swim!!

he'd been hanging out in the retention pond for a few weeks. the state wildlife department had advised us that we needed to contract someone to remove him from the property. (in north carolina, it is against the law to disturb an alligator in his natural environment, or something like that.) at any rate, the alligator hunter had just gotten back to me with a quote of $300.00

funny thing is, once the alligator made it into the pool, he became a "nuisance," and the state had someone out within 40 minutes (at 11 p.m.), and he was removed for free!!

notes from the drawing board

see me up there? hard at work? (actually, i was posing as the "guest" in this photo.) at any rate, just wanted to give you an idea where i am spending 97.8672634% of my time these days...

i must thank all of you who keep stopping by to see if i've blogged anything lately. i will tease you with this: ideas that are rambling about in my head that are totally blogworthy!

random acts of kindness: lots of water and gumball jars for jack's camp counselors
godspell: the show is cast and i'm blogging the whole experience (see! i still blog)
vacation bible school: now so much more than Gods-eyes and dixie cups
class reunion at JAMES D.MURDER HIGH: i missed my class reunion this summer, but will be celebrating at a murder mystery party next weekend
cheerleading: in which i learn the ups and downs of "16 year-olds these days"
spt: i need to SEE my friends!!

hope you are well. twelve (!) days until school...

well, maybe a wee bit out in the countryside

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique soul like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

spt

spt needs a vacation!! spt is so sad to have missed the blogger party in utah. spt is tired from carpooling and working and waiting for the results of cheerleading tryouts.

spt misses playing well with others, and finding it's true colors and putting it's best foot forward.

spt will be back on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th. there will be an awesome challenge, with plenty of time to prepare. check back soon for details!!

i am here.

and i can't go another day without saying hello. be patient, i will return (as soon as the tourists go back home!!)

how are you?!?

random acts of kindness

jack goes to camp at a beautiful church retreat on the atlantic ocean. between the summer day camps, and the church youth group camps, they have as many as 1600 youth on campus each week. the grounds themselves used to be Fort Caswell, and are studded with old encampments, armories, fortifications, etc.

there is a security gate that is manned 24 hours. the guards are all so friendly, always smiling, always giving directions, talking about the history of the fort with people who just happen to stumble across it. they have a small guard "shack", and it has got to be hot in there!

on friday, we dropped of milk and fresh baked cookies to the guard on duty. he was totally surprised ( a little taken off-"guard" even!!) just a small thank you! (we know he enjoyed it as we saw him brushing cookie crumbs off of his lips!)

spt - it's too darn hot

it's hot!

too hot to play outside, too hot to walk barefoot across the pavement, too hot to blog! the swimming pool feels like bathwater and my glasses fog up every time i step out of the sweet, sweet air conditioning!

what are you doing to stay cool this summer?

spt

i am totally excited to embrace some geekness this week - all for the sake of my blog!!

i am so NOT a geek. a dork, maybe. a geek? no. but this little challenge has ended up to be one of my favorites!! how excited am i to do an spt post that is actually taking spt to a whole new level?!?

i've been trying to find time the past few weeks to add about 10 new bloggers to the "image consultant" sidebar. it's just one of those tasks that gets pushed aside and pushed aside. and a recap? forget about it this time of year. it's all i can do to click through all of the links to see who's updated for spt.

one new blogger i've connected with this week is jen, who has taken on the RAK challenge. (kristi, maybe you should consider hooking me up with jen's blog a RAK on your part!!) anyway, jen has this totally cool link on her blog to blogging basics 101, which just might become my own personal geek support system! it's got answers to tons of pesky questions!

at blogging basics 101, i found out that spt is actually a *carnival* (points for learning a new blogging term!) according to the site, when you are hosting a carnival you are inviting people to write on a specific topic. you give them the topic, which day they need to post the blog entry on that topic, then ask them to come back to your site and submit their link so everyone can see what everyone else wrote.

who knew?!?

even better (more thanks, jen) they gave a shout out to this great thing called *mr. linky.* (more points for learning a cool new blogging tool!) how perfect that this spt will be the premier of *mr. linky* on amuse-bouche! i am swelling with geekness!!

so go ahead. get your geek on and post your spt link right here!! don't forget to use the permalink for your spt post. (as always, comments ARE welcome at any time, too!)

good mail is YUMMY

check out this delicious good mail i received !!



i am not a big cereal fan. so just imagine my surprise when i found out these three little boxes were bursting with ribbon!! thank you, kristi.

i also got some very creative poppin' good mail from rebekah. (sorry no photo, but it didn't last that long!!) suffice it to say, jiffy pop smells and tastes EXACTLY the way i remember it!!

have you gotten any YUMMY good mail lately?

spt - embrace your geekness

did you know that today, july 13th, is "embrace your geekness" day?

according to what i've found on the internet:

A geek is an individual who is highly intelligent (brainy) and technically oriented. They are most often associated with the computer, and computer systems world. A geek is usually formal, studious and into his technical world, often to the exclusion of all else. A geek is closely related to a "Nerd". A nerd however, may or may not possess technical expertise.

