Be it ever so humble, there's no place like it

I have been introduced to two salads lately
that, to be quite honest, nauseate me. One is from
Paula Dean and the other one is from some really cool Catholic family up north who I am now enchanted with---well, except for their salad. And to say I have been introduced to these salads makes it sound like someone walked up to me with a plate and a fork and asked if I'd like to try them. No. I've just found myself face to face with the recipe and a picture of the end product.

I have something to say about the Paula Dean salad.
You can find it here.
Go look at it so you'll know what I am talking about
when I say "What redneck chef in what
trailer park came up with this one?"
I'm not saying I wouldn't try this salad. I would try it.
Part of me thinks it might be good and part of me
thinks it looks like it comes, shall we say, PREdigested.
Is that a delicate enough way of describing it?
But look at the ingredients---I'm just saying
it doesn't exactly smell of sophistication.

Like I would know.

Anyway, let's not talk about salads.
Let's talk about me.

Let's talk about how tired I have been lately.
I have been going to be about 9:30 at night
(which is early for me) and sleeping until about 7:30
(though I have actually gone til 8:00 more than once
lately, which is amazing that my children could go that
long without talking to me!). And I wake up
feeling exhausted. I go to bed feeling exhausted.
I have to just lay down somewhere
and pant in the shade in the afternoon.
I'm just SO TIRED.
All the time.
I don't know why.
I've been trying to eat good. I'm getting plenty of
water. The Big Stink is gone. Things should be better.
I shouldn't be suddenly feeling SO tired all the live long day.
Maybe I need to take a vitamin or something.
Or double up on my caffeine.

I am deep in the throws of planning the upcoming
school year. Here's the thing that is driving me crazy
in that area---I have no printer.
When Lloyd Dobbler went to the basement, he took
the GIANT 1970's metal office desk
that we had in our bedroom.
Remember me talking about how my large
old monitor is now precariously perched on a much
smaller desk? It's teetering above me even as we speak.
So anyway, around the time of the desk moving to the
basement, our faithful old printer gave up the ghost.
I need a printer.
I need to print out some stuff. Lots of stuff.
It's creating this OBSTACLE in the road to happy
school year planning. And you know how ridiculous we are
when it comes to buying stuff. How long did it take us
to decide what camera to buy?
We will just stand around, clothes on fire, talking about
how bad we need to get a fire extinguisher,
and just NOT DO IT for some reason.
I don't know why we are like this.
But there's no way around this purchase.
Nothing else can stand in for a printer.

I'm really interested in doing some things
around the house now. Things I haven't cared about
in quite sometime. Decorative things.
Making the nest cozier.
That sort of thing.
It's just so interesting after all the stuff that we have
dealt with over the past year (or more) to be feeling
like life could be NORMAL for a while.
How lovely normal seems.
You know what a big fan I am of the ordinary day.
Bring 'em on! One right after another.
Those are my favorite.
None of this running around, constant activity,
something always going on for me.

I like to stay at home.
I like the simple life.
I like peace in the valley
and old folks at home.
Home is where my heart is.
Home is where my story begins.
Home is where dirty laundry greets
me around every corner
and there's always a mess
in the kitchen to welcome me.

And no one ever makes that mess.
It just magically appears.

Oh well.
I love it anyway.