Well, I’m really feeling good this week. I’ve been catching up on a lot of things around here, so I don’t feel nearly as stressed as I have been, in the recent past. It’s given me time to enjoy the activities we’ve shared with family & friends, and to appreciate them all the more, as well. I guess if I never had the times where I felt like I had too much to do, I might take for granted the times I do get to relax & have fun. I’m just grateful that things seem to be under control once more & the summer is really turning out to be a good one!

Well, the day that we went over to my Mom’s to celebrate my Aunt Sharon’s Birthday, I woke up with a strange pain in my right calf. It was really sore, especially when I was walking. There were no bruises or anything, just the aching that wouldn’t go away. I tried taking something for it, but that didn’t seem to help. Still, since Mom & Ken had offered to watch the girls, Jeremy & I decided to make the most of our time together. However, we couldn’t seem to figure out much to do, on our own. We wound up going to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”, which was really good. But, other than that, we mainly spent the time at home. We played pool, video games, watched T.V. vegged & just had some good ol’ quality time together, mostly. My calf kept bothering me, so we couldn’t really do much else that we enjoy: walking, rollerblading, golf, even riding our bikes was out of the question, sadly… Of course, the day we go to pick the girls up, the pain decides to subside. My calf is completely fine now. It was just one of those strange things… I guess I’m getting old! Ha-ha!

Well, things are getting better this week. Last week, I was feeling a bit down & drained, but now I’m feeling a bit more energetic & up for getting things done. After we got the good news on the land, it seems like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders – although I wasn’t bearing it alone. Having the time to keep up with other activities has been a huge part of my joyfulness this week! I am so grateful that I have a wonderful family & supportive friends, as well. I feel truly blessed.

Well, most of you know I hate to complain, but I have just been completely drained, lately! And, since I don’t have much news to report, I decided to write about that, this time around… There have been many things we have been doing to keep busy, although the only one that’s been particularly pressing is our search for land to build our next home upon. This has taken a lot of time & energy, but it’s something that Jeremy & I would both like to accomplish, sooner rather than later. I think I just feel like time is slipping away and I can’t seem to catch up with everything. But, I know that it will be better, soon. And, I enjoy all the activity – it keeps me going! I hope & pray that I may find a point of balance, and be able to constantly operate in it, although I also know that life isn’t always that way, either. But, whatever happens, I know that God is with us & He will continue to lead & guide us. He will help me find the rest I need & give me the strength & wisdom I need to finish my daily tasks, as well. I am so grateful that He has blessed me with such a wonderful family & friends for support, too. I’m sure that a new season is right around the corner, with summer on the way, now, also!

As I mentioned before, I decided to go back to clogging this week. It was so much fun! There were many people I remembered from the group that I danced with before! I even got to catch up with a nice lady whose son had danced on the same competition team I was on as a kid. She had been on the adult team, herself & even though she mentioned not having danced in quite some time, you could tell she still had the skills! Although they only did 1, or maybe 2 routines that I remembered completely, it was a lot like “riding a bicycle” – I picked up on the steps from several of the new routines fairly quickly & enjoyed myself, even when I made mistakes. I’m so thankful that my Mother-in-Law coaxed me back into it & that Jeremy is willing to watch the girls, so that I can have a social activity all my own, once again. It’s a great hobby, too, for the exercise that you get & as much as I remember, it’s still a challenge, because I have a lot of new routines to learn & different steps to get down, as well. I’m really excited to keep going back! If anyone else is interested in learning, let me know, because they have a beginner’s group as well & it would be great to have even more buddies there with me! 🙂

I had a nice day with a couple of other girls in my life, recently. My Mom, Aunt & daughters all went out together. “Grandma Linda” treated us to breakfast, and we each made a “new friend” at Build-a-Bear workshop, too! Well, my Aunt Sharon had already made one, so she brought her bear, Cubby with her, because he needed “surgery” – had some stitching that was coming apart. They fixed him right up! I made a cat, of course. Katrina made a sweet, cute pink bear with white hearts all over it. My Mom got us all some little outfits for our pets, too. Kat got an extra outfit, so she could change it whenever she likes… We weren’t sure what Alyssa would like, exactly. The only thing she showed interest in was a puppy, so we picked that for her. It was cute, though – once we got to the “sound station”, I got the “barking” button to put inside her puppy & started pressing it, to make sure it worked. Aly giggled & smiled, and that’s how I knew we’d made the right choice. It was so much fun creating our new, little “pets”. I felt like a kid in a candy store! I also felt kinda’ bad for my Mom at first, because it turned out they had discontinued selling the pink poodle that she originally wanted to make. Instead, with the girls’ help, “Grandma Linda” wound up making herself a bear for them to play with, when they come over to her house to visit. All the animals turned out really cute & it was a very nice “girls day out”!

