Virtual Coffee

Time for another session of Virtual Coffee with Amy at Lucky Number 13!



Before I get started, I want to remind everyone that you have until Friday to enter my awesomely awesome Blue Sky home organization products giveaway!  GO HERE TO ENTER!  And my friend Farrah is giving away another set, so go here for another chance to win! 

Enough blog-pimpin' and exclamation points.

I'm having a weird week.  Saturday I leave for a trip to Southern California, the first leg of which is a mad dash to see family members old and new (the babies!), and the second leg of which is going to BlogHer San Diego.  Is anybody else going?  If so:



Because I'm totally nervous that nobody else will.  I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to go to BlogHer.  But I also don't know why I'm getting nervous about it, because it's just a blog conference.

Nonetheless, I'm going to blame my nervousness on the total food binge I went on last night.  All day long I was a perfect Weight Watcher: planning, measuring, and tracking.  Then after dinner I decided to eat an entire box of Wheat Thins.  An entire box.  And then I had some ice cream, and string cheese, and Cheerios.  I ate more after 8 p.m. than I ate the rest of the day combined.  As I stewed about the whole thing later, I thought, Okay, I will learn from my mistakes.  Live and learn.  Except, I've been living a long time, and I don't know when I'm going to learn. 

In work news, there's a lull.  For those who don't know, I'm in the middle of a freelance project, and some of the stuff hasn't come in.  That's making me nervous.  I've learned in my brief freelance career that you really need to seize a "no time like the present" mentality for responsibilities in your work and personal lives.  Like, for example, yesterday I knew I had to do some housecleaning.  I kept telling myself that I had better do it now, while there's a work lull, because later this week I'll be busy with work and won't have time to clean the house.  I was all, This freelance work is really going to be good for combating my natural tendencies toward procrastination!  And then I took a nap. 

I've started to realize that a lot of my current anxiety is related to the unknowns of life.  Now, first of all, everybody is anxious about the unknowns of life.  But also, while of course unknowns like death, disease, accidents, and natural disasters are always very anxiety-producing, I'm actually talking here about much more minor unknowns.  Like, for example, all the unknowns of my work schedule.  And the unknowns of how my trip is going to work out (will the flight be delayed? will my first rental car experience go okay?), and how BlogHer is going to go.

And, looking a little farther out, there are a lot of question marks about the fall right now, too.  Nathan is signed up for Tuesday/Thursday at his preschool, but he's number 3 on the waiting list for Monday/Wednesday/Friday.  I don't know which days he'll be going.  There's also maybe going to be an afternoon class option on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, but thus far it looks like they don't have a lot of sign-ups and that class might get canceled.  I'm hoping to have more work to do in the fall, but I don't know yet, so I don't know what kind of childcare arrangement I'll need.  I kind of want to put Nathan back in the home daycare that he used to go to (this lady is AWESOME and she only charges $3/hour), but I don't know what days we'll need and besides I haven't called her.  And I know those are all really boring minor details you didn't need to know, but I'm just trying to give you a snapshot of what's going on in my mind right now. 

A few other things, because time is running short:

• I have to get Nathan to camp.  I love camp.
• Yesterday I did the elliptical at the gym.  I have never been an elliptical devotee, because I'm uncoordinated and I feel like I should stick with activities that use locomotor skills I have already mastered (walking, running, riding a bike).  But I love the elliptical because I can read a book while I'm on there (can't really do that on a treadmill because it's too bouncy).  
• I'm reading Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan.  I love her ability to create three-dimensional characters, although I really liked her first book, Commencement, better. 
• I'm striking out on my shopping for a desk.  Today we're going into Indiana to an Amish furniture place.  Husband's reasoning is that he'd rather pay more for a quality product.  I definitely take that approach toward electronic items, but in this case I'd rather go on the cheap because it's a desk, for crying out loud.  
•  I'm considering hosting a party for National Can It Forward Day.  I've always wanted to get into canning, and now would be my chance.  Who will come to my canning party?  
• I'd better get more work in, because I just got some awesome new Pilot Hi-Tec C pens from Tokyo Pen Shop.  As I've mentioned before, I have very strong opinions about pens, and office supplies in general.  This is actually my favorite time of year to go to Target, because they have all the office supplies on sale for back-to-school time.  Anyway, Tokyo Pen Shop is a great online retailer of cute office supplies, especially the Pilot Hi-Tec C pens, which are not sold in U.S. stores.  They are super fine-point pens.  I like Tokyo Pen Shop's tagline: "For pens as precise as your thoughts!"  I think if I had to come up with a pen equivalent for the precision of my thoughts right now, it would be the big fat Sharpie, because my thoughts are pretty far from clear and precise.  But anyway, I promise Tokyo Pen Shop didn't compensate me in any way to endorse them.  They don't even know I exist, except as a customer.  But I love them a lot, and if you are a pen connoisseur like I am, give them a try.  They have super fast shipping!

I had two cups of coffee during the writing of this.  One I made at home, and one from Starbucks.  

Thanks for visiting me.