Oh Yeah, It's Been Awhile

You haven't really missed anything. I mean, I have been doing absolutely nothing of interest at all.

I've been to the lake twice since I've blogged. The first time, the weather was fantastic and I took advantage of it by rowing and running around in the reasonable levels of temperature and humidity. I love running up there. At least I did, until we were having happy hour on the deck and two huge BEARS happen to lumber through the yard. Now when I'm running up there I flinch at every rustle and clap randomly to make sure the bears know I am coming and will not think I'm aiming to come kidnap their young. This is not because it is extremely likely that the bears would pay any attention to me at all, but rather because I am a paranoid, city-bred crazy person.

The second time we went up to the lake was this weekend. The weather was cold and rainy, which I found to be the perfect excuse to stake claim to the gigantic, puffy chair we have on the porch and read forever and ever. I also got to see the sister, which is always kind of the best thing ever.

To make money I am doing absolutely everything. I run errands and babysit for one of my neighbors, which has led to many adventures. Twice now I've taken the little girl to ballet lessons which are absolutely the most entertaining things to watch. We trek all the way out to Bethesda, probably because these lessons involve fairy dust and multiple costume changes. It's adorable. Today, however, I didn't drive in the mommy mobile. The van's still in Massachusetts. Today, I drove a pick-up truck to Bethesda. For readers who aren't familiar with the area, this means I was wedging the Toyota Tundra between BMWs and Lexus SUVs (I still do not understand the point of these. Whatever). The little girl, however, was thrilled that we were taking the Princess Pick-Up Truck!

It's nice to know I am relatively capable at handling small children, because her younger brother, who's not one year old yet, has found his favorite activity to be screaming hysterically in my face. One time I strapped him into the stroller and we headed out on a walk around the block. He fell asleep within two minutes so I just kept walking. And walking. And walking. Mostly in circles. For an entire hour. I think the neighbors found it confusing, but I just told them as long as he wasn't crying, I was going to keep doing what I was doing. I've also found that having a sleeping baby with me makes me extremely hostile and in need of a taser. If those barking dogs had...or if that stupidly obnoxious car...or if your need to engage me in pointless conversation WAKES THIS BABY UP I SWEAR I WILL....

I've also spent some time with the girls, one of which was a night brunch. I feel kind of responsible to keep some normalcy in Claire's absence, and this meant I was going to make a quiche instead of just buying something like I'd normally do. AND I SUCCEEDED.

I am becoming oh-so-domestic thanks to my realization that I have to feed myself something that's not peanut butter on the off occasion and the fact that I'm paid to do things like vaccum and scrub down lawn chairs and pick up the dry cleaning, like I'm doing today. As if I've ever had anything dry cleaned before.

I'm also sitting this evening. Making some bank because even though Greece is helping me out with the Euro, I'm going to be spending some serious cash in Amsterdam (for which I HAVE A PLANE TICKET. I KNOW. CRAZY)

And that is my life.