Well, it certainly has been a long time since I posted! It is time to get myself back together and write more often, and I will try to do this.

I just got back from my annual beach trip with the usual suspects, and I had a great time. The only flaw is that I might not need my beach trip as much as I did when the guys were much younger, and I am feeling a little guilty about taking a whole week off from the family (well, not really), and making Ron stay home from work for a week with the guys. The problem is that Ron hasn't gone on any guy trips in a couple of years, and it just isn't fair that I go away every year (at great expense) and he doesn't get to go anywhere. I know, I know, "the fair left on Tuesday" and I should just go and enjoy it. Ron actually said that to me. However, I cannot help but feel that I should shorten or cancel my beach time. The other thing that changes my beach week is that the guys are much older now, and most of the time, I have a firm grip on my sanity, unlike when they were all under 5 years old. I am going to have to seriously consider whether or not I will go to the beach next year.

While at the beach, I was fascinated by K and M's need to drink fresh juice everyday. After M bought a juicer, she also started making huge amounts of fresh juice every morning. To my surprise, it didn't taste that horrible, even though the juice contained stuff like beets (something that surely wasn't meant for human consumption) and celery (again, not meant for human consumption). I was shocked when I realized that I actually enjoyed drinking that stuff! More importantly, I realized that if I drank that stuff, maybe I could be a little more healthy without the tremendous effort of actually eating vegetables. M assured me that when you juice a piece of produce, you get all the nutrients and good stuff out of it, and the leftover pulp can be used in baking (ha! not likely!). Then K suggested I watch the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." It was very interesting -- really! This guy named Joe decided to go on a 60 day juice fast and managed to survive for 60 days on nothing BUT juice for all that time. He also lost about 70 pounds and felt great. I would love to lose a few pounds, but I don't know that I buy into this whole "nothing but juice" for 60 days thing. But, I could add a juice to my daily intake with only a little bit of effort and improve my intake of fruits and vegetables, which could use an increase.

Today, I tried a juice with collard greens in it. It was ... grassy. The addition of a key lime helped quite a bit, as did two pears and a mango. However, next time, I think I will use twice the pears and half the collard greens.

My goal for this week is to complete my syllabi for the coming Fall semester. This shouldn't be hard, but somehow always takes longer than I expect it to take. The only other event on the schedule is eye doctor appointments for everyone. I think I may have finally reached the point where my distance vision is stabilized, though my reading prescription may be increased again. This is when I start thinking about Lasik... wouldn't it be terrific if I didn't have to wear glasses??