The sun is back! It has shone on our little yellow house for two days in a row, and it is remarkable how much better I feel. The dogs and I took a nice long walk today, and I did some potting up of coleus cuttings. (Okay, how cool are those plants? Rip a piece off, stick it in water, and soon you have roots. Put in a pot with soil, repeat.) This is a photo of the house from the day we decided to buy it--there's a garden and fence out front these days. And no Christmas decorations, but only because Larry makes me take them down. I'll have to take a picture to post.

I never thought I'd admit this, and I know I won't get sympathy from my non-teacher friends or friends that work through the summer...but I'm ready to go back to work. It seems I'm not very good at keeping myself busy enough to keep from getting tired of myself. It would be better if there were people to "play with" but most of my friends actually have lives and did things this summer. Granted, I cooked and baked up a storm and did gardening when the weather permitted, but mostly I read or invented reasons to leave the house. I knew I was in trouble the day I was excited about going to the grocery store.

So I don't sound like a total whiner, there were some great things this summer: learning more about guided reading in the class I took with Kelli, day trips to farms and museums and quaint towns with Larry (UNBELIEVABLY cool toy store in Newburyport called Eureka), a few weeks where I read two books a day, the time with Beth and Rebecca, and with Mom at the beginning of summer. And I did finally go to Walden Pond, which was lovely and a little bit spiritual. And I drove in the city twice without directions without getting lost! Okay, the summer wasn't a total waste.

I'm just used to being busy and on the go. So I know what to do differently next summer (in fact, if I don't work I'll definitely find a place to volunteer). And there's still a week left of this one and I have plans, so it will go out on a high note.