Evening light

Love, J

Good fresh food

I love this part of the summer. The weather is consistently hot; everyone's all tan and healthy and relaxed; the holidays are just around the corner (almost time to choose a Halloween costume!); and the garden is in full swing.




We've been getting tomatoes and green beans daily, and about every other day I get a couple of those yummy yellow cucumbers, which have been the highlight of my lunches.


I think the pumpkins and some winter squash are probably ready to eat too, but I'm not in the mood to cook such fall-y things yet, so they're staying on the vine for now. And the edamame aren't plump enough yet to be perfect, but I've tried a few and they're not too bad!

And I pulled out all the garlic and onions a couple weeks ago - they're drying in the basement. It smells... like garlic and onions. Hopefully that's not permanent ; )

Love, J

Drawbacks

Sweet Sarah's having troubles too - Lily wants to murder her.
Makes my problems seem so silly.

We're going through a transition at our house, as I shift from full-time
maid/chef/bunny cuddler/yogi/gardener to real life, grown up attorney at law.

This transition has not been as smooth as I'd hoped.

It isn't that I don't like the work - I love my job. Love. Seriously, after a year-long hiatus, pleadings and interrogatories and yellow legal pads never looked so sexy. My boss is cool, the work is challenging and rewarding, and, I don't mind saying, I am pretty awesome at lawyering. I've had my "maybe-the-law-wasn't-the-best-choice" moments, but when I'm out there really practicing, I do feel like this is what I was built for.

The problem is that I liked all the other stuff too. As much fun as it is to put on my fancy clothes and drive downtown for work every day, I still wish I could leave each evening with enough time left to have a whole other "home" version of my day. Just a few extra hours that I could spend weeding, hanging laundry and knitting a bit. Instead of face-planting diagonally across the bed.

In a perfect life, I'd sail into the driveway around 5:30, the hubs would get home around the same time, and we'd eat a good dinner together. Then we'd sit on the back porch while the sun went down. He'd read (or snooze, if I'm being honest) while I wrote for a couple hours. All four rabbits would play together nicely in the yard.

In real life, I've been getting home much, much later, as has my darling husband. If we do eat together, it's fast food, late. We haven't even had the energy to stay awake and watch a bit of TV together, nevermind anything as rewarding as writing. And the damn rabbits are still at each others' throats, with no truce in sight. (I realize this sounds like a ridiculous thing to whine about, but it really does bother me that they're not all happy. And now that we're both working all the time, I don't know how we'll wind up getting them all bonded.)

We are only a week and a half into this new normal. I'm trying to think of it as a new workout routine, where you get really sore and hate it at first, but then your body adjusts and it's all okay.

We will see!

Love, J

So, I found a job...

And start tomorrow. I can never tell going into these things, but I'm 90% sure this is a great opportunity. More importantly, I'm 100% sure it's at least an opportunity of some kind, and it's the first one to come along in the almost-a-year I've been on and off hunting, so I am very grateful for it.

During my jobless months, I've acquired a skill that a year ago I didn't even know I lacked: the ability to keep busy. Without school or work, I can easily fill my days with TV and napping. It is more of a challenge for me to cobble together an actual real life when I don't have that one main activity around which to orbit hobbies and chores.

But in the last couple of months, I have really gotten it together. Instead of spending all day in my jammies zoning out to reruns of How I Met Your Mother, I've been getting up early for yoga, working a few hours a week at odd jobs, volunteering, gardening a ton, taking care of the bunnies, and spending time with G. I haven't lost my finely honed relax-and-do-nothing skills, but I can now compliment them with the ability to be productive even without structure.

But I'm still looking forward to having the structure back. And the money. The money does not hurt one bit.

More on the job later. And the rabbits. And the garden. And our next visit by a very cool guy.

But now I have to attend to the many loose ends I need to tie up before I report for duty tomorrow, the first day of my legal career!

Love, J