Too Busy to Blog, or Lazier than a Couch Potato Wilting in the August Sun

So, instead of blogging lately, I've been running around all over creation. On Labor Day weekend we labored ourselves up to my parents house where we had a lovely visit with two of my cousins from Spokane and their respective families. My brother brought down kayaks and I was persuaded to actually swim in the river. (My parents' house is right on the Verde River and they aren't even millionaires--I don't know what kind of extraordinary karma you have to have earned in your previous life to have a house on a river in Arizona, but apparently my parents were the Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincoln of their past lives because they've got it.) Normally I have nothing against swimming in rivers but this time of year it requires a near act of heroism for me to get in the Verde. Because instead of its normal beautiful green murky color this time of year, the Verde River in August is a robust shade of brown. As in a shade somewhere between two month old baby poop and cow pie. It's like swimming in a big stinky mud puddle. As an extra bonus, the bottom was nice a mucky and every time you stepped in the muck, little bubbles came floating to the top that smelled like cow shit when they popped. Yeah, that was just as special as it sounds. It was so bad that my brother's fiance lost one of her shoes in the muck and we never found it--that is some serious muck, people. Regardless of the muck and swamp gas, fun was had by all.
Last weekend, my mom and I went on a great trip to San Diego. I had a conference on Thursday and Friday and then my mom and I stayed to play the rest of weekend. Saturday was a picture postcard kind of day. The temperature was in the 70's as we strolled around Coronado Island and planted ourselves at the beach for a while. Palm trees were swaying, the ocean was waving (or whatever oceans do), and the living was easy. I could have stayed forever. Sigh. Work is so never going to be featured on any postcard.....sigh......