Can almost feel the water beating on my skin now...

Well it's been the summertime since we've gotten to use our own shower. I haven't taken photos of the hole in the floor or the subflooring that's been sitting there for months, simply because it just was too much for me to really look at. I've had to smell mildew, then rotten wood, then earth, and felt the cool air around the shower because there was nothing there but OSB between us and the ground. But finally after months of stumbling in and out of the kids' bathroom in the dark morning hours, I will soon be stumbling straight into my my own beautiful slate-tile shower again. GLORIOUS! SIMPLY PUT, I CANNOT WAIT! It's been an ordeal to go from wondering why I can't scrub away that mildew smell to oh-my-gravy there's a mushroom growing there to gutting the whole dern thing and then wondering how will we afford to get all this fixed. Then when it looks like when can cover it, getting the right guy in here to do it has been challenging. The Dude managed to find the guy pretty easily and he's associated with reputable folk, so I'm not concerned about the job. But the guy is SO GOOD, he's in major demand and we waited weeks to get him in here. Then when he came, we didn't have everything he needed, it took more weeks to get him back in. A guy who is in this much demand MUST be good right? I sure hope so, in fact I'm extremely optimistic about him and the job he's doing. It's already looking better than it ever looked before and he's only half way done. So the photo you see, is where we are right now... soooo close!!! I'm happy. Very very happy!

That last one just flat out ignored the obvious...

...I mean as far as nurturing your blooms. I suppose a blog could be considered a bloom, but a minor one. Over the last few years, I've come to depend on the social network world as an outlet for myself, thinking it was the one place I had some control. I mean, even when I didn't have any adults to speak to at my house, I always had a buddy to chat with online, right? But really, when I think about it, it seems sort of pathetic. Not that I'm about to give up blogging and fb-ing, but I guess it's time to step back and work on cultivating for-real relationships. My life with the dude is the biggest, most important blossom on earth for me, is it not? He's so much more important than all the social networking out there, yet marriage continues to be the hardest thing we've ever tried to tackle - But, as he might say in his EJ lingo, all the hard work pays off dividends! Here it is, right here at Valentine's Day, arguably one of the stupidest days ever labeled on a calendar, and society says I should be upset if I don't get a chocolate or a flower. But I'm pretty sure it won't matter, as long as the dude is my dude (but don't tell him that, I still like chocolate if there's a possibility it may come my way). We have a pretty good life. As I say, it's work, tending the little garden, and we could stand to work a little harder. But we aren't quarrelsome and I'm pretty sure the love is abundant. It's these other relationships in my life that need a lot of attention. For Valentine's Day this year, I'm thinking of ways to nurture those blooms too.

An attempt to follow advice- nurture your bloom!

P.W. recently posted ten things she's learned about writing a blog. The one that stood out to me the most: blog often; nurture your blog like a bloom. Even if I have nothing to say??? Yes, I suppose so. But then she says not to talk about the same topic twice... crap, we're like an old married couple here. We've already run out of things to say to one another. Sorry about that.

But I AM making an attempt despite being totally and utterly uninspired at the moment. Here's what I propose for now. I will go to my iPhoto and choose something at random and just write a blurb about it. You may think that's totally a cop-out, and maybe it is. But it's something. Okay, here goes...

There now. Horses at Swan Beach, how nice. This photo was taken oh, 4-5 years ago? I know I took the photo with an old LG phone. We were driving up to our lot on Swordfish Crescent and it was one of those lucky times when we got to see the wild ponies roaming along the shore. We haven't been down in a while. I suppose we should go check it out, maybe pitch a tent on our piece of sand. The kids would probably really enjoy such an adventure.

That's all I've got.