The Kindness of Strangers

I've had a hard time writing anything this last week or so. It's felt more like a chore recently, to be quite honest. I'd love to be one of those people that posts something every single day, but I just don't see that happening. At least once a week is the more realistic goal. I've been sort of wondering if there's anyone much out there reading my little ramblings.

But I feel a bit self-involved wondering that. I started this blog not for fame, glory or popularity amongst the cool blogger-set. No, I started writing it to get myself writing again, on a regular basis. It doesn't really matter if I'm just writing for myself or for a whole gaggle of admiring fans.

So here goes. Another scattered bloggity bog for me, for you, for anyone who stumbles across my little space and decides to give it a read. In no particular order, here's some random things going on recently.

1. Last weekend was super special. Why, you ask? Why, because I got to meet a couple of online blogger and flickr friends in person. Jessica, known as jekinthebox over on flickrland, and her husband are on a summer-long cross-country road trip. The a-go-gos (as they are also known) are blogging about the whole crazy adventure as they travel. You can visit them here to read all about it.

While they were here in Austin last weekend they stayed with the fantastic Erin of bothyellowanimals. Erin, the a-go-gos, myself, another flickr friend Dee, known as TexastoMexico and Dee's daughter Lauren all spent some time together on Saturday in downtown Austin. We wandered down South Congress street (known as SOCO around here), ate lunch at Chuy's on Barton Springs Rd, visited my brother and his wife at their new shop and looked for old-timey photobooths. Here's some of our fun:




As you can see, we are a silly crew. There's tons more photos on everyone's flickr pages, too. I should mention that all of these photos were taken by either Erin or Jek. I don't think they will mind that I use them in my little blog.

2. Monday I was given my yearly evaluation at work. I can honestly say that it was the best one I've ever received, at any job. Seriously. I'm amazed, happy, surprised and not just a little bit relieved. I've written before about my mid-life crisis in regards to work, and what little bit of a career that I have. My current job isn't one that makes my heart sing. It isn't my bliss. Some days it's downright difficult to make it through til 5pm.

But it is my job, and I take pride in doing the best job I can for as long as I'm here. Therefore, it makes me quite pleased to get such good feedback this time around. Thankyouverymuch.

3. I was able to spend a whole day with my husband this week, thanks to my supervisor. No work, no kids, no nothin but the two of us. We love to get days like this when we can. He works some odd schedules, and the days he usually gets off are either a weekday while I'm at the office or a day when we have the kids as well. Having the day together was a sweet surprise.

We spent our day eating breakfast tacos, messing around the house, mailing packages to friends, looking at wedding photos, making homemade salsa, napping, watching Law & Order re-runs, playing water volleyball with friends, eating dinner very late at night and falling back to sleep. In other words, it was a near-perfect day for us. We enjoy spending time together doing the mundane. I loved each and every moment of it.

4. More kindness from strangers. A nice lady on Freecycle offered up some Fiestaware she wanted to give away. I was the lucky one to receive this bounty! Since I was at work the day the lady wanted them gone, my mother kindly made the trip to East Central Austin and collected the booty. I let Mom have her choice first and then I took what was left. Here's my stack of the goodies:

My mom has collected Fiestaware for years. Since I first moved in with Amos, I was hoping to replace the boring brown plates in our home. Of course, thrifted, free or cheap is the best way to go, so I was thrilled to get so lucky as to find these!

And that's the end of today's scattered post. Hopefully, soon my scattered thoughts will file into some sort of organization. I've been letting stress get the better of me, which isn't good. I need to lasso that beast so I can stop grinding my teeth and get some sleep.

Adios, amigos.