Sunday Contentments - When Life's a Disaster

Well, my week has been a complete, COMPLETE train wreck. The whole family is massively off schedule, trying to cram in that last bit of summer fun before school starts on Tuesday. In addition to this, which would be enough madness in and of itself, I've got several doctor appointments right now. Nothing's wrong, I just have something I need to see a specialist about, and it requires several trips, almost on an every-other-day basis. It does not help that the doctor I'm seeing is an hour's drive from my home. Nor does it help that a few minor mis-communications have resulted in me having to return to the doctor's office, or to a special pharmacy near the doctor's office, twice in the same day. And it helps even less that the road I have to travel is notorious for traffic jams and cluster fucks galore. I've had two days this past week where I've done nothing but spend all day in the car, shutting back and forth from my house, to the doctor's office or pharmacy.

Top this off with the story I've been trying to write this week, which I really wanted to have done before midnight last night so I could turn it into my critique group for the weekend. I blew my deadline by two hours, and at 2AM this morning, still didn't have a good working draft. In times like these, there's only one thing I can say, folks. FIDO: Fuck It, Drive On.

But enough of all that crap. Today's blog post is about contentments, and yes, in spite of the upset and general disasterousness of my week, I do have a few things I can point to and say, "Yep, that gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling but good." Here's this week's contentments:

Music - I don't often listen to music these days, mainly because I'm not the kind of gal who can write while music is playing in the background. I prefer peace and quiet. I would listen to music in the car, but I'm not in my car that much these days, and rarely if ever make long trips. But we know I made a few this past week, don't we! So what did I listen to? The soundtrack to River Dance, which always gets my spirit pumping, The soundtrack to Fellowship of the Ring (I LOVE that movie), ABBA Gold, and a mix CD the Hubster made for me aeons ago when we were just engaged. It was all good stuff, and it kept me humming along when I got stuck in traffic over and over and over again this week.

Kids - I got two of the little twerps, and they never cease to amaze me. I get the giggles just watching Pixie run around the house. She's so in charge of whatever she's doing. Meanwhile, Princess continues to delve into Egyptology with a vengeance. We spent this afternoon, after I returned from yet another trip to the doctor, drawing pictures of the artifacts she found in her excavation kit. She says she can't draw. I explained she couldn't draw perfectly. But she could draw well enough, and she'd get better with practice. She did quite good when she finally settled down.

Cuddling and tickling - nothing boosts my mood like a cuddle with the girls, or a long hug with the Hubster. I've been bitching all week because Hubster bought scented laundry detergent and now we all smell Spring Time Fresh! I can't stand it. But today, either we all dug out pre-new detergent clothes or my nose has finally gone numb, because I could hold everyone without getting a massive headache. I've also had the opportunity this week to curl up with one child or the other for a nap or late morning snooze, and to chase after the kids and tickle the stuffings out of them. Their laughter is the best medicine ever. And Hubster? Nothing makes me happier than to spoon up behind him in bed, and know that I'm not going to get up until the kids roust us from delightful, golden sleep.

Books - there just so happens to be a Border's near my doctor's office. I got a coupon last night for 40% off, and had an appointment this morning. I decided to stop in and get myself something I wanted. My purchases included two birding books, The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (and it was on massive discount to boot!), and the latest installment of one of my favorite mangas, Bizenghast. I can haz reading material, LOL!

Birds - I've gone nuts lately, trying to figure out which species are visiting the bird feeders in our backyard. Ever since I put the squirrel baffle up, we had tons of birds show up. I checked out a birding book from the library, and of course, bought two new books today. I can finally tell a purple finch from a cardinal, and a gold finch from a black capped chickadee. We've even got a tufted titmouse showing up, plus several others I can't quite pin down yet. And we've got two regular visitors to the humming bird feeder, a male and a female ruby throat. I never in my life would have guessed I'd be so entertained standing at my dining room window and watching the birds zip in and out of our yard. I have truly gone round the bend.

Manga - as I've mentioned, I picked up the latest installment of Bizenghast. If you haven't heard of it before, it's an OEL (original English language) manga, drawn by M. Alice LeGrow. The art is very spooky, delicate and gothic, and the story is bizarre. Right up my alley, of course. I've been waiting for this book for a while, and I'm delighted I found it today.

My lousy first draft of my story - hands down, a lousy first draft beats no draft at all when it comes to writing. I was pissed as hell last night when I blew my deadline, but there was nothing for it. Then I dreamt all last night about the subjects I was writing about - Lovecraft, nuclear bomb tests, and mermaids (are you intrigued yet?). This morning, bits and pieces of narrative have been filtering through my brain. I haven't caught all of them on paper yet, but I did get some key ones down in my notebook while I was waiting in the doctor's office. I think I'll be able to finish this story soon, AND I've got ideas for four more to write for next month's podcast. I hope you guys like horror };)

Finally, the weather - I loathe summer. Really, I despise hot sticky weather, and the clothing that goes with it. I much prefer cool autumn days where I can wear jeans and a light sweater or jacket. All my favorite clothing is fall clothing. It's still summer, but the weather this past week has been so cool and nice, I've been able to break out my beloved jeans and enjoy. It's a very simple thing, but I love this weather. Love, love, love it!

And that's the contentments for this Sunday. I've got a story to work on, and hopefully finish, today, plus more blog posts to plan for the rest of this week. Hope you all are doing well, and have a contented Sunday.