Aw shucks. I’m feeling sorta cheesy and happy. I wish there were a way to blog about my thoughts without it being such a blog about my thoughts. I have been missing my dear Derek all week, while he’s been in Washington D.C. being all smart presenting at an engineering conference. I’ve been in charge of three very intense little people, and have done what I habitually do while Derek is away. I count the hours until he comes home, fantasizing about what I will do when I finally escape and he is home to take charge of the minions. I realized the other day that this isn’t probably the best way to spend my time. I realized that I actually have this fantastic, intelligent, kind person who I decided to live with and be with, and I can’t wait till he comes home so I can get a sitter and go be with him doing something fun that doesn’t involve patching potholes in the driveway. Which is how we spent last weekend. Did you know that there are people that do that for a living? Because the rest of us? We hate doing crap like that. It sux.

So yeah, I’ve been reading a boat-load (for some reason, it took 7 typings to get to boat-load, including boattoad and boat loat) about the idea of minimalist living. This is so incredibly appealing to me, and I’ve been making these tiny changes each day. Like getting rid of duplicate stuff. I have two little pots, tiny, really, that are the same size. I can’t remember ever having to use them both at the same time, so I’m pretty sure the universe will not collapse if I can pare down to just one. I also have just dozens of bottles and tubes of soap and lotion and stuff in the bathroom that I’m sure I will never use, but just can’t seem to part with because THE WASTE! I wonder if the local women’s shelter has any fancy smelling lotion. Or any lotion at all. Towels? Why do we have a dozen towels for 5 people? Why?

I have decided that my dream home will be much more like a hotel than most people would desire, or even tolerate. I have a specific hotel in mind, where nothing is made of junk, but there’s not much of it. A place to sleep, a place to sit, a tidy bathroom, a window (overlooking the Caribbean would be nice). This is so calm and peaceful to me. I have too much stuff. Too much junk. I don’t just want to de-clutter, I want to not have stuff. How? I don’t know. I’ll keep you posted. But I already feel a burden being lifted, just by thinking about it.

My cousin Liz and aunt Barbara are coming to visit tomorrow! I adore them both and can’t wait. They’re driving 3 hours just to come watch me sing in my first *real* recital. Did I mention I’ve been taking singing lessons? Tons of fun. I get to do this comical switcheroo with another singing student who is also a great accompanist. To save money, he plays for me and I play for him. Kind of a circus act. And we’re doing a duet where we have to look at each other and giggle. I mean, NOT giggle.

Also, today I made my first batch of sauerkraut! When I found out how little there is to do, I decided it was time to give it a go. All you have to do is chop, put in a crock, salt, pound, cover. I’m so excited, it should be ready in a couple of weeks. If you want to make some, watch this first.

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