I'm Back -- With A Big Red But

Just letting everyone know that I'm back -- as promised and on schedule.

BUT...

I've decided that I'm no longer going to post on weekends.  So I'm here today, gone tomorrow.  Gone Sunday, too.

I'm happy to be back online, but I have to confess that unblogging was good for me.  Oddly enough, I wasn't the only one who pulled the plug...or at least shook it loose from the socket.  At least two other bloggers I follow did the same thing.  Must be something in the air.

I also have to confess that I wasn't 100% offline the past couple of weeks.  I had to check email regarding an order for Shane's work boots and I answered a personal email.  I submitted a mystery shop report online and I looked up the house my brother is buying on Google maps.  I checked the blog of a real life friend to see if his baby had been born (she had), canceled a camping reservation and made a hotel reservation instead. I printed some to-do lists and revamped my menu planning sheet, all from the hard drive.  And a couple of days ago I started catching up with the blogs I follow regularly.  Not the full offline experience I'd planned, but not bad for a two-week stretch.

Being away from the computer cleared my head a little and, I think, helped me to be more patient with Shane and Kat.  That part was unexpected, but makes sense, now that I think about it.  I wasn't getting things done around the house the way I wanted because I was wasting too much time online; I was taking the resulting stressful feelings out on them. 

That's not to say all my time online is a waste or that I was able to get all I wanted to do done in two weeks.  Neither is the case.  But at least I feel my time is in better balance now and I hope to keep it that way by limiting my computer time.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of my time away:

• With yesterday's van payment and extra money I added to it, we are now well below the $5000 mark in non-mortgage debt!  $4501 to be exact and I'm bound and determined to get that taken care of by the end of the year.
  
  
• Our garden is finally beginning to grow and I hope to take photos and post them soon.
  
  
• Kat attended a birthday (indoor) pool party, but also had a stomach bug.  There are ups and downs in life, even when you are just six years old.
  
  
• Shane has had overtime hours (yay!), but they've really only served to make up for the hours he's missed because of rain (nay!).
  
  
• I've been migraine-free for 34 days (yes, I'm still counting, and haven't counted this high for at least a year)  Unfortunately, the beta-blocker I've been taking to get pain-free was making me both bitchy and melancholy.  The doctor let me cut the dose by half, and I'm happy to say I'm a little less moody and still not headachey.  So far, so good.
  
  
• Photos of my kitchen were featured HERE, and Rhonda's readers have a lot of questions, which I plan to answer in a post sometime next week.
  
  
• We're planning a family mini-vacation (Eureka Springs, AR and surroundings) for the end of the month.  This is where we were married ten years ago, but we haven't been back since then. Shane doesn't get paid time off, so for us to get away for even just 3 or 4 days is kind of a big deal.

That's about it, I think.  Life's been pretty normal around here.  I think I've been around to all of your blogs by now, but if I missed out on something exciting happening in your life, make sure to tell me about it in the comments!