out from under the pile?

whew.

since getting back from ireland a week ago, i've been playing catch up, albeit at a somewhat leisurely pace. i've been trying to get a few extra hours in at work in order to pay off what is undoubtedly a scary credit card balance (whom should i thank first for the weak dollar? i mean, seriously- the last time i was overseas, a euro cost roughly 80 cents. now it's closer to $1.50, which is ridiculous. oh- and since we visited both the republic of ireland and northern ireland, i had to stomach not only the euro exchange rate, but also that for pounds. let me tell you, paying $2 for a british pound is not something i stomach easily.), and i think i might possibly be caught up on sleep by next tuesday.

i managed to finish five books while on vacation (the painted veil by somerset maugham, you have to kiss a lot of frogs by laurie graff, the sirens of titan by kurt vonnegut, jesus land by julia scheeres, and the pilo family circus by will elliott), and of those five, i only jettisoned one at a hotel when finished, and that was because i'm over chick lit and the book weighed about five pounds and i needed to cut a little weight out of my suitcase anyway.

surprisingly, i spent almost as much time scribbling as i did reading, though had i been able to read on the tour bus for more than a minute and a half without wanting do decorate the scenery with some slightly used potatoes, i probably would have gotten through all fifteen of the books i'd packed/purchased along the way. i dutifully recorded the day's events each night, which is a damn good thing, since even a week after my return i have a hard time with the timeline of the trip. (however, i clearly recall where i met my sister's future husband and where i had my musical debut, so i guess my memory's not completely toasted from sleep deprivation.)

oh- and speaking of sleep deprivation, let me finish off this already disconnected post by recommending seeing weird al yankovic on tour. SO and i took my five year old sidekick and her ten year old brother to carowinds and their first concert last night (my belated present to the ten year old for his birthday). it. was. excellent. i even have a blurry picture taken with the evil camera to offer up as proof of our attendence (and our ability to sneak in a camera):