Can spring be far behind?

This morning I woke up exhausted. I mean the can-barely-open-my-sandpaper-filled-eyes kind of exhausted. I hate days like that because I always feel as if I am starting behind and I know I won't be motivated to do much.

When I asked Lily what she was drawing, he said hands.  I asked her how many fingers a human has and she said ten.  Then I asked why her hands had so many more than ten and she looked at me as if I were quite the stupidest person she'd ever met and replied, "because these are alien hands".  Duh!

After breakfast, I stared at my book for about thirty minutes while Lily was coloring before giving up, bundling up the bug, plugging in the ipod and getting out of dodge.

It was a beautiful winter morning.  Sunny with just enough brisk to put some rose in your nose.  Since we are visiting Ernie for this week, and quite possibly next, we have a whole real neighborhood in which to walk, which is somewhat of a novelty for us lately. 

Lily has inherited her Mama's love of walking, so we took our time and enjoyed the day until the clouds encroached on our fun and forced us back inside. 

After the chaos of the holidays, it was nice to take some time to relax and re-connect with each other.  She told me all about her plans for the summer (which include an enormous sand castle, complete with a sand king, queen, prince and princess and lots of ocean time), after which we had a lengthy discussion on why she loves her binky and cannot give it to the binky fairy just yet (don't judge).  Then she told me how excited she was to start school, begging me to let her go next year with Peyton.  It was a great morning.

The birds were out in full-force and the sun was shinning off the water.  We collected colorful leaves and rocks and even saw a few budding flowers and greenery along the way.

Despite my general distaste for much of Louisiana, we do get to stay in a pretty beautiful neighborhood while we're here.  And there is definitely a surplus of natural beauty here.  I've got hundreds of pictures of our adventures that I have yet to share.  Even so, I won't miss it when we leave.  Ernie has about another month here and I can't wait.  I'd love to come back for a visit now and again, but not for a good long time.  Of course, since he'll be on a job in Austin shortly after this one ends, it is a bittersweet relief.  Then again, we'll be able to have new adventures in Austin, so I shouldn't complain.  Just because I won't get to see my love for a month or more at a time doesn't mean we can't make th best of it.

We were gone for almost four hours and I got nothing done that I was supposed to this morning, but I can't even be bothered to care. 

Now I am listening to her play with her Rapunzel Tower, blogging instead of working to make up for the lost time this morning.  And still, I can't be bothered to care.  I guess the laundry won't get done and we'll be having grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner tonight.  And I guess my new story will lament over my neglect for yet another day.  I really do need to get over this awful writer's block. 

Oh yes, and have you heard this? I'm sorta obsessed with this group right now.