She's back!

I apparently left Rosie in San Diego where she must have enjoyed herself a little too much because she took a lot longer to come back home than I did.

It took me awhile to re-find my motivation and attitude and drive after Austin left. I just plain didn't want to! I didn't want to wash dishes and make lunches every night. I didn't want to workout, I didn't want to read, I didn't want to write, I didn't want to work. What did I want to do?

I wanted to be with my husband.

But, this week I've slowly been back to normal and I can happily say I finally feel the way I did bak in July. Whew, I was getting a little worried that I wouldn't ever get back there!

The biggest sign that I'm back: I'm playing mission organization in our garage.

We have a normal 2 car garage...the kind that could maybe squeeze in 2 cars if there were nothing else in it. (or if you drove 2 honda civics or something)

There isn't extra space on the sides or at the back like I've seen in some, so it's always been a struggle to keep it organized, store everything we need, and still have room for my trailblazer. But, since TB has been gone for 7 months the garage has exploded. Austin has more tools than home depot, we have enough golf clubs for a 4some and one extra, we have tons of lawn chemicals (which come on, we never use), pet supplies, paint galore, camping gear, a ping pong table, a heavy bag, and other random stuff which seems to just appear out of nowhere. We've also received a lot of bulky hand me down toys for William that are a little old for him, yet can't fit in the crawl space or house. So - they've been sitting out in the open collecting dust and grass and random crap that I've dropped and never picked up.

That time is done. Expy (the name for my explorer until I finalize her real name) deserves better. So, away I went.

I've spent one hour the past 3 nights Cleaning and categorizing, moving things around, making piles for goodwill and for the crawl space, making a pile for 'where the H will this go?' and...the best part...finding that I DID have one more place in the house I could paint. (silly me thought I was done!) I used the spare maroon paint from the office and painted the stairs that lead to the kitchen. They were an ugly dingy blue before with brown and black stains (somehow there were printed words that seemed to have peeled off something else????) But now they are happy and maroon, and soon will be happier when I add white stickers that say gig 'em or howdy or aTm. Still deciding on that one.

But it seems that's where I found her. She was hiding in the clutter, just waiting for my organizational itch to bother me enough to get me back on my feet.

Feels good to be back. And in 3 more months I can send her on her way for good. Or for awhile :) September has been as gruesome as February was, but I'm about to kick it to the curb and welcome October with open arms and lots of pumpkins adorning my house. Happy first day of fall :)


- manda