centered

That's how I'm feeling these days. It's hard to describe, but I'm feeling a sense of purpose and inner calm that I have not felt in a long time. Maybe it's realizing we are finally achieving the house building goal we set out to accomplish five years ago. Maybe it's the running. Maybe it's my half hearted attempts at yoga, which are improving since I checked out Yoga for Dummies at the library. Really, it's the most concise, readable introduction to yoga that I've ever seen. So I'm a dummy after all, and you know what? I'm okay with that.

We have two rooms wired and connected in the new house now, not to mention the walls are done and painted, and the pine flooring was delivered Friday. As soon as our nails arrive, we will have two rooms FINISHED. As in, ready to LIVE in. We have been sleeping in an unfinished loft bedroom for weeks now, so technically we're already living in the new house, but these rooms will be done!

One of the rooms is Calvin's first story bedroom, which he chose to have painted in "1976 Minnesota Twins uniform" blue. He has gotten to be quite the Twins fan and baseball scholar this year; he even wants a baseball glove chair for the room. I guess they make those somewhere.

Last night we took time out from house finishing to pack up the kids and drive to the 7th annual Highway 61 Folks Festival in Mahtowa, about a 45 minute drive. I may have previously mentioned that one of my favorite bands that just happens to be local are The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. They were playing from 6-8 pm, just the kind of hours we appreciate these days; we didn't have to stay out past our bedtime to see them!

This little festival, which is getting bigger and better each year, has a great vibe to it. It is very family friendly, meaning we can bring the kids and set them loose and not have to worry about anything more than them getting sick on the merry go round in the town park. Which they did, at least Calvin could not keep down the bratwurst and Mountain Dew he had for dinner. Nuff said, at least we had an empty box handy in the Mazda. "If you're going to spew, spew in this!"

And they had Boulevard Wheat beer on tap. My favorite wheat beer! The Hermit and I enjoyed a few while we listened to the Hobo Nephews, who were laid back and cool as always. My favorite part was when they played Greg Brown's "Laughing River". I mean, here is my favorite live band outside of Greg Brown himself, singing one of Greg's coolest songs ever! The evening sun was shining, it was perfectly warm with a light breeze, people were happy and relaxed and taking it all in, and we even ran into a few people we knew.

After an evening like that, even if we did get home before 10, I thought for sure I would forgo my morning run. However, my conscience would not allow me such a luxury and I ended up having my best run ever, at least since I started running again. I ran all the way to the end of the road, over a half mile, without stopping even though there is a hill at the end. Then I took minimal breaks on my way back, and I felt exhausted in a good way when I returned home.

Today has been quiet, the afternoon punctuated by an occasional thunderstorm. I was going to grout my slate floor, but with the rain and all I lost my motivation and ended up playing bouzouki for a while. Not a bad thing to do, I guess. I think I'll go play some more, it looks like rain again.