I've been having a great week so far! On Tuesday I took a vacation from being unemployed. Sam was away on his class trip to Chicago, and Bob took the day off work. We lazed around the house all morning, then went to the art museum in the afternoon. Late afternoon we watched a video at home, then we used a gift card we'd been keeping back for a special occasion to have a nice dinner out. It was a lot of fun -- kind of felt like playing hooky, which only made it more fun!

Today brought somewhat of a return to the mundane (sending out resumes), but I met my dear friend Jamie Sue for breakfast and we are going to begin lifting weights together a couple times a week. She is the most upbeat, energetic, positive person I have ever known, and I know it will be good for me to soak up some of her "Jamie Sue fairy dust" as I like to call it!

Then late tonight Sam returned home from his Chicago trip. He had a ball. I think the thing he enjoyed most was attending a performance of the Blue Man Group. It continues to be so satisfying to me to see him having such normal experiences. His middle school years were rough and we used to really wonder if he'd fit into society. Now, it's hard to imagine that we had those fears. He's a tad eccentric but not in any ways that are problematic.

One of Sam's eccentricities is that he wears his hair long. I don't mean soccer star long, I mean ZZ Top long. It currently reaches about the middle of his back. But he has recently agreed that in the interest of continuing to wear it long, it probably behooves him to get some inches trimmed off the bottom just to keep it healthy. So we have an appointment Thursday afternoon to get that done.