Summer continues apace

I seriously can't believe June is almost over. What the heck, you guys? I don't even really remember June STARTING. Where was I when that was happening? Jeez.

I don't have much to tell you, really. We have been busy but we haven't been doing anything fun, if you know what I mean. C is finishing up his summer Communication Applications course this week and I find myself wondering how it would be if EVERY school semester was only 12 half-days long, with the kids only taking one class per semester. Judging by how things went this year, C would be getting WAY better grades if that were the case. Oh well.

H still is busy with community theater rehearsals. Opening night is in just a few weeks! Wow! I absolutely cannot wait to see my kid perform someplace other than a school cafeteria or rec center or library meeting room. Not that those aren't fun, too, just ... this is a real theater! People are paying like $20 to see this thing! I am just so excited for her. Acting is her absolute favorite thing in the world and I love to watch her play to an audience.

Now that it's officially summer, howsabout a quick check in with those summer goals, eh?

1. Lose 17 pounds. I am more than halfway there! Yes! No one is more surprised than me about that, trust me. Here are my weight-loss secrets: 1) smaller cocktails; 2) fewer junky snacks in front of the TV; 3) Jillian Michaels workout DVDs (specifically the 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30 and Six Week 6-Pack DVDs). I know. I kind of want to punch MYSELF right now, but that's what has worked for me.

2. Read more. Eh, let's see ... I finished Travels With Charley and it was okay. I'm glad I read it, but it's not something I'd go back and re-read. Also finished Marion Nestle's Why Calories Count, which was fascinating. Brian Wansink's Mindless Eating was equally fascinating, but while the Nestle book was more food-sciencey, the Wansink was more human psychology-y. On the fiction side of things, I really enjoyed Karin Fossum's Don't Look Back, a Scandinavian mystery, and now I'm reading the next book in the series, He Who Fears the Wolf, which is very good but a bit confusing at the beginning. And continuing my non-fiction jag, I'm also reading and very much enjoying Terra Brockman's The Seasons on Henry's Farm. So yes, I guess I have been reading kind of a lot. Just not very quickly. As usual.

3. Make peace with the whole shorts thing. Er, well kind of. Thanks to the aforementioned Jillian Michaels DVDs, I am pretty much okay with the way my legs are SHAPED now. But the pasty white skin and plethora of spider veins still give me pause. (Although my mom told me the other day that one cluster of spider veins on the back of my right knee looks like a flower tattoo! So that's fun, right? MOMS ARE JUST THE BEST.)

4. Quit buying coffee mugs already (also cute drinking glasses). FAIL. My new drinkware obsession is BPA-free reusable plastic cups with lids and straws. Cold-brew iced coffee to go, baby! I had to get rid of some stuff to fit them into the cabinet. (But NOT any of my cute mugs or glasses, dammit.)

5. Hit the farmers market every week. Does every other week count? Sigh.

6. Kill all the hornworms in the world. Well, no. But the ones that ate my tomatoes back in the spring are dead, and that's good enough for me.

It's already in the 100s here but we're not going to talk about that. Let's talk about how lovely the morning and evening light looks streaming into my north-facing back windows, shall we? SO LOVELY. And how I can't get enough raspberries right now. And how limiting myself to 5 oz. of wine in the evening doesn't really do it for me, but I'm trying to adapt. And how there are officially LESS THAN TWO MONTHS until high school football/marching season, which will be the beginning of the end of my backwards seasonal affective disorder.

Yep. So. What's new with you?