BLEPHAROSPASMODIC

Link: a graphical representation of your sleeping habits

I miss Amanda and Lily… although, I have had a relaxing day since they left yesterday afternoon; I watched movies, took a small nap, read some Bukowski, surfed the net, ate cheese curls and Strawberry Fig Newtons, etc, etc, etc.

I also started thinking as I tend to do during these times. You know, the average person male lives to be somewhere around 75 years old. That sounds like a pretty long time, but then I started thinking how that computed to only 75 summers, and that I’m closing in on halfway there. I’ve used up nearly half of my Falls - half of my Springs, my summers, my winters. Then I started thinking that I need to take more vacations. So I started surfing expedia.com and other vacation sites. Then I realized that we need to save more money. Then I started thinking about paying for private school for Lily, and for college, and retirement. Why does my brain have to work this way? *stabs brain…

Anyway, some places I’d like to go and see before I die:

• Alaska / British Columbia
• The Caribbean
• The Mediterranean
• Mexico
• Boston / New England
• Thailand
• Arkansas (ah-hahahaha - yeah, right)
• Egypt
• Ireland

Of course, I can’t really complain too much: I’ve skied  the Alps, hiked the Andes, traveled much of Europe…  Now I just need to do it with  my family….

I spent the last 4 hours trying to rid my computers of the damn WinAntiVirus Malware… I think I finally have everything clean… so far no popups and/or hijacked browsers. [keeps fingers crossed]

Anyway, Amanda is about to get off from work, pack up and head off to Dyersburg for the next 5 days. I pretend to be a loner, but when it comes right down to it, I don’t like to be alone. That doesn’t mean I can’t entertain myself; it just means that I’m going to miss both her and Lily terribly.

Lily is the perfect 2 year old… so sweet and endearing one second, a total show-off the next, and flailing about on the ground in a fit of terror the next. I can’t imagine my life without her - I can’t imagine coming home and not hearing the mailslot on the door open up and her yelling “daaaaaddddyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!” and seeing her tiny hand protruding from the door on my way up the sidewalk. She breaks my heart every day.

So, what to do with myself for the next week - being wife and child-less? I just don’t know. My car needs an inspection/oil-change… I’m going out to eat with my mom tonight for my birthday - I have tentative plans to watch some football with Zac tomorrow. But that only takes up the weekend. If we had money and the means to transport large supplies, I might start working on the basement. Then again, the yard needs work and I’m on a mission to find free bricks. The bedroom needs painting/wallpapering. The dining room needs painting. Shelving needs to be put up in various spots. I’d like to get photo galleries put back up…

I guess we’ll have to see.

Amanda’s been given another promotion. Effective as of a week or two, she’ll be managing the highest volume store in the entire district. Not only is it good for the obvious reasons, but she’ll also be working just a few minutes from home instead of 25 miles away. She keeps slaving away, providing results, turning stores around. She should go on “The Apprentice” [sings the money-money-money song]