A Whole Lot of Randomness

It's been awhile since I've posted, I know. See, I have really wonderful inspirations at the most optimally inopportune moments. For your elucidation, ranked in order of frequency, these are times and places in which I have my best thinking and greatest ideas about all sorts of Very Important and Creative Things.

1. while I'm driving to work, especially when the conditions are hazardous

2. while I'm trying to fall asleep and also (these two are tied) in those random moments when I wake up in the middle of the night

3. while I'm in the shower

4. while I'm sitting on the potty chair

5. while I'm in a (boring) staff meeting

6. while I'm talking to a student

Do you notice anything about this list? Cause I do. Here it is: in all of these circumstances, I do not have access to a computer. Sometimes I write little lists to myself, jot down ideas if I am in the midst of #5 or #6 and can do it discreetly, but the others, alas, are beyond hope. Okay, and also, since I'm being honest and realistic, I also don't have a lot of Time (when I'm not grading/teaching/doing housework) and I also like to Read Too Much. Which is really what keeps me from faithful blogging. But books are just SO MUCH FUN! And just when I finish one and set it gently back in its place on the bookshelf, my spine stiffened with the resolve to Stop Reading so much and Start Blogging and Writing some more, my fingers hover over another book. And before I even know what I'm doing, really, I am reading something else.

Okay, somehow, this has turned into yet another confessional post. Get thee gone, guilt!

Okay, back on track now.

Here's what I meant to be talking about: all the things I'm going to be blogging about in the next few days, just so you can get excited. Here they are:

1. What I've been writing lately

2. How I plan to spend my summer

3. What I've been reading (the good, the bad, and the really cool)

4. What happened on Mother's Day

And I'll leave you with this while you're waiting for my next post. Just something overheard one sunny Saturday afternoon.

As I said, it was one of those warm spring days a few weeks ago (remember those? the ones where the sun shone?) and we were all out working on the flower beds, getting all the hopeful new weeds of spring out so we could lay down some mulch. Okay, maybe I should be honest. Clint and I were weeding. Jonah was throwing paper airplanes around and Lauren was still in bed (at 11am). Jared was looking in the dirt for Critters. New pets, you know. He already had found a toad, which he named Lisa.

Then, as Clint walked around the front of the house, he passed Jared sitting on the deck, hunched over with his head nearly touching his knees. "Okay, Wiener," Clint overheard Jared say, "it's time for you to go back in your home."

Just picture Clint doing a double take. You can laugh. I still am.

So of course, Daddy had to go check out what new mischief our youngest son had landed in. As he approached, Jared looked up and smiled a crooked smile. "Hi Dad!" he said, holding out his hand. "I have a new pet. His name is Wiener."

He was holding an earthworm.