A bad blogger, a good weekend

It's Monday. There are very few times that I say "it's Monday" with so little groaning in my voice. It's been quite a nice weekend, though I know I have neglected the blog horribly. Matter of fact, I neglected everything horribly, which is probably precisely why it was a good weekend.

I was noticing definite signs of real burnout by the end of last week (I spend all day Thursday trying to write a single page, which should have taken half an hour...). If there's one thing that a chronic pain condition will do for you, it's to teach you to take burnout seriously and STOP. This is something I've never been good at. I hate having to stop when I have things I need to be doing. I would much rather be doing something (anything, really) than doing nothing. But, then again, in the interests of being able to function later it's generally worth it to listen and slow down before hitting bottom. So, grudgingly, I stopped.

I ignored all of my responsibilities for two whole days, lounged around in our new hammock in the sun, finished Branden's sweater, did some gardening, read a little. I watched our resident hummingbird discover that we have put out a feeder for her convenience, was scolded by same hummingbird for being in "her" yard, ignored hummingbird's chirps of disapproval, and went right on sunning. She got over it, and even came over to perch on the edge of the hammock and check me out. She approved of my red shirt and pink and purple papers, I think. In any case, she was very happy to sit about two feet from me and watch before buzzing away in search of more flowers.

I am not much of a sunbather, really. I love the feel of sun on me, but I don't love baking in it, and sun-tightened skin isn't really my favorite feeling, either. This is my favorite time of year to lounge in the sun; it's still cool enough to wear long clothes and enjoy the warmth, and warm enough to want to be outside. Add to that cloudless, deep blue skies for 2 days running, and you have quite a nice weekend in the back yard.

I got a new pasta maker this weekend. And I got a hand-cranked machine to make pasta, too. Branden has apparently discovered a previously-untapped love of pasta making now that we have a machine to help (we bought a new food processer with a dough attachment last weekend, as our old one was broken). There's nothing like a motor to make that man love to be in the kitchen. We made pasta yesterday afternoon, and have plans for many more such adventures. It's hard to beat fresh pasta for an evening meal.

I did not clean the house as I was planning to, until today. Today, the ban on doing work was lifted, and I spent most of the day doing curriculum planning for the fall and catching up on stuff for the teaching conference next week. Then, when I was done with that, I came in and waged war on the dust bunnies that have taken residence in every possible corner, it seems.

That sounds rather harsh, doesn't it? Dust bunnies sound so cute and helpless, and war sounds so drastic. I must say they're multiplying (like rabbits?) lately; it's getting warm and the cats are shedding like mad. Well, I guess we could say we had a dust bunny rehoming event today; they have all been moved out of their deep, dark corners and into the dust bin. Which really sounds like the perfect place for a dust bunny, if you ask me.

I did finish the sweater last night, steeks, grafts and all. It's blocking upstairs now (I have discovered that there is a decided advantage to having an attic that heats up like an oven when the sun is out...), and I'll have pictures for you tomorrow. Hope you all had relaxing weekends, too! Happy Monday!