Spending a Little Quality Time with Myself

Ack! Blake is leaving for Houston tomorrow to spend the weekend presenting his research at an academic conference. Which means that I'll be here in Muncie all by myself. To keep myself occupied and entertained, I've been working on a list of things I can do to distract myself from feeling too lonely.

• Put the binding on my quilt. My friend, Sarah, has so kindly offered to help me with this Saturday morning.
• Return the two extra bath poufs to Target. (We learned about the importance of good personal hygiene last night at Activity Days. Each girl got a little kit with things like nail clippers, soap, toothpaste, and hand sanitizer, to name a few. And let me tell you -- I've never seen 10-year-olds so excited to shower!)
• Do my Thanksgiving grocery shopping. I'll take my list and the list of my friend, who is coming to feast with us from St. Louis, and I will shock the Muncie markets with my shopping prowess.
• Look for new khaki pants for Blake. Because I like my husband to dress well.
• Plan the Relief Society lesson I have to teach on Sunday. Any thoughts along the lines of "Temporal and Spiritual Labor, 'Hand in Hand Together'"? No seriously -- any thoughts?
• Watch the BBC Pride and Prejudice and maybe also The Secret of Roan Inish. Because Blake will be gone.
• Bake. I have stuff for zucchini bread and banana bread. Maybe I'll tackle those.
• Clean the bathroom. Not because I love cleaning the bathroom, mind you, but because we have guests coming next week. And I do like having a clean bathroom.
• Buckle down and work on that novel I foolishly said I'd write this month.
  

Well, this seems like a good list. I think I'm bordering on overexerting myself -- which is a good thing, in this case. But if I'm lucky, it will also distract me from thinking to much about that dreaded drive to the airport I have to make by myself. (Have I ever told you how I really don't like driving to the airport by myself? I don't.)

In the meantime, I think I'll watch new lakes form here in Muncie. For the last few days it's been raining. And raining. And raining. And hard. We have a new small river in our front yard, and on the way to work this morning, we noticed several dozen new small lakes developing in people's yards. So maybe while Blake's gone I can also go fishing.