Ah yes, we are back and it is a beautiful as I remember. Beach, check. Ocean breeze, check. Swaying palm trees, check. Nothing to do but eat and lounge, check, check, check!

We had a very easy flight. My apprehension about flying alone with the girls was unfounded as they were perfect sisters the entire time. Once we arrived, the cousin immediately ran off playing and laughing and being goofy as only a pack of kids can be. Kulia is finally old enough to join in the fun so the whole pack tromps through the house.

Just like last year, Kulia has no fear of the ocean. She just walks right in and gets clobbered. Totaled. Smashed by the waves, covered in sand, but still smiling. Man, I love that girl. Kevin arrives today and then the gang will be all here. I can hardly wait!

Over the weekend we headed up to Ikea to check out counter tops for our stalled kitchen remodel.   We found a very nice butcher block top for the desk area and were very happy with that.  As we walked out, however, we turned the corner by the bedroom area and saw this incredible daybed set up.  It was awesome.  Both Kevin and I stopped in our tracks and said, “this is exactly what we want to do in the bonus room!”  Then we looked at eachother with that manical Ikea-esque gleam in our eyes.  Could we do it?  The kitchen isn’t done, we’re leaving for Hawaii in a week, school is starting up…. but there it was.  All set up and lovely and perfect and we decided, what the heck!  Lets go for it!  We installed a kitchen, dang it, how hard can a little bed and cabinet thingy be?

Don’t worry, we managed to restrain ourselves enough to wait on ordering until we get back.  But the last few nights I’ve tossed and turned in bed trying to figure out how to rearrange everything.  No matter how I try, I keep coming up with the same answer.  I can’t.

You see. most of our furniture was purchased for our 69th house.  It fit just right in all the little nooks and crannies of an old craftsman home.  When we moved to the ‘burbs, we hauled all our nice little pieces here and scattered them about.  But the sad truth is, they don’t really work.  It’s time I parted with the old and embraced the new but it’s so hard to give away things that I’ve lived with for so long.  But our house is full now so if I bring in something new, something old is going to have to go.  Sigh.  Well, I suppose I can wait on the weeding of furniture until I get back from vacation but it will be hard.

Even harder, I’ve decided to totally redo my craft corner as well with (wait for it) a new Ikea desk and storage system.  Yup.  This room is going to be totalled!  I’ve already started cleaning out the craft goodies and very slowly tossing the old stuff.  But it’s hard!  Oh so hard!  I want to keep every scrap of fabric, every sheet of paper, every pad of ink but I know I need to reign it in and focus.  Focus. 

Darn you Ikea.  Why must you flaunt your evil designs so?  Can you give a poor woman no peace?  Must I flee to an island to escape your devious influence?  Well, ok!  If you insist…..

Right now, my sister is probably sitting on the beach in Hawaii, watching the waves roll in while her boys dig and play in the sand.

What a bum.

I am pretty much inconsolable when I think about this.  My only refuge is the throw myself into packing.  At this rate, I’ll be packed and ready to go about 6 days before my flight leaves.  That’s not neurotic, right?  Right?

I can almost hear the waves calling my name……

We had a very lovely birthday dinner for Leina on Sunday night.  It was all the family and Kat & Josh (’cause, you know, they’re pretty much family too after this long!)  Leina had a blast running around the backyard with the cousins and Kevin (’cause, you know, Kevin is really just a kid at heart too.)  This was the first year she wasn’t totally overwhelmed by her party.  In the past, we’ve tried having it in the afternoon which runs into her nap time so by the time the cake and present roll around she is done, dead done.  This year, we tried an evening party.  Instead of afternoon crankiness, we had happiness!  How wonderful is that?

As for presents, Leina made out!  She got some soft and lovable animals, my little pony figures, books, outfits, pop beads and games.  But my own personal favorite gift?  The easy bake oven.  Yup.  That’s right.  Not only the oven but the cake decorating kit, sprinkles, and cake mixes.  I can hardly contain myself!  Baking by light bulb?  That’s my idea of a good time.  I never had an easy bake as a kid but I secretly wanted one.  Now it’s my chance to bake all those tiny cakes and cookies.  Leina is a bit unsure about the whole thing but she’s willing to try anything that involves sprinkles and frosting.  She is 5 after all.  So tomorrow we’ll fire up the easy bake and get a-mixing.  Yes!  Watch out Betty Crocker, here we come!

I’m a book binger.  I’ll admit it.  If I find an author I like, I plow through everything they write all in a row.  If I’m not stuck on an author, I’ll hit a genre and ride if for weeks.  For a while, I was all Fantasy, then Sci-Fi, then historical romance, then mystery, then non-fiction environmental, and now, memoirs.  But not famous people or historical memoirs.  More like fish out of water.  Random adventures of otherwise normal people in foreign lands.

I’ve been hooked on an English family transplanted to the Greek isle of Korfu, a sheep sheerer who moves to the hills of Spain, or a man trying to revive a neglected English garden after the war. Right now, I’ve pouring through a Thoreau-like memoir of a man who buries himself beside the Rogue River here in Oregon for a few months to wrestle some demons and I’m totally hooked.  I find myself day dreaming about escaping to a cabin somewhere out in the wild where I could roam the hills and fish for wild salmon with the bears.  Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.  When I told Kevin this, he looked at me oddly.  He could see maybe staying alone for a few weeks but for months and months?  No thank you.  I’m thinking once I finish this book I may have to pick up the source book of On Walden Pond and really immerse myself in some good old escape-to-nature reading.

As much as I love these types of books, I don’t have much luck finding them.  There are some that everyone recommends - A Year in Provence or Under the Tuscan Sun - but after you mine the obvious ores, where to go next?  I have had some blind luck in just wandering the non-fiction section of the library and grabbing arbitrary books but I’d like to find something a bit more focused.  Let’s face it, the odds of me moving to the Rogue or raising sheep in Andalusia are slim to none at the best so a good book really is my only hope!  But where to look….

Unless, of course, you could recommend something….eh?