The New and Improved Amanda

Happy Sunday, Barb.

I just got all caught up on my favorite blogs and am hoping you'll be able to rejoin our page here soon. (Listen to me!! The Queen of Not Writing, whining about you being gone!) Isn't it funny how dependent we have become on our technology. I was just thinking how impossible it would be to try to revamp my resume without my computer, my email and Google.

Which is what I've been doing the past couple of days, by the way. Ever since I got off this Prozac and have modified my drug intake all around, I swear I am a new person. I can't tell you how much better I feel every day. One of the things that has been coming into focus lately is my need to do something, as in, other than sit around my house and pretend to be a Stay Home Mom. That's not a self-deprecating statement, it's pretty true. I don't really do the "job" - clean, cook, lavish JJ with attention - I just sit around the house and watch tv, occasionally vacuum, sometimes cook. Most of the time, I'm not really doing anything other than being here. I know, that has value of its own, particularly for boys like mine: homebodies who don't need a lot of interaction but who are most comfortable knowing I am within arm's reach at all times.

Still, I am bored. I didn't think I was, when I was sedated. I thought I was crazy. I thought I could never get enough energy to go to a job or do anything productive because I was so freakin' tired all the time. But now, I'm up and going in the morning and am just antsing for something to do. ( I just realized that that's not a word - not a verb, not an adjective - even though my mother used it my entire childhood. I guess whatchamajigger isn't real either...)

Cleaning my house isn't it, though. I feel like being a part of the world again, not just my corner of it. I have been wandering around Monster.com and other job sites, trying to decide (for the umpteenth time in my life) what I want to be when I grow up. I called TL, J's former Assistant who is now in HR at the Dep't., and asked if she would help me redo my resume. She did J's last year and is really good at that. We met Friday for lunch and she went through all my stuff - what a huge help. I didn't even know where to start. My resume looked liked something from the late 80's and couldn't have been more tailored to teaching. I want to get out of that, and didn't know how to parlay any of the info on the resume, so she was a gift from above.

When I got home, though, instead of spending the rest of the day working on it, I took JJ school clothes shopping. We had a great time and he actually bought some very cool clothes. Somehow, we've managed to steer him away from nylon shorts and t-shirts that match nothing. He ended up with a bunch of shirts and jeans and it didn't break the bank. Friday night I was headed out to the store to grab dinner and S&T were headed to my house for a drink when I left. Imagine this, they stayed for dinner. We migrated to the fire pit later and sat around with K, R, & TN until late, late, late, laughing our heads off and generally enjoying summer. God, I love my friends.

Saturday morning, J got a bee in his bonnet to do something so outside his box, it was crazy. T&S were taking their kids up to some mountain, an hour+ away, to go hiking for the day and wanted JJ to come with. So J decided that we should go too, all of us, one big happy hiking group...Hello??? First off, those kids make him insane, and an hour in the car with them is only marginally worse than several hours on a mountain trail with them. Not to mention, the lawn needed to be mowed. But off we went, the seven of us, cooler packed with snacks, to Mount Rainier or somewhere near there, to hike a trail T had hiked as a kid.

What a blast we had! The kids loved it, especially JJ, who was carrying all of our food and water in his backpack (not a single whine or complaint the entire day) and leading our expedition with gusto for seven miles. We saw an elk and a mountain goat long way, the weather was perfectly gorgeous and not too hot, the views were breathtaking. (The workout didn't hurt either!) We didn't get back to the car until almost 6pm, exhausted and sore and starving. K texted just then to tell us that dinner would be ready at 7:30...we had planned to watch the Seahawks opening Exhibition game with them) so that's how we finished off our night. TN made a pan of nachos the size of my couch, then told us it was appetizers. I, of course, had no trouble following that with a chili cheese dog and a half bottle of shiraz.

The boys are all playing golf this morning; J and C are outside washing my car as part of their car washing business. I've done a little laundry and dinked around with the resume, so maybe will head out and hit the garden in a minute. The weather is finally looking up, getting warmer and drying out. I'm ready for sunshine again; my tan is fading fast.

Hope you've had a good weekend and things get fixed with the computer soon.
Love you,
A