plugged-in

in the past few days, i've seen just about all of my favorite (local) people, and it's been wonderful. i'm at my best when i feel "plugged in" to my community. i guess that's what defines an extrovert.

saturday, rose & i kicked off Scavenger Hunting Season by going junkin'. it's an activity that makes me so, so happy. if you are unfamiliar with scavenger hunting//junking//curbside shopping, it is similar to but, in my opinion better than, dumpster diving. around here, once a year folks can put junk out on their curb to be picked up by the town, free of charge. the rest of the year there's a fee to dump it & you have to haul it to the dump yourself. a large truck is recommended for the bigger stuff, but our 2009 scores included: a full length mirror, hooded litterbox, and trunk/coffeetable for rose; a singing, stuffed frosty the snowman & scooter for my godson PJ; a couple of baskets that bear was looking for; baskets for the sunday school program at church; a cat tree for bean, zelda & stormy; an easily-repaired second laundry drying rack for me; and a table for our front yard "landscaping". my parents got a lot of the furniture for our house on the farm from the curb, and it makes me feel connected with them, my own personal form of ancestor worship. it also makes me feel good to tap into the waste stream, and salvage for my own use what would otherwise end up polluting the environment. and, i love being generous, but can't usually afford to lavish upon my loved ones all the material things i'd like to. this is a good time to be able to do just that.

on sunday, david & i resumed chipping away at my Spring Cleaning 2009 list. in true ami fashion, i've made an overly ambitious list & spend more of my time kicking myself for not crossing things off than actually, you know, doing things. but this week we've gotten a good chip knocked out, which is closer to awesome.

monday night i had a family sitdown dinner with brett, rose, sterling, verdi, bear & pj, and then gina & alyx came over for a scrabble tournament. i tied with brett!!! can you believe that? maybe you can, but you dont' know how good brett is at scrabble! i was pretty stoked. and i got to see gina & alyx, which was a treat. david had planned to go to a movie after he got home from work (which is why he couldn't go to scrabble), and rose wanted to go, so i stayed home with the kids while brett went home to work & rose went to the movies with david. bear & verdi were in bed most of the time, and pj eventually fell asleep too. it was also made me really happy to see david & rose walking in together.

and then today, roberta came over & david helped her with some of her grad school work in the kitchen. meanwhile, i did two batches of laundry, and hung them out on the porch & racks to dry in the sun & the breeze. i checked on the garden. i cut up the week's fruit, knowing i bought them at the lowest prices, since i compare all the local specials for my little community newsletter. i trimmed, blanched, and froze the asparagus i bought in bulk. i heated up the milk for the yogurt i make myself. i cooked a rice dish for the potluck i was going to, and then experimented with pickling watermelon rinds. while i was doing homemaker-y stuff, i listened & overheard phrases like "ossified into 2 intransigent groups" and "6-page essay" that gave me the shudders. i'm glad i don't need a master's degree to bargain hunt & meal plan & cook. it's not that those things didn't require learning how to do them, and it was definitely challenging, but i never had to write an essay on How Not to Burn Stuff, and i'm grateful.

so i went to that potluck, which was the awards ceremony for spiral scouts. i got to see all of my favorite parents & kids recieve their year-end badges. i got to see my friend saille & her family, who i really, really, really missed. they gave me a book with gorgeous photographs for my birthday.

and, warning, i'm about to get gushy. one of the best parts of all of this, is that even though i love my community, even though i love my family of friends, at the end of the day, i get to go back home with david. it's always been bittersweet to feel so connected, and then have to go home to an empty (sorry, cats) house. i can't describe the feeling of pulling into the driveway after a really fun gathering and knowing that i didn't have anyone to tell. i can only tell you that my chest feels heavy thinking about it, and my throat fills up with sadness. i'm so grateful that i don't have to do that anymore. david might not be home from work yet, but he's coming home, and tonight i get to sleep next to him.

unless all that coffee i drank keeps me up. oh well. at least i have a pretty new book to read!