I'm neglecting this blog, I realize.
The proverbial pie-slicing is complicated. I know I need to make some choices and exercise some discipline regarding time management. I already have cut out tv, not that I watched much (and when Ugly Betty's back on, I'll be there.) I'm working 30 hrs a week and with Lincoln every bit of time I'm not at work, which leaves me with evenings free, after Linc's bed. That's often when we eat dinner together, or one of us goes out, or we do some housecleaning--not that you can tell, b/c our house is so very messy and dirty (the former connotes clutter/chaos, the latter dog hair, dust, and dead bugs).
I participate in an online community which is where I spend a lot of my free time (those evening hours, or stolen minutes at work), presumably at the expense of seeing friends in person. We socialize on the weekends sometimes, often with another couple/family/friend. I spend very little time doing anything alone--reading, writing, even talking on the phone or emailing. So this blog is neglected, and some projects I'd been working on are covered, metaphorically, in dust. I'm going to have to make some changes.
What's really fallen by the wayside is exercise. I used to get a fair bit of exercise most days--working out at the campus rec center probably 4-5x/week, plus a bike ride or walk to and from work. Now I manage maybe one workout every two weeks, tops, and the commute now involves taking Linc to day care, so the bike ride/walk doesn't work. When it cools down a bit, we'll bike ride between his day care and work, so that will add some exercise and save some gas. And, most notably, once it's cooler and the mosquitoes are gone, I/we can go on long fast walks with Lincoln in a carrier/stroller. Right now we can't do that, b/c he's asleep by 7, and before then it's too hot/bright/mosquitoed. I've never in my life gotten so little exercise. I miss it. My appetite is kind of eh, too, which I think is tied to the decreased exercise (and thyroid stuff, and hormone stuff, and all that.)
I usually love summer here, and much of it's been lovely, some wild storms and before it got wet, the nights were wonderfully temperate and mosquito- and ant-free, delightful for eating outdoors. Now it's too hot inside and too itchy outside. We have evaporative cooling, which keeps the house a comfortable 70 degrees in June, when it's 110 out with 9% humidity--but later in the summer, when it's in the 90s with humidity 50% or more, it's about 88 in the house.
But summer is still beautiful and evocative, even if I'm uncomfortable and pent up. Here's a photo from a recent storm--a dove taking flight after a huge lightning strike nearby.
