I tried to have an interesting life for a week and lived to tell about it

See? Weekly blogging.

‘Twas a good week. Both in terms of sticking to my aforementioned new goals AND in general. Amazing how that sort of goes together, eh?

I reconnected the CRAP out of people. I went from basically not communicating with a single soul besides my 8-month-old and my husband to going out with a friend to the bakery and shopping, hanging out with someone I haven’t seen in more than a year and getting mildly CRAFTY… even having a small get together at the house on Saturday (thanks to all that came).

In terms of my health, I have not yet made any changes to my eating (which I need to), but I did go to the doctor about my knee. He, in turn, sent me to a physical therapist who believes I may just have some tendonitis in my knee. I’m a little skeptical about having tendonitis for SEVEN YEARS, but the exercises she’s prescribed seem to be helping… for now. I also visited a gym and will be trying out their water aerobics class in the morning to see if I like it (I’ve been to water aerobics before, just wondering if I like their teacher, music, etc). I’m also considering getting a bike. Jesse just got a free one from a friend he helped move and my cousin, Heather, has been writing about her biking and making me think that it might actually be a fun family activity. Too bad I didn’t figure this out sooner in the year. But I’m not going to let that be an excuse to put it off until next year. The weather is beautiful now and the scenery is GORGEOUS. We live in such a beautiful place.

I’ve started reading a book, The Price We Paid. My mom read it, loved it, and then bought me a copy. I’m only a few chapters in so far, so I’ll keep you posted. So far, I’m really looking forward to making the pioneer stories a little more real by knowing more about what they went through.

I have been out of the house more, though I can’t really say I’ve been exploring exactly. Besides all of the things mentioned earlier, we’ve been to parks and taken walks around the neighborhood. I’ve made a point to get out of the house at least once per day. I’m not proud to admit it, but there have been times since Liam’s birth where I’ve gone weeks without so much as glancing out the window at the world that exists beyond my walls. So this has been good.

On Saturday, Jesse had plans to do some volunteering for some geek organization. Normally, I would have used that as an excuse as to why I couldn’t go out. Instead, I packed up the kid and we went to the farmer’s market by ourselves. It was WONDERFUL. We got there a little late, so there wasn’t really time to walk around the whole park. Instead, I grabbed some lunch from my favorite taco stand at the market and found a great spot under some trees to set up our blanket and relax. Liam had fun looking up at the trees while I ate and then a band came and played, so we stayed a little longer. The music was fantastic… until the singer began to “sing”. He was off-key most of the time and at one point forgot the words to his own music and tried to hide it by kind of mumbling to the music. Then he just started laughing (as did the rest of us). There was also a young girl there (I think she was “with the band”) with a whole bunch of hoola hoops. They were laid out on the lawn and tons of kids were hoola hooping to the music. It was awesome.

Liam loved the music (he doesn’t care that the singer is off-key), but his favorite part seemed to be the dried leaf I found next to us. I tickled him with it for a little while then handed it to him. That kept him occupied for a good half hour.

Liam mesmorized by a dried leaf

By the time I finished my pear and ricotta danish (mmmm!), the farmer’s market was pretty much over. We took the long way back to our car so we could kind of glance at all the booths as everyone was cleaning and closing for the day. I’m so glad I didn’t stay home just because no one else was going with me. It was kind of a bonding day… just me and my son. Experiencing new things together, delighting in the ordinary. I enjoyed every bit of it and I know these moments are precious and few.

As for school, I start TOMORROW. Yep… when I have a good idea, it just seems silly to wait (like when Jesse and I got married!). So tomorrow my journey begins at Eschalon Edge Academy. I’ll be going to school M-Th, 5pm to 10pm and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays. Attendance is pretty strict so that will make my regular trips home rather difficult. That’s really the biggest drawback for me. But… it’s a year and a half of my life. Small price to pay for the opportunity to do something completely different and interesting (how in the world did I ever get into PAYROLL, for heavenssake!) Wish me luck!