Still alive!

It's been over a month since I've posted anything on here, and I feel like I've got lots to say (most of the time, I'll read or hear something somewhere, like a sermon in church, or a random Twitter post, that will inspire a train of thought I want to jot down). But by the time I actually find some time to sit down and write anything, the mood is gone, and my mind is once again a blank slate.

So I thought I'd warm up with another boring, bland "catch up on my life" post.

Obviously, the last exciting thing to happen was the Tech Retreat, which I wrote about in my previous blog post. Since then...

Todd returned to SB the last week of September, throwing us back into our routine of things. So far he's enjoying second grade. Since he's back with us, I instituted a rule at home: no electronic devices on (computers, iPad) until after Todd goes to bed. Which is 9:00 pm. It's amazing how much time you can reclaim in the day without any computers on. It leaves us the full evening to spend our time with Todd, working on homework and other things. And you know what happened? After a few days of this, I discovered I'd weaned myself off the computer fairly well. Once I did turn it on, I didn't find much to hold my interest. I read a few blogs, caught up on email and Facebook, and that was it. No interest in watching any of my myriad of streaming Netflix shows or playing games. I was more interested in leaving the desk to do other things-- like actually make it to bed early, or read a book, or play the piano.

Yup, you read that right. We bought an electric piano keyboard-- a Casio Privia PX-130, with matching stand and piano bench. The weighted keys are almost as realistic as real piano keys and the sound is very clean and crisp. The fact that you can plug in headphones makes it perfect for our apartment living situation. Todd had started learning piano over the summer,  so we decided it would be good to continue it now that he's back in SB. As for me, it's been 13 years since I even *touched* a piano, so I've been having fun getting myself reacquainted with it, practicing finger exercises and relearning songs I'd long since forgotten. Amazingly, my fingers still seemed to retain a memory of some of the songs I'd learned and played so often so long ago, so relearning the notes went faster than I thought. And now that I'm an adult and actually playing because I *want* to, it's actually a fun and relaxing way to spend the evening.

In mid-October I managed to get several friends together for a trip to Old Town Tavern for some karaoke. Wednesday nights are the perfect night for it, as it's virtually empty from 7:30pm till about 10:00pm, allowing each of us to get several songs in. This time I managed to get in 9 songs, including a couple of duets with Nick and a round of "Barbie Girl" with AJ. Apparently my friends and I have been there often enough for the DJ to recognize us, for after Nick and I did our first duet together and were leaving the stage, the DJ told me to get back up there, whereupon he put on Abba's "Waterloo". Evidently I've sung that song more than a couple of times during previous karaoke trips, and he remembered! :-)

Last Friday we held a fundraiser dinner for Todd's school-- it was a 50s/60s themed rock 'n' roll party. Allan and I invited several of our friends from church, most of whom have babies just under a year old. We hired nannies from a local nanny service to come to our house and watch the 3 babies plus Todd.
I dressed up in typical sock hop garb, made mostly of clothes I already owned. I did buy a skirt at K-Mart-- $2 for a perfect-length polka dot skirt that I can still reuse for other events. And Craft Essentials was the perfect place to find some really cute ribbons for my hair. Now I have a Halloween costume all set for next week :-) Two of our friends, Matt and Erin, dressed in matching 60s hippie garb, and actually won a prize for best dressed couple! Yay!

The fundraiser dinner was a blast. There was a silent auction, raffle, no-host bar and root beer float station for additional fundraising, and the highlight of the evening was the band-- Captain Cardiac and the Coronaries, an oldies tribute band. The dance floor was packed! What an evening :-) I hope the fundraising was equally successful to the amount of fun everyone had, especially some of the older guests, for whom this scene was pure nostalgia.

For now, though... back to the daily routine of work, school, and household chores. No complaints, though-- there is beauty in a set routine :-)