Almost Relaxing

Went to the YMCA--did 30 minutes on elliptical, 15 minutes on weights (arms, back, & stomach) then 10 minutes on elliptical. We went to the "mat" room afterwards to let the kids play. On tuesday of this week the temperature here in OH was 81 degrees. Care to know what the high today was? 35 degrees...and not only that--it SNOWED ALL DAY LONG. Yeah, so how does a happy temperature like 81 degrees drop down to 35 degrees in 2 days?? If you know me, you know that I LOVE the wintertime...but when springtime comes around and you have a few days of 70s, 80s degrees, it's not nice to resume frigid weather just because!!! (I had pretty much put away Anna's winter coat last week...)

After Anna went to school, I did some dishes and picked up the place. I sent out some cards in the mail...I think I need to be a bit more productive during my 3 hours that Anna is in school...oh yeah, I did some laundry too. Nothing like doing laundry that makes you feel like you've accomplished SOMETHING. My goal during those 3 hours is to tidy up the house so that I can spend the rest of the evening with my family relaxing. Although, it seems that I spend those 3 hours doing that and then for the rest of the evening I am almost relaxing...sound familiar to anyone? There's always something else I forgot to do, etc. Well, today I have a desire to scrapbook....and I feel like I can almost scrapbook--because the C2 room isn't quite done and I have 3 million pictures to organize before I can actually BEGIN scrappin'. Such is my daily grind--almost getting stuff done. But, I love my life--and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Last night Tyler & I watched some chinese films we'd rented. It's a gamble to watch foreign films---they are rarely rated, so you have no idea what good/awful things might be in it. The first one we watched was called The Three Swordsman with Andy Lau ( a YOUNG Andy Lau). It was made in the 80s, we're certain. How do we know? You should have heard that soundtrack--well, actually, there was only ONE song throughout the whole movie. If I'd ever wondered what chinese music--80s style--sounded like, I found out last night. It was hard to pay attention to the movie when the music, and the, um, "special effects," had been 80'd.

The second movie, Empress Dowager--which was so horrible, I had to turn it off. I cannot handle pain myself--much less seeing other people being hurt by others. This movie showed some terrible behavior by the Empress Dowager--a woman who actually ruled China (the only female to ever rule--see, I was paying attention when I got my history degree, which was mainly in Asian history). She did anything to manipulate others and hold onto power. This made me wonder--why is there such a struggle for power? I mean, we're all going to die and even if we're in power and we do things our way---why would we think for one second that the next person in charge is going to continue on with our grand ideas? They won't. So why seek for power at all? You can tell I wasn't born to be a politician...especially in ancient China.

So I found this fabulous recipe for banana bread. It was in a recipe book that I inherited from my mom who was downsizing her cookbook collection. The banana bread recipe was way good, so I thought I'd try another recipe called Soft Oatmeal Cookies. Yeah, those weren't so good. Do you ever bake something and have high expectations about how they're going to turn out...but your hopes are dashed when they don't look tasty and taste just "okay." Yeah, imagine "Soft Oatmeal Cookies" like that...this is one recipe that no one will be asking for!