Some people view the term "Geek" with a negative connotation. Are they jealous of your knowledge and skills, perhaps? We certainly think so.

Enjoy Embrace Your Geekness Day to the fullest. Spend plenty of time with your computer. Talk computer lingo and jargon. If you are a geek, stand tall and proud. Isn't it great to be so brilliant and gifted!?

do you have a "geekness" about you? we're all together in this great big blogosphere, so i imagine we've all mastered the basics of desktop publishing. do you have a secret fascination with programming? were you in line last week for a new iphone? do you actually know what gigs and pixels and java script are?

or do you love a geek? is there someone you can go to when your beloved PC is misbehaving?

embrace your geek! make it a point to learn one new computer phrase this weekend. share a tip you've mastered. update your blog, if nothing else!!

no such thing as random

jen has picked up a challenge that kristi threw down yesterday. i have a wonderful story to share. i know there are a lot of you cruising by amuse-bouche today to check for an spt challenge, and i hope you will be inspired to share your stories, too. take a moment to post your own random acts of kindness. thank you jen for taking this idea and running with it!! we have not ever *met* in the blogosphere before, but our circles are definitely intertwined!!

several weeks ago, my son, jack (6 y.o.) and i were in line at my least favorite store in the world. it was typically crowded and understaffed. we had wasted too much time in the store already, and we just wanted to get home and eat dinner.

in front of us was a very sweet woman. she looked to be in her 80s or so, and we had passed her in several aisles as she was working through her shopping list. after standing in two lines that weren't moving, jack and i ended up behind her.

the contents of her cart were simple: coffee filters, fruit, tomato sauce. nothing outlandish. as the cashier began to ring her up, i heard her mention that she couldn't go over $18.

her total was close to $25. the people in line around us were antsy. heck, I was antsy!! she asked the cashier to hold on to her things, and she would run home and get some more money. she was so sweet. i didn't even think twice before i offered to pay the difference.

jack was mystified! why would we pay for someone else's food?!? what a wonderful way to teach a child!! the woman was astonished! she wanted me to wait. she would come back and bring me money. i wouldn't think of it. she said, "i have never had anyone do this for me. i've done it for others, but no one has ever done this for me. how can i repay you?" i told her to put the $7 in her collection at church, or to give it to someone else who might need it.

was it by chance that i eneded up in her line? that i was able to help her out? that my son was with me to soak it all up? random? i can't say. this woman has obviously lived a life of delivering "random acts of kindness." maybe this was just her time to receive. i'm glad i was behind her.

making the grade

yesterday was one of those super important days in the life of a hampton inn general manager. it was QA day (quality assurance day). that's right... a whole day of an auditor poring over paperwork, checking sheet threadcounts, sniffing approved air freshener, counting donuts, etc. for my brand, this happens twice a year, and they are unannounced. all g.ms. start getting a little frazzled in the weeks when we know we are "due."

the inspections are absolutely important to the integrity of the brand. sort of a necessary evil. this time around, i was really wigging out. i feel like, with everything else that's going on this summer, my coping mechanisms are mis-firing. throughout the day, i developed an uncontrolable case of bouncing knee (you know, the one where you can. not. sit. still.) and the sense of hyperventalating was almost overpowering!! i even joked that i was going to have to pull out a paper bag and start deep breathing exercises. (at least i was still able to joke!)

and in the end, i am totally relieved and proud to announce that we scored an OUTSTANDING! our seventh outstanding in a row!! i am so grateful to my entire team, who just continue to shine (no pun intended!)

i am also happy to report that i am currently enjoying breathing again.

spt

ahhh, where do i go to get away from it all?

i love mornings. i love to rise before the family, drink a few cups of coffee, mentally arrange my day. in the spring, my spot is on the deck or front porch, listening to tree frogs and sprinklers, feeling the sun begin to heat the day. in the winter, my spot is by the fireplace, dawn zinging early light through my reproduction rose window. there's nothing quite like having a quiet moment before the chaos of the day.

i love late evenings, too. i love to linger awake after everyone has gone to bed. i enjoy mindless television while i write letters or plan menus. my spot is on the sofa, glass of water beading up on the coaster beside me, basket of stationary supplies at hand on the coffee table, softly scented candles burning nearby. there's nothing quite like having a quiet moment after the chaos of the day.

can you picture it? i feel relaxed just telling you about these places.

oh, how i miss them...

this summer is a whirlwind of activity!! my morning is filled with getting jack up and ready for camp, getting taylor, ahem, *up.* after burning through the days, i do my best to collect myself in the evening. all creative energy spent, i am merely that person who falls asleep on the sofa during the weather forecast, startled awake by the soft sounds of my own snoring.

there is one place left that i can visit throughout the day; strictly stolen moments while the washer spins or dinner simmers. fortunately for me, this retreat is totally portable. in a flash, even for only a few stolen moments, i can remove myself from the chaos of the day.

there's a support group for this, right?!

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