This and That

Life is going on even if I haven't been posting much. My school schedule is finalized and now I just have to wait two more weeks for school to start. When they say "fall quarter", they really mean "fall" here. I have three classes, and each one meets for three hours once a week. Class is on Monday and Tuesday afternoons and then the rest of my week is "free" (except for taking care of my kids, my house, and my hours of reading and research).

So I've been filling my time with plenty of mindless reading, cooking, and TV viewing. Although I'm looking forward to my classes, I know I will miss the opportunity to ready whatever I want and to fill my evenings with such fare as CSI and Criminal Minds. We've also been spending lots of quality family time going places on our bikes. This morning we went to the farmer's market where I bought a lot of produce and S-Boogie got her face painted like a butterfly. Then we let the kids spend a long time playing on the playground at the park before we came home and had lunch. After lunch I made two batches of pesto with fresh basil (2 dollars at the farmers market!) and froze them.

This afternoon we decided to try starting a new tradition of monthly "dates" with parents. This time I took S-Boogie and Mr. Fob took Little Dude. S-Boogie and I first stopped off at the community gym where they were having an open house for National Gymnastics Day. They had a bunch of fun activities set up and S-Boogie spent a while running around trying balance beams and obstacle courses. Then we went to Dairy Queen and ate way too much ice cream (I don't remember Peanut Buster Parfaits being that big). After that we stopped by Borders to read some books and get a present for my sister's upcoming birthday. It was a fun afternoon, and although S-Boogie and I often spend time together it was fun to have a specific time just for having fun and doing what she wanted.

After such a pleasant afternoon I was happy to have a pleasant evening by myself. This weekend is Stake Conference and I decided to attend the "adult meeting" that they have on Saturday nights. It's been a few years since I've managed to go to one and I found that I was able to get a lot out of the talks. It was also nice to sit through a church meeting without having to entertain children. After the meeting I stopped by Target since it's close to the Stake Center (and both are a bit far away from my house). It seems silly to be rejuvenated by spending money and buying stuff, but I haven't had the chance to shop by myself for a while and it was so nice to spend time looking at things and enjoying myself in the store. Plus 9 o'clock on a Saturday night is a great time for relaxed, quiet shopping. It's too bad that Target doesn't carry The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, since that's what I really need to buy right now, but I did find some Ritter Sport bars on clearance so that makes up for it.