I am (hopefully) heading to the internet-and-cable-tv-free cabin for a week. The weather is supposed to be good and so we should have a few nice beach days.

I am not enthused. I am ambivalent. We shall see how it goes...

I got some good news today, and thus, it appears that we can inch forward in our home remodel project.

The next big hurdle is securing building permits, because our damn Village is so friggin persnickety. I really hate dealing with them.

Once THAT hurdle is cleared, I have to order a PODS or similar storage container and empty out the contents of my daughter*s room, and a small portion of the attic.

I am supposed to be spending time in Wisconsin, but, really I should be here in case anything comes up. I am really disappointed that this process is dragging; we were hoping to have already broken ground by now.

I am also flummoxed as to how I am going to manage the pets if the major tear-out portions occur while we have to be here in IL (due to school.) I certainly hope that will not be the case.

I guess I will just have to take each day as it comes.

Today it is dark and grey outside.

Even though hubby JUST got paid, according to my QUICKEN files, there is not *fun shopping day* money to be had.

I have terrible PMS.

I am still anxiously awaiting word from the underwriters of a loan on a really silly issue.

Sounds like a day made for DESSERTS!

We still have not closed on a second loan product that we need in order to move forward with our construction project. Because of this - and the fact that I will need to submit extensive permit application documents to the Village prior TO construction, I have no idea when and for how long I will be up at the cabin in July. It is sort of making me nuts.

On the other hand...I am somewhat dreading spending TOO much time up there. Why? Typically, because I don't do as much exercise there and spend more money there! These are two not-so-good habits that I need to break this year. I do plan on taking more workout dvds up there with me (I already have some free weights in the cabin.) And I plan on getting a number of books lined up for myself and my daughter so that we arent as likely to drive around looking for things to do. Finally, I vow to get a decent beach umbrella and beach chairs and actually start spending more time on the beach. Last year, mostly due to my bleeding issues, I did not do much swimming/beachgoing with the kiddo.

We have not made any plans for my parents to come out and visit, and due to budgets and schedules, it may not happen this year. However, I am hoping that one or more of my friends from church comes by to visit and enjoy the scenery.

Today, hubby came home from work early, knowing I would be home and child would not.

Needless to say, we engaged in some adult activity before he left for a long weekend fixing his boat and (hopefully) doing some fishing.

We tried a different position than the usual to get things rolling, but somehow there seemed to be a bit of fumbling.

I asked, Um, are you in the right spot?

He replied, sarcastically, Are you gonna give me directions? Maybe I should use a GPS?

I concurred, Yeah, Genital Positioning System!

This week I have had quite a few very pronounced, wild, coincidences occur.

I take things like that pretty seriously - really! I don't want to get into some explanation of what might seem like superstition to many but...I find things like this to be a blessing and a validation that Someone is looking out for me.

Do these signs also function as a motivator to say/do something? Perhaps. The question I am facing, though, is WHAT am I supposed to be doing?

Wow, already in this new pseudo-job, I am busy.

Last night I received a call asking for help editing some copy for an upcoming event. Today, I had to answer an email from a new parishioner about how she can get involved with activities.

I have to now check the special email they gave me - which is part of the STAFF email system, thus I get all-staff emails - DAILY. Not like I expect a ton of activity in there but...

I am hoping that down the road a few years, I can parlay my experiences into something  that actually pays cash money for a job well done.

Today I received a call that gave me somewhat good news:

I was appointed to be the *co-chair* of my parish Stewardship council.

I say somewhat good news, because it was supposed to be a full appointment but the current guy is hanging on and not fully relinquishing his post...which has some upsides to it. Specifically, he is very interested in and motivated to do fund-raising which is not my fave topic, even though I am capable of and have had experience managing campaigns. He did note that he would hand over to me setting the meeting agendas and facilitating the meetings, so that was good to hear.

Part of this *job* is that once a month I have to eat dinner with the pastor in the rectory to discuss issues relating to parish leadership...I can feel the Wicker Park Stomach (WPS) churning already!

I am also thinking about working with a local politician*s office in the fall as a volunteer, as he might be mounting a run for an Illinois senate seat. But it will depend on how much time I have to devote to co-chairing this council.

