Get off the internet!

That's what I've been doing lately and I feel like I've doubled the amount of work I'm getting done every day. I literally don't sit idle for more than 15 - 20 minutes at a time during my "work day" and it's been revolutionary. I feel like I've said this before but it's amazing every time I get back around to realizing it.



Anyway! I made the trip to Cedar Rapids, IA last weekend to see Alexis Mateo and it was super awesome. With horrible rain and thunderstorms starting right before the show did, it was a rather small crowd. This turned out to be a great thing for those of us who braved the weather since we were granted a decent amount of time to visit with Alexis during the meet and greet. She was SO nice and I didn't freak out nearly as much as expected to even though I was so wildly excited to see her again.



I'm really looking forward to Sharon Needles (shown above) this Friday night in Des Moines. WHOO! The show is 21+ and tickets were pre-sale so I'm happy to know that it won't be full of teenagers (Sorry 'bout it little people! I was once young too. You'll live.) and hopefully not too over crowded. I have no idea if there's a meet and greet after this show but I'd LOVE to meet her and grab a photo too. I'm expecting her to take the title on Monday's season finale of Drag Race so it'll will be an extra special show to see her so close to when she officially wins.

Prompted by some rabid internal motivation, I've spent most of this week cleaning, organizing, and getting rid of things. I'm all about having more open space and less mess to clean up and, so far, I'm really pleased with the progress that's been made. My house is starting to get that "really clean" echoing sound, which I absolutely love. It's no where near spartan or anything and that isn't my goal. People (and cats) live here and it will always look that way. I just want to get to the point where the house is full of nothing but useful things that we all love and couldn't imagine parting with. The kids and I have been working in their rooms and the playroom and they've been blowing me away with how well they've been doing letting things go. I expected to have to fight for every inch but, so far, that hasn't been the case. We're getting down toward the end of what they just kind of liked so we'll be getting into some harder decisions soon. It's my goal to unload about 50 - 60% of the stuff in our house so I also have some work cut out for ME. Mike doesn't give a crap about 99% of what's here so, if we have too much stuff, that's on me. (I also realize that one of the reasons the kids have so many toys is because of me too. I'm really wishing I had been better about that now.)

Speaking of organization, I'm hosting a meal planning party at my house from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM on April 28th. There will be childcare and lunch provided if you want to come. I sent out an invitation to those who I thought might be interested on Facebook but it's entirely possible I missed someone or would be surprised about your interest. Let me know if you're interested in coming and need my address.

I received my final grade in my first class, Intro to Communication, and it was a very solid 'A'. Whoo! Not a bad way to start off going back to school. My next class starts tonight and is Interpersonal Communication. The three chapters I had to read for tonight were really interesting so I'm looking forward to these next five weeks. Following this class, I have almost a MONTH off before Summer session starts. June, July, and part of August will bring Intro to World Media and Communication in Organizations. Introduction to World Media is online for all but the first session so that will be a big change. I actually like getting out of the house for class and having it happen in a separate place.

This Sunday I'll be using a Groupon for two hours of time at an archery range and it should be pretty exciting. Hopefully I get to use a big ass bow and can get a picture taken with it. Yay weapons!

I wish I made more time to read for fun. I miss it.

After a week of one frustrating, disgusting, or horrible thing after another, I'm having another "Everything's amazing!" kind of week and it's prompted me to actually get a blog post completed. (I started one back toward the end of March during my "spring break" week from school but it probably won't ever see publication as it's a little dated now.)

This Thursday (the 12th) I have the final session of my first class at Bethel and I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by. Normally classes are only five weeks but this one ran for seven as we had a week off for spring break and one for Easter. So far I'm very pleased with the grades I've earned on my assignments and feel fairly good about my final speech at this point. My topic is Mr.Rogers and he turned out to be a lot more interesting than I'd first anticipated when I chose the topic. Since I won't be able to integrate all the information from the article into my speech, I'd like to share this link with all of here so you don't miss out on it:

15 Reasons Mr.Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever



Awesome. I know all of my classes won't be as enjoyable as this first one but, if the work loads are somewhat comparable, I should be able to swing it.

I've also been slowly improving my organization and time management skills again. My house, at this moment, has been really clean for over 24 hours. We're talking that weird, echoing type of clean and it pleases me to no end. When it was just two adults living here I had no problem keeping it company ready at all times. With the advent of the children, that became more of a challenge. I'm hoping to maintain and have this be the new normal so we'll see what it's like in a week. I'm going to be doing a bit of traveling in the next two weeks so I'm sure that, while mommy is away, the other four people who live here will do their best to undo all my efforts.

"Where are you traveling?" you may ask. IOWA. That's right friends, I'm headed south to enjoy the (soon to be planted) corn fields and wide open spaces of our socially progressive neighbor. Why? Drag queens of course! (Am I ever really motivated to travel for any other reason?) This Saturday night one of my favorites from Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race, Alexis Mateo, will be appearing at Belle's Basix in Cedar Rapids. Next Friday night, my absolute favorite from Season 4 (the current season airing Monday night's on LOGO or Tuesday morning's at the above link), Sharon Needles, will be appearing at The Garden in Des Moines. (She's originally from Newton, IA which is very close to Des Moines.) SO EXCITED. I'm doubly lucky these shows are happening where they are in Iowa as a friend (and fellow Hardee's alum) from high school lives in Cedar Rapids with her wife and is as excited for the shows as I am. So hooray for seeing old friends, hooray for travel, and hooray for drag! The only downside? I already have plans for this Sunday afternoon and I'd be cutting it really close to make it on time. I can't decide if all the rushing around will really be worth it or not. As of now, I'm leaning toward yes but we'll see how the rest of the week goes.

I'm also trying to keep working away at my goal/resolution list for this year. I've done really well with some things but haven't thought too much about others. In April, I've scheduled the first monthly get together for the year so far. Oops. Well, at least it's out there. It'll be at my house on April 28th from 10:30 AM - 1:30 PM and you're more than welcome to attend if I didn't specifically invite you on Facebook. (Text/call/email me for details if you need them.) I'll be serving lunch and talking a little bit about how I do my monthly meal planning since quite a few people have had questions about how that works. I'm already looking forward to trying to do something fun in May when it's warmer but haven't really come up with anything yet. If I can manage something every month from here on out, I'll be pretty pleased with 9/12 months.

Another interesting development has been my return to regular attendance at the local Unitarian church, MSUS. Since I'm on my own as far as taking the kids to church goes, I've been really unmotivated to try and do it on my own until they were much more independent. I have no idea why, but I suddenly decided a couple weeks ago that they had reached a certain capability and it was time. (It also helps that I've had people gently poking and prodding me to get my ass back in a pew over the past few years.) The first week back I was handed maracas to play during the first hymn and the kids acted as if they'd been there every Sunday since birth. There was also no hesitation about going up front during the children's story and not even a backward glance when I dropped them off at their Sunday school classrooms. I'm also excited to see that the promises of many other young families with children were not exaggerations. Yay! Thanks for not giving up on me all you tenacious UUs! ;)

I'm looking forward to getting things going in the garden in the coming weeks and being able to be outside for long stretches of time. In two entirely separate posts, I hope to discuss with you my recent appreciation for my children and the mourning I've been doing as I realize they seriously aren't babies anymore and that phase is done and gone for me on a permanent basis. I'm also halfway through the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and it's renewed my motivation to create more of our food from scratch and try to eat as locally and seasonally as possible. The warmer weather coming will be helpful for that but it's still going to be a challenge since prepackaged convenience foods are just so darn convenient. I'm up for the challenge though because, as you well know, there always has to be something going on for me!