Random Thoughts

I've continued to be too busy over the last week or so, and it's nice to have an evening to sort of recover. Now I'll proceed to share some random, almost completely unrelated thoughts and snippets from this week.

I love comfortable clothes. That means that I often dress nicer the longer I go without doing laundry. I wear my comfy, yet still appropriate for work, stuff for as long as I can, and then I'm stuck with the other stuff. Today I wore a nice skirt, heals, and a nice shirt, which was a sure sign that I was far overdue in washing some of my favorite items. (Load 1 of the evening was just put away, and load 3 is in the washer... whew!)

I often get a bit stressed when planning things for other people. I enjoy thinking through the details, but I don't like the decisions. Tomorrow is our department picnic at work, and I, for reasons I'm still unsure of, offered to head it up. Some days I think it'll just be great, but then there are moments today that are discouraging... like when I was told that my activity selection was for old people. Ugh! I'm hoping that all people remember is the consuming of Chipotle yumminess. I'll be glad when it's over.

I'm also helping to plan a sleepover for some middle school girls on Saturday night. I'm pretty sure that it's going to be the best night of their entire lives and incredibly life-changing. Sometimes, though, I anticipate them not getting along with each other, finding our activities better suited for children (I'm not sure if that's better than my old people options or not), and calling their parents to go home early. I hope that the s'mores, sleeping outside in tents, and such will help them bond and grow together as a group.

I had such a fun few days with Marlanne, Asher, and Marney. Marlanne was here in Colorado (from Ethiopia) for a little over a week with her new son Asher and I got to spend way more time with them than I deserved. They're here for a short time to get visas and for a wedding, and Marlanne's appreciation for American cuisine makes eating out much more of an experience. I'm really, really looking forward to visiting them and Keegan when I go to Ethiopia in December.

Tilla loves her sister. This I've known for about 2 1/2 years (since the day Becky and I brought home those cute little girls), but I'm reminded of it again every time they're together. This week Havana is staying with us while her mom and new dad are on their honeymoon. These two dogs play like crazy, then take a break, then one of them will find a toy, then the other one will think that she deserves that toy more, then she'll steal it, then they'll tackle each other, and so on and so on. It would be so interesting to me to have a camera set up to see how they occupy their time while I'm away. Do they sleep the entire time? Or do they just take naps in between playing? Or do they lay around all day conjuring up ideas of how they will entangled me in their leashes when I take them outside later?

Well, that's what I've got for now. I've got to work on those last loads of laundry and get myself in bed early tonight.