I haven't had much to say lately.  I've been busy putting myself back together again and just haven't had anything to say.

Last year, at the beginning of June, we lost one of our dogs.  He went to the vet because he was vomiting.  He never came home.  It was an incredible shock in spite of the fact that he had had epilepsy from the time he was a tiny puppy.  I didn't get a lot accomplished last summer. 

I read somewhere about "the laziness of grief"  and it is very true.  Grief will simply sap all your energy and even the most simple of tasks are insurmountable.

Well, on May 20, our beloved dog Sheena was put to sleep.  She had followed (with a LOT of encouragement) our oldest son home from church twelve years earlier.  We don't know how old she was as she was fully grown when she came to us.

Another summer is here and I really don't want to "waste" it like I have done with some of my past summers.  So I have been very busy with mindless cleaning, organizing and furniture rearranging.  And this week I also have been spending time every day with my torch.  I discovered the hard way that I have to take a break from the torch if I'm upset, or bad things happen.  Last year I shut off the torch and forgot to turn off the tanks of oxygen and propane.  Fortunately, nothing happened.  Now, I double check to make sure everything is shut off.

So my living room is now completely rearranged and scrubbed.  The dog hair WAS all swept up...but that is a daily chore, or the floor looks like a blizzard hit.  I have gotten all the DVDs categorized, dusted, and put neatly on their shelves.  I even pulled out my sewing project today and worked on it.

I have a couple of laundry baskets that sit on top of my dryer.  They take up a lot of space--which is at a premioum--and tend to collect cats along with the laundry.  Recently, I have been doing one load of laundry a day--sometimes more, but I only worry about doing one load a day.  I have been able to keep up with my laundry this way without feeling guilty and everyone has clean clothes to wear.  Now I'm wondering if I extended myself just a bit more and actually folded and PUT AWAY that one load if I could dispense with the laundry baskets.  I think this may just be my next challenge to myself.