The Return of Desire

I was surprised to see that it has been over 5 years since I wrote on this blog.  But really, it has been that long since I've written much of anything at all.  Life got a bit harder than I had expected it to.  Stress, frustration, lack of time--the usual suspects, I suppose.

But let's try this again, shall we?  I've missed writing.  But I also just finished off 2018 with a real lack of a sense of accomplishment.  I managed to "make it through" another year, but that's not what I want at all.  I want to look back on a year (hopefully I'll have that chance again in 364 days) and feel like I've done something, learned things, improved my life, and most importantly, helped my kids be happier than they were a year ago.

But we are all basically self-centered beings, so I'll start with what I did today.

I slept until 12:25pm.  Not exactly starting the year out with a morning run, but there it is.  Then I made oven-baked french toast that failed pretty thoroughly (I threw out half of it). But then I noticed a short story on Goodreads that I hadn't seen before, so I read that.  It was okay, but not great.  But I'll read pretty much anything by Rhys Bowen.

And I finished a book I've been working on for months. This was a struggle to read, and I'm just glad I got through it.

I ripped out a sweater I had started for my niece Adelaide and started it all over again.  I had taken so long to work on it that I'm gambling that she's grown into a larger size, hence the restarting.


I emailed my friend Pat, way over in London. She always has a million projects/books/things going and I feel positively lazy after reading about them.  I made homemade chicken noodle soup that turned out pretty well (a little heavy on the black pepper, but that's not so awful). And Travis and I watched an episode of "Monty Don's Italian Gardens" on Netflix.  I also started a puzzle of a Scottish castle. 

Lots of relaxation, some productivity, but most importantly, feeling like I wanted to write again.