Are You Sick of My Tirades About Political Slash Social Issues and Wish I Would Simply Tell You WTH We've Been Doing Lately? This Post Is For You.

I know, I know. I've been having deep thoughts lately on Socialism, and status symbols, and cakes and stuff. Maybe because it is because we have settled into our "comfortable school routine" but things have just seemed really ordinary. I'll try though...

My half marathon is in just a couple of weeks- November 7, to be exact. I've been surprised at how much I have grown to enjoy the long runs. I ran 10 miles yesterday and am not even a little sore today. Who knew? Of course, it would also be a lie if I said I wasn't looking forward to the week of tapering before the race. I know I won't be the fastest runner out there, but I'm confident I can finish in style.

Bruce had a terrible week at work. Lay-offs were necessary, and fortunately he dodged that bullet, but unfortunately he was the bearer of bad news for others. Hopefully things look up this week.

Kiki's levels of self-entitlement have reached record highs, even for her. Her standard follow-up to any request made of Bruce or me is, "...and you owe me BIG TIME!" Also, she ate 7 kraft singles in a single sitting yesterday.

I volunteered my first shift at Kate's elementary school. Surprisingly, I actually teach the kids, and don't just half-heartedly supervise recess or something. Thursdays lesson was about the letters A, D, N, S, and T. The kids have little cards with each letter, then I say a word and the word in the sentence, and then they try to spell it with their letter cards. They were mystified by the word "AN, " as in "I have an apple." I was pronouncing so carefully but they insisted they didn't know what word I was talking about, and then I finally remembered that I live in Utah County and these poor children have never actually HEARD the word pronounced A-N, and instead are victims of the linguistic slaughter that is Utah and therefore believe that the word "AN" is pronounced "UHN." Once we got that sorted out my lesson was a success.

We enjoyed a date with our dear friends 'round the corner, Chris and Anne. We saw "Surrogates," which is mildly lame. Don't rush out to see it, don't rush out to rent it, don't rush to your computer and put it in your queue. At least the company (and the dinner after the movie) was good. Chris and Anne are always good for deep conversations and hearty laughs no matter what.

I assumed that the whole "I'm the Primary President" thing would be less stressful once the annual program was over, but apparently that was a fallacy on my part. There's always something to be stressed about- budgets and callings and crises, oh my! I'm trying to resign myself to having a low-level feeling of unrest in my gut for the next two years but that just doesn't seem like the Lord's plan to me. I've been utilizing my favorite coping mechanism- compulsive cleaning and de-cluttering. It's working so far- the house is shaping up and my blood pressure lowers every time I discard something. I've still got a couple of big projects to go- the girls' playroom and the office, but I've got to save myself a little fix for later in case I need it.

In spite of it all, dare I say I'm somewhat content? Anne kindly pushed me the other night re: my total lack of desire to plan for future employment or further education at this juncture. and it simply boils down to this: No matter the difficulties, I feel like I'm engaged at this time exactly how I should be.