Hello out there. I must be manic. Here it is 3:00 am and I'm wide awake. No sleep for the weary tonight. I am definitely moving to Minneapolis, MN as soon as the school year is over with for the boys, if I can't convince the powers that be to release them a bit early due to their remarkable grades and conduct. It'd be worth a try.

Mike is freaking out because I am moving so far away, but he'll get over it soon as the next girl comes along his way.

I am excited about starting a new chapter in my life...a chapter which I think will be quite spiritual. Simply cannot wait to get started on it. Well, I haven't any pictures to share with yout this go about. Although I did receive a book in the mail today entitled _Science of Mind_ by Ernest Holmes. A rather New Age founder I think. I've only just started reading it, it is difficult reading...I have to read paragraphs over and over to get the gist of it. Ought to prove enlightening in the very least.

Karin, my roommate, and I are waiting to hear back from her bank as to whether we will win the bid on this particular house we have been looking at. It requires a whole lot of TLC if we get it, but it will be worth it once it is all put back together. A nice house in Chaska. I can't wait to get started with the repairs...but still waiting on bank to do it's inspection. We've already done ours. If everything goes according to plan we should close on the house by 5/15. That's rather soon isn't it?

Once I am physically in MN, I can get pics and post them here on the site for the world to see. Right now we need prayers for repairs out the wazoo. But it'll all be good. I am sure of it.

More next time...CL

Today, I am not moving to MN. Who knows what I'll be doing tomorrow. I give up trying to make up my mind. I went to the White River Refuge where I own a small camp and cleaned up the front yard. The back yard was too much for me. I had to rake leaves then rest, then rake, then rest. I sure ain't what I used to be. I'm getting way out of shape and overweight. Well, as of today I am starting to eat better and maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll have the energy to go exercise. I do have a membership at Curves for Women here in town. Now all I have to do is show up and do the routine.

I am reading For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway right now. It is deep and not to uplifting. Well, I guess it can be in parts. I guess it is looking at life in the face of death. Talk about the essence of the "now." He is focusing on it way before Eckhart Tolle wrote the book.

Well, wish me luck on the weight-loss experiment as well as the reading. I will check back in soon.

Hello again...and this week ------

Well, now I am totally undecided about moving to Minneapolis. I am back home in AR and look back on the last week of spending and visiting and freezing as a little hypomanic episode with all the stress I have been under with the life-altering changes taking place in my near future.

I am reading Kay Redfield Jamison's Touched with Fire right now, a book subtitled: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artisitc Temperament (I've already read her Unquiet Mind).

Back to not moving. Jim, my ex-hubby; Lj, my oldest son; Mother; and Mike all say I should not move back up there. That nothing good will come of it. So I am planning now to stay in AR and travel to MN maybe once a month to see the boys and spend time with them. I have a huge adjustment to make and we'll see how it goes in the end. It is hard to say definitely what I'll do in a given situation until I am directly faced with said situation. I may find I cannot tolerate living 1000 miles from my children. Then again, I may find the once-a-month visit will suffice. Who knows what will happen 7 weeks from now.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the earthquake victims in Italy and to all the other suffering in the world. More thoughts next time...CL