5-1+4+1=9....

...and more random notes.

Five kids. Minus one lovely lady, off to her dad's. Plus four of my sister's children, one lovely lady and three fine young gents. Plus lovely lady, returned home. Nine kids.

There were glorious sword battles all through the house. Give a four-year-old princess a sword and she'll really hold her own. A dastardly pirate dared try to capture her beloved Aunt (that would be me), and she fought him off.

We played at the park in the pouring rain, and rolled down grassy hills in the sunshine the next afternoon.

We ate pizza and watched movies.

I spoiled them all rotten.

It was grand.

---

I went to the gym this evening. My lofty goal: Get over myself and get in the pool. Not "get in the pool and swim." Just "Get in the pool."

I figure that if I just get over my biggest hurdle, myself, the exercise part will be easy. So my entire goal for this trip was to get my squishy buns into the water instead of just thinking about going to the pool. Sometimes breaking things down into little pieces makes it easier. You'd think I'd already know that, since that's my general rule of thumb when it comes to teaching my ladies or gents tasks that produce frustration or anxiety: Just do the first thing. Worry about the next things next. But I don't always remember to give myself the same grace. So I fuss and stew and procrastinate.

The pool was not empty late at night, by the way.

There were people.

The lap lanes were jammed full and there were people playing in the other part of the pool. Or standing there talking. What's up with that? It's an exercise pool. But there's a big circle of people standing there yakking away right in the middle of the pool. So I floated around, looking stupid and aimless all the while, I'm certain. Then I soaked in the hot tub.

But no matter how silly I looked, I drove myself to the gym tonight and I got in the pool. Mission accomplished.

---

Meditation. I've never meditated. But I think it might be worth a shot.

I'm too cheap to go out and buy a book on meditation. Naturally, I Googled "how to meditate."

I seriously for real ran across a site, http://www.letsmeditate.net/ that says this:

"Have you ever wanted to meditate but were not up to the hours of dedication usually required to get any real benefit?... "

Um....isn't that kind of missing the point? Likely really really really missing it?

Hey...but guess what. If you buy their products, their special 3-15 minute meditations, you'll get the benefits of hours of meditation practice in only minutes. Why am I not shocked to find that they're hawking some products?

Obviously, I'm one to point fingers. I'm devoting my hours and hours searching for "how to meditate" and giggling at what I find. Maybe I should get off the computer, sit my rear down and spend at least 3-15 minutes trying to be aware of my breath.

---

Tomorrow's Tuesday Ten: Ten Things Worth Every Penny
Ten things I've purchased that have been worth every single penny I spent.