Is anybody out there?

I tell you, I get one little award nomination and I stop blogging altogether! Between kids finishing up school things - which require meetings and WORK on my part because of homeschooling - a new border moving in to the house, me working a bit more than usual and a health issue, well, the time has just ticked right on by. It seems that as soon as the routines go out the window, so does all my productivity! So, how has everyone been doing? Have you continued to strip things out of your house, computer, and life? I have to admit that I fell off the wagon a wee bit. I am waiting on a surgery date (hysterectomy - more on that later) and in the meantime I am not allowed to really do ANYTHING! Oh, but I can still EAT! and I can assure you, that is not a good thing. For the past month I've fallen in to a bit of a lazy rut and I haven't really been in much of a hurry to get out of it. And for me, once I fall off the wagon in one area, other areas aren't far behind. In the interest of full disclosure, I can tell you that I have fallen from the stripping/vegan/shopping wagon all at once. Normally, I would berate myself for such failures, but I have to tell you, most of these tumbles from the wagon have been quite fun :)
For example, I know I am not supposed to be buying anything this year, but you know what? I needed a dress for a wedding and that led to shoes and earrings. And then because of the upcoming surgery, I needed to find some simple dresses that had no seams across them so nothing would rub on the staples and scar, so I bought a couple of those. And then my one and only pair of decent shorts bit the dust, so I needed to replace them with something too. Oh, I also picked up some new undies :) I think I might need a shopping intervention...

As for the vegan wagon - it's all my brother's fault. He came to town for a week and we were eating out constantly! But the big one was a fantastic dinner at The Blue Water Cafe in Vancouver. I haven't eaten seafood like that in YEARS!! (I would add here that if I was a vegan for ethical reasons it would be much harder to stray, but for me it's more about health. I figure that if I eat the good vegan fare 95% of the time, I'm doing ok.) The thing is, once I do it once, I could do it a hundred times! So this morning it's back at it. Oatmeal and a banana anyone??

And the stripping? I had been doing quite well actually, but then I needed a break. I got tired of boxing stuff up and loading the car and dropping it off somewhere, so I stopped. And my bedroom looks like a sorting station for crap. So, back at it. (although, the rest of the house has stayed in remarkably stripped order, so yay for progress!) And, while my brother was here we cleaned out both his storage lockers and a bunch of stuff came back to my house so I could get it on craigslist and get it sold.

So lets just consider the last bit of time away from the blog as my summer vacation, shall we? I'm not going anywhere for the next two months, so I will have no excuse to let the blog and stripping slide like that again. I am going to revisit my stripper mapping wall (that's where all the great ideas are!) and find a new focus for the rest of the summer. I can't believe the year is half over already!! Overall I am pleased with the progress in my home, how about you? Are you seeing any changes that have stuck?

Drop me a note to let me know how you are doing. Do you have some big summer plans? Do you need some stripping encouragement? A pat on the back?

Carry on stripper friends...