Salt

I can't seem to get enough of it. For whatever reason right now ... my craving for it is insatiable right now.

Weird. When I do have cravings, it's usually for something sweet. Not so much salty.

So I'm curious ... what do you crave? And if you ever get weird cravings, what are they for?

Aches and Pains and Sheer Exhaustion

I feel kind of like her today.

Tyler and I have been crazy busy around here for the last day and a half.

You see ... we're hosting Easter this year. And, until yesterday, I still hadn't put away every last bit of the winter/Christmas stuff yet. (Can I just say that Easter this early is REALLY throwing me off ... How about you?) And on a scale of one to I'm a total looser, where would you rank the fact that I found a Creche on a shelf in our bedroom yesterday that I'm not 100% positive wasn't there still from last Christmas? But I digress ...

As I said, we're hosting Easter. No, we aren't having a ton of people over, but we are having family visit. And I was raised with the notion that you roll out the red carpet for everyone on holidays - family included. Tyler's dad, Al, is coming to stay with us on Saturday night. We only get to see him maybe twice a year ... even though he's only 2 and a half hours away in Cleveland. And Al's never been here. To Findlay. At all. So ... that kicks my need for a red carpet presentation into high gear ...

Which may not be all that much of a bad thing. I'll be the first to admit that I've been more lax than usual when it comes to housework lately. The basics still mostly get done, but some of the things that I prefer to see happen frequently (like mopping the floors) had been tossed to the way side some time ago. Cue the last 36 hours.

Tyler and I have whipped this house into shape in short order ... even to the extent of the oven, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge, and cabinets all being wiped/cleaned out. This house is cleaner than it has been in quite some time. And, while the work isn't finished yet and I still feel like the woman in the picture up there ... It's looking good. And I'm super pleased with progress. It's even beginning to look more like spring around here (now that the winter decor has all been put away :P).

I have a feeling that I will continue to feel like her for a while yet. There's still one more load of laundry to do. I haven't gotten to the ironing yet. And Tyler still has to clean up the office quite a bit this week ... But I'll tell you what ... I'm glad that I feel like her today.

It's a wonderful exhaustion of accomplishment ... and a feeling that over the years, I've come to enjoy ...

To Whom It May Concern

There is another blog that I have been know to author with Tyler.

It's back.

Thought you might like to know ...

An Unfair Question

So we're sitting here and the Cavs are on TNT tonight ... which unfortunately means that Charles Barkley is on our tv tonight ... and Tyler asks me perhaps the most unfair question I've ever had to consider the answer to ...

If you had to (and I mean that your life, your spouse's life, your parents lives, your children's lives, and your dog's life depended on it) ...

If you had to download a podcast and MUST listen to it for 3 (that's THREE) hours straight ... would you choose:

Charles Barkley
John Madden
Steven A Smith
or
a drunk man with Tourettes syndrome

Which would you choose?

And I feel this is completely unfair. They're all equally AWFUL and torturous ... I suppose I would have to defer to where I was and if I had to play this podcast loud enough for other people to hear. I'm thinking that I would take the drunk man. But only if I didn't have to play it loud enough for others to hear. If someone else had to be subjected to it ...

Now that's a tough one ...

Left

out. Have you ever felt left out of something that maybe you really wanted to be a part of?

Honestly, I've been feeling that way a lot lately. Some of the things I'm not a part of are by choice (though t'was not an easy choice to make), others are not. I don't intend this to be a "woe is me ... boo hoo hoo" blog entry. I just need a chance to let my feelings out on the issue at hand. While I can't talk about all of the situations I'm currently feeling left out of, I can discuss a couple (for use as example) ...

Tyler and I are a part of a wonderful small group. I truly cherish the time that we spend with them on Tuesday nights. I always look forward to going and it's really a highlight in my week. There are 11 people who come to our small group. (I think I'm counting that correctly. If I didn't ... sorry about that ...)

