weekend distractions

It was a good weekend, although less eventful than I would have liked, I guess. Oh, also I'm so incredibly anxious that I want to vomit at all times. But other than that...yay weekend?

I spent all of my time either cleaning or trying to distract myself. The cleaning was more successful. You'll be thrilled to know that each piano key has now been lovingly dusted, the porch furniture soaked and scrubbed down, and the porch itself thoroughly vacuumed, along with the flagstone brick on the front of the house. I mean, have you SEEN the dirt and cobwebs that accumulate in flagstone? Ick. Anyway, now the front porch is a happy and clean place to sit and rock once again.

When I wasn't busy cleaning, I alternated between surrounding myself with people (to distract myself) and trying to escape from human contact (because people make me even more anxious). It was awesome.

On Saturday night we hung out with my BIL and SIL Steve and Jess (and their 15 dogs) (just kidding, they only have four. And a cat). There was Mexican food and adult beverages and porch sitting and it was delightful. Then we went back to our house and decided to take advantage of the awesome fire pit Matt built last year that we hardly ever use. The fire started out magnificently as our Christmas tree and the remains of our dead eucalyptus trees caught fire!

"BEHOLD MY MAGNIFICENT CREATION: FIRE!!!!!"

 But then all that stuff burned through and it took like an hour to get the flames to come back enough to roast marshmallows. I'm not entirely sure I would have cut it as a cavewoman. I get really impatient waiting for fire to cook my dessert.

Probably the most amazing selfie ever. Yeah.

 After dark (and the return of actual flames), our neighbors came over and joined us. It made me really, really happy...something about a bunch of folks (and their sleeping baby) just gathered around a fire, laughing and sharing...it was perfection. Also, s'mores. But let's hear it for awesome siblings and neighbors. You don't really get to pick who you get for either of those categories, so it's pretty awesome when you turn out to love them.

Last night we hung out with Jonathon and Mollyanne and played a new (to me) board game: Pandemic. It was a really different kind of game than I've ever played before- for one, you're not playing against the other players...you all work together as a team and try to beat the game/save humanity. So it's one for all and all for one-- live together, die together. It was great because no single person has to win/lose and everyone works and strategizes together. As the name suggests, it's a game about controlling disease outbreaks and epidemics, which is scarily timely right now. I give Pandemic (and the Gurleys) an A+++ for maximum distraction and fun. We played two games (won one, lost one) and I could seriously go for another game or 4 tonight, so...yeah. Might need to drop by Target and pick up my own copy.

So...another day, another week. Hoping and praying for the best, mentally preparing for the worst. Ugh. Have any absorbing and amazing distractions for me?? Help a sister out.