In between swim lessons, little league, Vacation Bible School, and all my other summer activities with the boys, I’m dedicating the summer to catching up on my reading, brainstorming the next Great American Novel (complete, with romance), and getting organized (and updated).

Luckily, I’ve found these perfect file folders to help me with that last task (you can click on the photo to see the snarky little captions). I still haven’t decided what should go in them…but I’m hoping it occurs to me soon. I also have a variety of blank journals I need to find uses for. I love journals, but I can never decide what to use them for. It’s like I’m saving them up for something, but I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’ll dedicate one to brainstorming. Trouble is, I’m better at getting things down via keyboard. When I try to do it with a pen and paper and my head is swirling with ideas, my writing slowly deteriorates into a scribbled mess, which of course, I don’t want marring my lovely little journals. It’s a problem, I know.

I’m also trying to decide on color combinations for my redesigned website/blog. I’ve read that green is the easiest color on the eyes, but somehow I’d like to work some red in as well (even just a little would be good), and generally speaking, I don’t think red and green really go together. If I can figure out a good way to do it, I’ll post some combinations and ask for your opinions on the aesthetic.

Now, off to call the rain-out number to see if the boys’ came is cancelled tonight…

Oops! Apparently my subconscious mind is protesting the increase to six things from five. My mom emailed to tell me I’d only posted five. So…one more thing….

6. I’m not good at small talk (at all), and as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not much of a hugger. I’m sort of an island that way.

In other news, I was commiserating with a friend over how our husbands go on these business trips and only ever bring us back the soaps and shampoos from the hotels (her husband’s haul is generally considerably more ritsy than mine’s), and she carted out a tub full of stuff. I mentioned how much my younger son would love such a selection–he loves those tiny little bottles, and then the conversation moved on to something else. My boys then played at her house for an hour or so, and then came home, the little one carting a pink gift back full of the aforementioned little bottles.

He spent the next thirty minutes organizing and sorting on the kitchen counter. He, of course, treated himself to the most luxurious of the stash, making sure to give himself complete sets of products. The rest was divvied up among the family, and he apologized for having given me the least. He then explained that my husband obviously needed the most, ‘because he has armpit hair’. Say no more.

This is his selection, arranged on his bookshelf next to Darth Maul and Han Solo. For the past two days, his showers have been mini spa treatments. His buzzed little head is getting treated to Mint Thyme shampoo and conditioner, which he pronounces ‘Mint Ta-may’. It’s all very upscale.

Since I’ve been tagged for the ‘Five Random Things About You’ post, someone has upped to ante to insist on six things, and I’ve been tagged again! Seriously folks, if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time at all, there’s really not a whole lot about me that you don’t already know. But I’ll give it a try…

1. I’ve only ever really dated one person–my husband. I went to a few dances and was on the receiving end of some awkward kisses, but other than that, there was no one. I met my husband in high school–we went to prom together, just barely, and have been together ever since (and that’s a whole other story…).

2. I never (okay, hardly ever) buy soft drinks when I eat out. I figure they’re making a killing off them at $1.50-$2.50 a glass, when I can get a can (which I greatly prefer to a bottle or iced-down drink) for less than a quarter.

3. I have a small crush on Jim from The Office. Courtesy of Thomas’ blog, I picked up this quote on how John Krasinski described his life if he’d followed his dream of being an English teacher:

“I go by Mr. K. I’m teaching English at a prep school in rural Connecticut. In my class, homework is not homework, it’s preparation for the next day. I love teaching books that have been pigeonholed as ”epics,” and my big thing is discovering for yourself why you like them. I’d have a lot of stuff written in some cryptic way on the whiteboard where you can’t understand it until we start talking about the book. I’d throw desk supplies off bridges… I’ve gone out on several dates with the bio teacher. Her name is Sarah, and she’s just a really great girl. I’m more gregarious than she is; she brings me into the underground indie-world stuff and I bring her sonnets. It’s weird because the kids are talking about this new show called The Office and they’re like, ”You guys are so much like Pam and Jim!” and I’m like, ”I don’t have a TV. Sorry, I’m not into pop culture stuff.”

Imagine…Jim, as an English teacher…

4. One day I’m going to dredge up the nerve to go river-rafting with my boys. (Assuming the little chickens can also dredge up the nerve required).

5. I intend to get my website/blog redesigned by the end of this summer. The gauntlet is officially thrown down!

The rules (from Catherine’s blog):

• Link to the person who tagged you — me!
I’ve probably tagged ya’ll before, but here goes again… I tag: Stephanie J., Caryn, Sarakastic, Eileen, Thomas, and Kelly

• Post the rules on your blog

• Write six random things about yourself

• Tag six random bloggers by linking to their blogs

• Leave comments on their sites to let them know they’ve been tagged

• Let your tagger know when your entry is up