no real topic here

Laramie Jubilee Days are over. It's the town's extended celebration of July 4th, basically, and an excuse to have a rodeo. We missed the rodeo stuff as usual but this year we made it to the carnival rides (twice), the free pancake breakfast, and the parade. We really only go to the parade so the kids can scramble to pick up candy thrown at them by float-riders and people in firetrucks. Those bags of candy turn into pretty big bargaining chips when it comes to behavior modification... "PLEASE clean up your room." "NO!" "okay, no more candy..."
When the National Geographic magazine comes in the mail each month, I have to race to read it before it ends up in the contaminated magazine pile - SO, I got to it first this month and read a pretty persuasive article about environmentalism. It made me want to trade in the minivan for a hybrid and set up a windmill in the backyard. Go ahead and call me a tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal! The one thing I agree with President Bush about is that we are "addicted to oil." Here I sit in a state overflowing with money from the coal industry, and with ties to another state loving these record-high crude prices...
I've been trying to knit more lately. I changed projects, sticking with cables but moving to something much smaller than a blanket - a baby sweater. I'm using the wool I bought in Bemidji, a cream-colored homespun that's kind of rough but looks good with the aran pattern. I want to finish it quickly but of course I've already had to rip it apart twice. With R getting fatter every day, I've got motivation to work faster and more often (and of course it's another excuse to put off housework).

I seem to be spending more time thinking about what exactly I want out of life. I've decided that I really only want more laughter, a sense of balance, and peacefulness. There's plenty of love around me, I don't crave respect or recognition or even anything spiritual... I guess after being smacked down by lupus and lung disease, I just want to pick myself up and make the best of it. All I need are some laughs, some time feeling normal again, and pieces of quiet here and there.