After two years of intrusive construction vehicles, equipment and noise, the Whole Foods Market next door to my home finally opened this week. Now, every morning at 8am, I can fall out of bed, pull on some clothes and stumble about twenty yards and find this...



And these pics represent only about a tenth of the store, a new flagship large scale Whole Foods Market. Sure the produce trucks start lining up outside my bedroom window at 3am, but I’ve learned to take the good with the bad. The coffee bar here is serving free coffee for the first thirty days, which seems like proper karmic retribution for my coffee-free diet in March.

So do I even need to stock up my refrigerator anymore?

On Tuesday morning, I was sleepily drinking my coffee in my kitchen when I heard an unfamiliar sound. A train horn blowing full blast. Five blasts actually. And it felt like it was in the room with me? Why? Well, it so happens that an old train track runs right behind our backyard fence. And on Tuesday an engine ran slowly through town to test the tracks. In October, three freight trains a week will be rolling through. People think it is nuts but I think I’m going to enjoy it. Here is a picture of the train engine from that morning. Depot Dad’s house is just behind the tree you see here.

What’s that?

Boring?

Well I TOLD you its been boring around here! A train going by is about as exciting as it gets lately!

And just a reminder that older posts can be found at the bottom of the right hand column. I’ll be back with more boring stuff soon.

Thanks to the endless construction project going on right next door to my home, one of these shows up on my front doorstep every day...

Now typically these so called “roach coach” trucks serve a wide variety of foods guaranteed to reduce your life expectancy by a factor of years. But not so this one...

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Do you sleep on one side of the bed or the middle?

After having watched and enjoyed the preview for Pixar’s upcoming movie Up, I was left with a lingering feeling of familiarity.

What? What?

Did I just see an old victorian house surrounded by a large scale construction project? And what’s this? It even has a grumpy old guy inside the house!

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I woke up this morning without feeling sick. I felt a bit tired, and yes, still uncomfortable in my neck from surgery. But really, for the most part, I felt okay.

I went on two client appointments this morning and stayed pretty focused. Then I came home to start on the “home sick all week” mess of my household. Soon after I picked up O and A from school and told them we had a mission. We were finally going to give their bedroom some much needed love. Read More...

Didn’t you read the headline here? Why are you still reading this? I told you this was going to be boring. You see, there just hasn’t been much going on with me worth blogging about. But people keep asking how I am doing, how my treatment is coming along, etc.

I’m just here to tell you that all is well. I feel great. I am eating only good stuff, still exercise on free mornings and generally am healthier and happier than I have been in a long time. I don’t know why, but lately, everything is funny to me. I find myself laughing at the most mundane and ridiculous aspects of our lives. I like it. Read More...

I am keeping my promise to myself and have started going for very early morning bike rides. I have outfitted my bike with all of the requisite lights and reflectors. I’ve been getting up at 5:00 on the days when I do not have the children and get home about 6:30. I feel great! Its a bit colder than I anticipated and I am going to need to get some warmer bike clothing.

I am not a hard core biker by any stretch of the imagination, though I do love it. I find that when I am riding, it is not with the joy of someone who is working out hard and getting in shape, rather I feel the same playfulness I felt when I was twelve years old and riding around the corn fields of west Omaha. It’s great.

As I cruise home, the sky is just turning pink and I can switch off my lights. I ride down the humble main street of small town Novato and a few shops have their lights on as owners get ready for their day. Workers are ambling down the sidewalks carrying their lunch coolers on their way to the construction site down the street.

So I miss a little sleep. I start every day happy.

. . . . . . . . . .

I currently live on the bottom floor of a rented two unit house. For the past two months, the upstairs unit has been blissfully vacant. About four weeks ago, the landlord started opening the upstairs unit on the weekends for people to stop by and look at it. Typically, when the landlord wasn't available, potential renters would knock on my door thinking I was the home owner renting the upstairs place.

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Being a single parent is hard work. Do I even need to say it? But sometimes the world seems to conspire against you and delivers even more unexpected surprises into your little home.

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