Well, Katrina officially finished Kindergarten – last Monday (the 19th) was her final day. And, I must say, this “summer break” has really been active, so far! That same night, I took her to her Nana’s (my Mom-in-Law’s) clogging class with me. Although I can’t remember every single event/activity we’ve done between then & now, I do know that there hasn’t been a day that we’ve stayed home the entire time, until today… Jeremy & I wound up cleaning out our entire garage on Thursday, while Kat was at a friend’s house playing & Alyssa was napping, which was difficult, but we are so thrilled that it’s done! This past weekend has been especially busy – on Friday night, we took Katrina to her best friend’s slumber party, while the rest of us attended Jeremy’s sister’s graduation. The next day, we all went over to get Kat, but we were also able to enjoy some of the party, including a water balloon fight for the kids. Sunday, we accidentally overslept & missed church, but later went out, just for fun, looking at houses in our area & wound up talking to a builder for quite some time. We have been going back & forth on whether we’d like to have our next home built from scratch, or just buy a larger one than what we’re in, but we haven’t come to a solid decision, yet. We don’t really want to move until at least next summer, once Katrina’s done with her next year of school, anyway… Yesterday, we enjoyed a cookout & some swimming with most of Jeremy’s side of the family. All the while, I’ve somehow managed to keep the house & the girls decently clean! And, I’ve somehow kept up with a lot of the entertaining things I like to enjoy on the computer, too, such as World of Warcraft. Jeremy & I even rented a movie one night this week (although they’ve all blurred together – I think it was last Tuesday, ha-ha)! In any case, I’m pretty worn out. I hope that things calm down, soon, but I don’t forsee that happening, for some time. At least we’re in for a “fun-filled” summer & I can’t complain of boredom! 🙂

I had an opportunity to attend a clogging class, recently, so of course, I couldn’t pass that up! For those of you that don’t know, I learned how to clog when I was a kid & was actually in a group of competition dancers, way back then. I stopped, once I was in high school, but then, after I got married & my Mother-in-Law showed some interest in learning, I decided to get back into it. I didn’t do competitions anymore, but I got to where I was at least involved in exhibitions again, with some of the people that I’d remembered being in my previous exhibition group, all those years ago! Of course, once Katrina was born, try as I might to stick with it, things just kept coming up & life just took me in other directions… I sang with a local show chorus for a year & a half (before & while I was pregnant with Alyssa & just after she was born, too), recently quitting, since our family was now bigger & I began feeling more of a tug on my heart to stay home. Besides, the chorus was beginning to feel like it was just not “where I was meant to be” any longer; those of you who understand how the Bible talks about “seasons” for different things will get what I mean by that… Anyway, in just the past few months, my Mother-in-Law has been back, clogging with a couple of different groups, and actually doing exhibitions with each of them, too! So, she invited both Katrina & I to come visit & sit-in on one of their practices. Of course, when they played a song that I knew the steps to, I just couldn’t sit still! We asked Kat if she would like to learn clogging, since there are other kids in the group around her age, but she wasn’t too sure about that idea & said that she’d rather “just make up dances on [her] own”, ha-ha! So, of course I’m not going to drag her along with me, but I talked to Jeremy about going back, myself & so, it looks like I will be enjoying one of my ol’ pastimes once more!!! I’m extremely excited to get back into it – I still have my clogging shoes from a couple of years ago, so I’m all set! 🙂

Well, we “beat the game”, sorta’… Just this week, Jeremy & I both hit the top level of World of Warcraft on our characters. We are both level 70 now & have been kinda’ figuring out that it’s not really “over”… In fact, there are many other things to do, now, but they are quite a bit more tough than what we’d been doing before. It’s still fun, but just more challenging. We are thankfully part of a guild (group of players) that is willing to help us out, along the way, but we are each getting kind of “burnt out”, and at times, have to remind ourselves, “It’s just a game”. Real life comes first, as our best friend (who plays in our guild & is the one who actually got us started in the game) likes to say. Not that we haven’t been maintaining a good, healthy balance – the game can just be a bit overwhelming, from time to time. Lately we’ve been scheduling time to play with a buddy in our guild who lives across the U.S., on the east coast & he’s really been a great help, too. I have no idea how long he’s been playing it, but he seriously knows his stuff! WoW’s still a fun “obsession” of sorts, for me, at least, and it’s actually pretty cool being able to say “I’m a level 70 now!” Again, anyone else who plays, or is thinking about playing, make sure to let me know – we’d love to help other people get there, too! 🙂

I knew I was coming down with something, late Saturday night. My throat was just dry & no matter how much water I drank, I couldn’t seem to soothe it. As I went to bed, I hoped & prayed that I would just sleep it off & wake up feeling completely better. Instead, I woke up to the worst scratchy, dry, sore throat I’d ever had. I didn’t have much of a cough, but I think it was mostly due to post-nasal drip. I experience that a lot this time of year, with seasonal allergens floating around everywhere. But, it was never quite this bad… I had little to no voice & it even hurt to try to talk, so I spent the day resting & whispering, while Jeremy took care of me & the girls. I’ve been drinking tons of water, taking lozenges & even had Jeremy buy me some Tylenol Cough & Sore Throat medicine, which tastes just awful, if you’ve never tried it before… Yesterday, I started feeling a bit better, but I still didn’t have much of a voice. Today, the pain is gone & I seem to be coughing & getting rid of whatever it is, but my voice is only about halfway back… I hope & pray that I can get completely over it, soon & be back to full voice, so that I can at least be more help around here!