Generation Exhausted

Oops, I did it again

Way back in June - remember June? - I made a mental list of the things I was going to accomplish this summer. Personal/career development-type stuff, not clean-the-garage kind of stuff. Although clean-the-office falls under the heading of personal/professional development around here.

Yeah. I didn't clean the garage either.

And here it is, August 1, and I'm looking over my shoulder at July fading into the sunset and thinking, wait! How could I run out of July before I ran out of things on my to-do list? And then I force myself to be honest with myself - and really, you should see the arguments I have with myself in this frame of mind - and admit that not only did I finish the to-do list, I barely even got started.

So. I have not cleaned the office, worked on my novel, tackled the three essay ideas I've had percolating, queried a single magazine, or learned how to use Windows Movie Maker effectively enough to actually, you know, make a movie. In fact, I stuill haven't gotten around to planting the flowerbeds.

I have turned passing time doing little into an art form. And I don't know why. Perhaps I'm an adrenaline junkie, and can't get anything done unless the pressure's on. Perhaps I've been falling down in the area of making the care of my own soul a priority. Or perhaps I just got...lazy. It's typical for me to start out the summer with a list a mile long, and end it the same way, but this is the most noticeable yet.

For heaven's sake, I hardly even blogged!

***

In eight days, my girl will be home. Although we IM almost every night, and have spoken on the phone once a week, I've missed her so much. I miss her smile, the way she gives her hair a pep talk in the front hall mirror before she leaves the house, the way she often surprises me with a Tim Hortons coffee when I least expect it. I even miss the additional shoes at the front door.

***

There's still a month of summer, so there's hope for that list yet. Although, to be realistic, August doesn't offer the uninterrupted stretches of time that July does. Maybe I need a more realistic list.

Look, she blogs!

Aw c'mon, you didn't really miss me, did you? You did? That's so sweet. Sorry for not sharing my month of navel-gazing with you. It's been renovation season around here, and I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted to read my lament about having the taste of drywall dust in my mouth and boxes of florring blocking access to the DVD cabinet.

The house, it seems, is much like one of those magical tents that's written about in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. You know, it looks like this teeny little thing you pull out of your backpack but once through the door there seems to be exactly as much space as is needed? That's where we live. The house is not big, but somehow, it's always big enough.

In addition to neglecting my blog, I've also been neglecting the yard. There was a story in the paper the other day about backyards with noxious weeds, and I examined it very carefully to see if the complainants lived anywhere near me. They don't, but still...I must take steps, and soon.

Summer vacation was 45 minutes old when the youngest began to express her boredom. That's a new record.

And in two weeks, my Disney Girl will be done her summer placement there. The pace at which time has passed is mind-boggling. But I'm so looking forward to having her home!

That's all for now - office cleaning and paint touching-up to be done. But it's good to be back!