Now, we knew that we're busy people, and that would mean that we would miss out on some things that we may want to be a part of but just can't. There's a book discussion that's about to start up at church. We're the only couple in our small group that's not a part of that book discussion. They're meeting on 3 Saturdays and we happen to be out of town 2 of those 3 weeks and Tyler's hitting a really busy time with STE and well ... we're still living in the reality of we just can't afford to do stuff like this right now. (There's a whole other blog about that festering inside of me at this point ... maybe later.) And yes, the books are available for a "donation", but it's just not a good time for us right now. But I'm kind of bummed. I'm feeling a bit left out.

Also going on at church, there is going to be a Spiritual Disciplines retreat at the end of the month. Again, it's bad timing for us. And again ... that ugly lack of money to do things is back on this too. But once again, we're the only people in our small group who aren't going on this weekend retreat.

Now, I realize that what I'm about to say is childish. I realize that it's dumb. I realize that I need to grow up and move on. But I'm going to say it none-the-less, and hopefully saying it will kick me in the butt and move me right along ... I feel like the fat kid at school all over again. I'm really feeling sorry and bummed and all that poopy stuff about and for myself right now. I'm sitting on the outside of a group that I really want to be a part of ... but can't.

I know that most everyone in my small group reads my blog. So please, this isn't directed at you. It's not to make you feel bad. It's just where I am. And I've had difficulty taking ownership of where I've been standing lately. And so, I shall start by taking ownership of this because I know that you will love me where I am in spite of where I am. I feel left out. And it's cool. I know that I can't be a part of these things right now. I understand that. But I'm still bummed. And I know that living life together means talking about common experience when you're together. I don't want them to not talk about the book they're all reading or the weekend retreat they're all going on while we're at small group on Tuesdays ... It's just that those topics leave the Betts family out. And that's just a part of life.

A part I'm not crazy about right now ...

In My Opinion ... Updated

Not only did I kill that book that afternoon ... Sunday, I killed another one. Aside from feeling like poo poo, the weekend was pretty awesome. I could sit and read forever. But alas, that allows too much escape and weekend necessities (like laundry) don't get done ... Tis a crying shame that I don't have time to read like that more often. Although part of me feels as though I appreciate it more when I do have time - or in the case of last weekend - make time.

Now what that means for me this week is that I will now spend nights after work and next weekend working at catching up to where I need to be.

But 1860 Texas was worth it ...

In My Opinion

Heaven must look like this ...

I love to read. I'm sure that I've blogged about this before ... but I'm a bookworm. Last fall I had to hang shelves in our bedroom to hold more of our books. The two bookshelves in our office weren't big enough for our collection. Now we're running out of space on those shelves.

I had a dream last night that I rearranged our living room to make space for more bookshelves. The layout was wonderful when I was finished. I'd love to take what I dreamt about last night and use it for real in our living room. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that the living room in my dreams was about twice the size of the one we currently have. On the positive side, if we ever have a larger living room ... I have a very nice floor plan stored up in my brain ...

So, since we're snowbound today (see last post for feelings on that one) ... I think I'll read. I'm about 20 pages into my current bedtime book ... it's a good thing that I have a couple of books on my waiting list shelf right now ... it doesn't look like the snow is going to let up any time soon. And in that case ... it's a good thing that we're going to Columbus in a couple of weeks. By then I should be out of books and ready for another trip to Half Price Books!

Pretty ...

... isn't it? Peaceful, calm, beautiful winter scene ...

And I'm tired of it. Which is a bummer. I usually love winter. But today, there's a blizzard. It snowed and snowed and snowed while we were sleeping and it's still snowing and will continue to snow for quite a while yet.

Normally, I would just enjoy being home and would sit and read a book or work on some longer-term project that I have going around the house ... maybe I'd clean. (Yes. I enjoy cleaning. It's relaxing and very gratifying for me.) But today, I did not want to be snowed in. Today, we were supposed to go to Cleveland. But I just checked and every county between here and there that we have to drive through is already under a Level 3. Ah well. I shall be bummed as we sit here stuck.

Such is life right now ...