Hall-ow-ween

I got suckered into volunteering this entire day at school. The day began with the Storybook Parade, which I had planned to attend. Moose and the Lower School students marched around campus dressed in all sorts of wonderful costumes representing their favorite storybook characters. Moose was Percy Jackson from The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. I made his “costume”:  a custom-designed, orange “Camp Half-Blood” t-shirt with an original Centaur logo on the front and a Poseidon logo on the back; Moose supplied the jeans and a silver pen for “Riptide”. Afterwards, I met a friend for breakfast (which lasted all morning). I picked up  Applebee’s chicken tenders (peanut-free) and delivered them to Moose’s classroom for lunch.

My Day Off

Sometimes procrastination is a good thing. After my walk this morning, I intended to write about how stimulating it is to walk to the music of Gloria Estefan. I listened to “90 Millas” and had to restrain myself from rumba-ing around the track; the music was so infectious. My brain got a similarly good workout translating the lyrics into English.

Drenched in the sweat of a humid Florida morning, I raced home to quickly shower and change. I jumped back in the car and sped downtown to a lovely breakfast for the mothers of Wild Thing’s homeroom. The women chatted, comparing stories about school, and enjoyed a leisurely brunch. It was such a relaxing morning that I decided to extend my day. I opted to lounge at the bookstore for the afternoon. Barnes and Noble — in fact, any bookstore — is like “crack”:  seductive and irresistably addictive. (Not that I’ve ever smoked crack, thankyouverymuch.) I found a few books to peruse and idly spent a couple of hours reading in a comfortable chair. An unexpected phone call from Calvin disturbed my reverie and impelled me back to reality.

After I picked up WT and Moose at school, I returned home to a clean, quiet house. I made Moose’s costume for the Storybook Day (ersatz Halloween) parade tomorrow and found a few minutes to write.

Tell me something good!

Put On A Happy Face

Belle convened The Breakfast Club this morning, and Calvin and I got to talking about our blogs. Calvin was trying to explain to our friend, Nan, about blogging and how certain posts still generate lots of interest months — or even years — after publication. As I tried to show Nan one of my rants about G.E. appliances, I was stunned at the tone of my (quite infrequent) posts over the last few months:  negative, whining, complaining. I didn’t want to read my own blog let alone show it off. Calvin asked why I wasn’t writing anymore, and I realized I was boring myself and everyone else with all the negativity. Calvin’s reply? “Write about something good!”

In no particular order, here’s what’s good in The Zone these days:

• My great friend from Chicago just moved here. [Calvin, what's her pseudonym?] She’s a brilliant lawyer and a funny, passionate woman. She’s trying to start a new chapter of her life, and I am so happy she’s back in The Zone.
• Calvin and another friend invited me to walk with them on the school’s track a couple of mornings a week. We started about six weeks ago (mid-September 2009), and I have been diligently walking ever since. After a scare with Belle’s health two weeks ago, I decided I needed to move my body daily. Since then, I’ve either been walking or biking or Wii-ing at least 30 minutes a day. I have lost 8 pounds in six weeks by dint of exercise alone. I find that I crave the exercise now, and my body craves healthier foods. Yay me!
• Calvin and Sprite tell me they miss my blog. Sprite insists that I must try to write something daily. Thanks for the props, girls!
• I love my new car. It gets great mileage.
• Book Club has a new system for choosing the monthly book and restaurant, a system which does not involve Alto2 running to the bookstore and scrambling for restaurant reservations every month. Now I can enjoy the books without feeling responsible for an unpopular choice.
• My children are actually keeping their rooms clean, but only because I am hounding them every afternoon to do so.

That’s a pretty good start, don’t you think? Let Little Stevie tell you all about it: