I've been so tired and sore -- the heat swells everything and mild arthritis becomes agonizing pain that little relieves. Somewhere I have a script for celebrex, but I can't find the damned thing and I'm still hurting significantly.

And amidst all this agony, Mike and I remembered that we have a foot massager. It's one of these warming machines with accupressure thingys on it and I swear, my legs just turned into lime jello and slid under the blankets.

And wow, did I sleep. Last night, we both had every intention of porking each other's brains out and then we fell asleep holding each other. I slept for nearly 12 hours. I felt old and silly for doing so, but it was lovely, nonetheless. A blessed luxury, for sure.

Bear was gone most of the day at another kid's house (LaDawn's eldest) and then we invited LaDawn and kidlets over for dinner. I found steak in the cheap meat pile at the grocery store and snagged it and threw it on the grill. I swear the ribeye was soooooo juicy, it is the only reason I don't go fully vegetarian again. I grew up on a beef farm and wow, do I love steak. I imagine that the borderline anemic thing has something to do with that, too, but we also eat so much chicken and turkey, that steak is such a fabulous rarity.

Tomorrow, I'll grill the tequila lime turkey breast, cook wild rice, and have a big salad. But tonight, I ate steak, perfectly happy to clog up my colon, thankyouverymuch. I also baked brownies because I knew LaDawn loves chocolate and that all of our kids would love them. I baked them with strips...one strip was plain, one was with coconut only, one was coconut and nuts, and the last one was just nuts. Kind of weird, I know, but not everyone is crazy about those toppings, so I made it a choice thing, which worked out well for the kids, who picked and chose happily.

It was nice for the kids to play together. Sitting outside, LaDawn's youngest tossed a fit and wouldn't stop, so we sent him to our big rock to tantrum until he was done. It was pretty funny because he was kind of howling on the rock like a coyote, as LaDawn noted, but the rock was a nice place for him to go to get away from everyone and still be in eye's reach.

The two youngest of our kids went egg collecting and then went inside and washed eggs together. I think I will bring LaDawn's littles up every few days to collect and wash eggs with Genny and then take the kids down to the store to sell them and let them split the cash. I think it's cool that they enjoyed it and enjoyed it together.
When I jokingly suggested it in front of Russell, he said,"Cool! Then I won't have to do it any more!" So much for reverse psychology!

Before dinner, Mike and I had mostly run around the small city near us. We'd poked around a bike shop to see about replacing Genny's bike tube. I also asked about a bike and a Trail-a-bike for Genny. I think it would be nice for us to be able to ride together. I won't be able to do it every day for a long time -- too out of shape, but I figure I can alternate between biking, swimming, and walking to get myself into shape.

Walking right now is painful with the arthritis in my feet and ankles, so I'm hoping to swim tomorrow, unless we go blackberrying. If we go blackberrying, I'm taking tylenol and hoping for the best.

I'm getting zonked, so I'm out, baby.