Today’s open house brought in more people, and three of the families that came through seemed pretty serious. We’re crossing our fingers for offers. We’re both so tired of this.
We’re off to Bonefish for seafood takeout, since we no longer cook in our kitchen. Who am I kidding? We hardly ever cooked in our kitchen.
I was looking for free audiobooks last weekend. Something classic, maybe something I’ve already read, but definitely something I can read when a book in my hands would be impractical. Googling “free audiobooks” got me to LibriVox.org, which is awesome. I searched for Anne of Green Gables (it came up at work last week), found several versions, picked one, downloaded the whole thing to my phone (you can download chapter by chapter if you want), and started listening. Then, because it’s Anne of Green Gables, I kept listening. I took my phone running, I’ve been listening in the car, I’ve been listening in the shower – can’t get enough. It’s not like I’m new to listening to audiobooks, but listening to this one is different. Running while listening to someone read me one of my favorite books ever (EVER) is crazy relaxing and makes my run fly by.
One of the weird things about it (that I kind of like) is that these are not professionals reading the books. Volunteers record themselves reading books, a chapter at a time, and I guess all of the chapters get compiled by someone. I had assumed each book had one reader, but what I’m listening to switches readers nearly every chapter. It’s interesting, and some of the readers are better than others. Maybe better isn’t the word. Less distracting? Some of them are doing voices for the characters, which can be cool, but there’s one woman who gives Marilla a southern accent, and it drives me crazy. Luckily, she’s only read a couple of the chapters. Makes me want to volunteer, too.
Things have been busy. And stressful. And sometimes, even when I have time to myself in the evenings, I’m so worn out from EVERYTHING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED EVER that I can’t do anything but sit on the couch and watch Scrubs. Sometimes I can stretch my brain far enough for Mad Men, but that doesn’t happen as often as it should. So I haven’t been here. And I’ve been trying not to feel guilty about it. I feel guilty about other things – no, not guilty (not about everything, but definitely about some things). Responsible. And that’s tiring. Weighs me down. So I let this go. Not writing doesn’t hurt anybody. I let other things go, like book club. We were reading good books (most of the time), but fitting in the time to go to the meetings turned into another responsibility, another obligation. I have other obligations, ones that are more important to me, so I let that one go. I’m tired of ignoring my friends (hi, friends!). What other things can I let go of? Selling the house ought to open up some time (no more open houses every single weekend), but then moving will take over with all the packing that entails. But then we move. Will free time appear the way we hope it will? Emily’s wedding will be past us soon – that should free up some weekends.
So am I back? I’ll try. But it might be at the expense of other things. I don’t like having to choose.
Wanna feel better? Visit the Bloggess’s Pinterest page. Some highlights:
And…you’re welcome.
Our house is still on the market. Riley is still with us (he’s doing okay – still excited about going upstairs, eating (he’s eating pretty well – better than ever, actually), and walks). We still have the same jobs (although I have finally updated my resume – progress!). I get to puppy-sit for Emily this weekend, and John has to go to a bachelor party. Emily is getting married in less than three weeks, and I haven’t taken my bridesmaid dress to get hemmed yet. But I will tomorrow! I ordered flats (I decided my sparkly peep-toe heels need to go back for the following reasons: 1) I’d take them off for dancing, anyway. 2) I don’t NEED to be the tallest bridesmaid (but I really really want to be the tallest bridesmaid). 3) No one needs to be peeping at my poor toe.), and they finally arrived today, so tomorrow I can take my dress and get it hemmed to the right length (to go with the shoes I’ll be wearing). And not a moment too soon.
I never thought I’d be so excited about wearing shoes. And socks! Turns out a whole week of not being able to wear anything other than flip-flops is nearly more than I can take. Mostly it was going a week without being able to run (or go to the gym for any reason, including zumba, because working out in flip-flops is not recommended) that was bothering me. I was doing so well and working out so consistently! Didn’t want to lose my momentum.
Why couldn’t I wear shoes? That’s what happens when you have a violent encounter with a cabinet. You lose (painfully) the toenail off your left big toe, and since it hurts so goddamn much, you can’t wear shoes. That’s what happened to me last Saturday night. I was in an unfamiliar hotel room, it was pitch black, I was trying to find my way to the bathroom, and boom: cabinet, toe, toenail askew, lots of profanity. It was the middle of the night, though, so I continued on my way to the bathroom and back to bed and sleep (despite the throbbing). It wasn’t until I got up the next morning that I actually looked at my toe (and the barely attached nail) and grossed myself out. (And you just now, I’m sure. Sorry.) I’ll spare you the pictures (because I did take pictures). Emily and Molly, my angels, went to a nearby drugstore and bought me some bandages and a pair of flip-flops (I didn’t have a single pair of completely open-toe shoes with me), and I patched myself up (mostly rinsing and covering) enough to get home. Or to get to Urgent Care. I went there first after 5 hours on the road (it was supposed to be a three-hour trip – this was not a good day). The Urgent Care people, thankfully, were really nice. They numbed my toe and removed my nail the rest of the way and sent it home with me. I almost didn’t take it, but I figured I’d have to show John (who was appropriately creeped out that I thought he’d want to see my detached toenail. But he totally did.). Don’t worry, people – I threw it away the next day. No one who comes to visit has to worry about mutant red-painted toenails crawling towards their feet.
My toe didn’t really hurt anymore by Friday, so that morning I tried to go for a run. I didn’t get past putting on socks. Socks are tight! Did you ever think about that? Too much pressure. So I didn’t run on Friday. Saturday was yard-work day, so I had the brilliant idea of borrowing John’s very large socks. No pressure, I was able to put on shoes, and (lucky me) I was able to help with the weeding and mulching. With that success behind me, I put on my own socks today, waited out the uncomfortable pressure for a few minutes, added my shoes, and out for a run I went. I am back. Thank goodness. I was getting tired of flip-flops at work every day. Everyone could hear me coming.