My observations of not just the festival I attended last night, but of the format in general:

• drinks are usually a huge ripoff, but people still pay the full freight anyway. $3 for a bottle of diet coke or water. Say WHAT?!?
• Food is also a ripoff and not nearly as good as it might be if you were sitting comfortably at a table savoring the item instead of crouching on a curb trying to balance a small paper bowl on your lap.
• Port-a-potties? Ick; luckily last night, it was so hot that I think I sweated out all of the soda and champagne and I was drinking.
• Fashion victims abound - this year, likely the most offensive was the cheap maxi-dress that most users wore with flip flops but did not bother to hem the damn dress, thus stepping all over it as they walked with their overpriced plastic cups of beer and ethnic-kabob munchables in hand.
• Ladies: tube tops are ALWAYS a bad idea! This is an outdoor music and food fest, not the set of Three*s Company.

The bands we saw last night were, overall, quite good. I was disappointed that UO did a number of very dull, quasi-jam tunes that no one knew (they said it was new material) and that they only played 2 songs from Supersonic Storybook.

Other than that, we had great weather and it was an enjoyable - if not expensive - evening out in Chicago with my daughter.

I had already been aware of this situation for sometime, but have received additional information to back-up my suspicions:

The men*s retreat group from my church(and its alumni) are waaaaaaayyyyy cooler and do more fun things than the women*s group.

I blogged about my HORRIBLE experience on a so-called *retreat* for women over 3 years ago; I nearly left my beloved parish over it. Something about the chemistry of our group was just...rancid. Rotten. Nauseating. I was in much worse spiritual shape after than before I attended.

Lets call the format of this specific type of retreat/spiritual experience WXYZ. WXYZ alumni (as they are called) are both men and women but each retreat session is single-sex. I hated my experience as previously noted, partly because of what I considered a very corny format, but mostly because the facilitators and presenters just did a totally shit-ass job of things. Nonetheless, I tried to be gracious, even sending thank you notes to the presenters for their time and efforts, because that is the type of person I am. I also explained gently to the ordained person who was overseeing the process at the time that I would not be continuing in the program.

I am still on the e-mail list for the WXYZ alumni, however. And why not? I love getting the inside scoop on what is going on! But seriously, all this *alumni* stuff has recently surfaced again in my life and when someone who has been through this specific program asks me *did you do WXYZ* I don*t know how to answer because I want to say, *Yeah, and it SUCKED!*

Instead I will raise one eyebrow, crack a half-smile and say, *Yesssss....* leaving the question, although technically answered, still hanging in the air.

Because the people who are into it are REALLY into it, my obvious lack of emotional interest in the topic usually ends the discussion when they realize the WXYZ magic did not work on me.

OK so...I did not intend this post to bust on something that other people have found helpful; that would just be vindictive and that aint my thing. What I am trying to express, is that I have become increasingly jealous of the male counterparts of the WXYZ franchise. These guys go out for bar nights, go see raunchy bro-mance movies, and share all sorts of wacky, madcap adventures together. (Some of them also get together to do a slew of good deeds in the community, but I am not jealous of that!) Even if they are not part of the *gang* that does things together socially, literally EVERY guy I have met has nothing but great things to say about WXYZ.

So THEN I wonder if we even went through the same program? Was the WXYZ for women structured differently? Was there less discussion and debate of facilitated topics? Did the guys have as much weepy prologue before each spiritual/scriptural topic was raised? Was the women*s program dumbed-down???

I have had some totally cool discussions with some of the male alumni of WXYZ, and I often think (as naive as this sounds) that I might have really enjoyed WXYZ if it was co-ed. But I think that since the nature of the program is to purge all the dark secretive shit in your soul out to the group, for the sake of honesty and modesty, (and due to the unsophistication of most people) that single-sex WXYZ makes sense for the majority of participants.

Why do I even care about WXYZ, some 3-plus years later? As noted, it has come up as a hot topic of discussion due to some changes in the parish - not in a bad way; more of a time of reminiscing for alumni. So folks talk about it and I have been in the crossfire.

And then...there are the blogs. I have stumbled into a few blogs written by WXYZ guys from my parish, thus learning about some of the fun things they do, friendships they have forged, etc.

I am not trying to be all Chaz Bono about my Catholic Christian spirituality here; I am not wanting to BE a man. But I am just feeling that, like most other things in life on Earth, the guys have certain advantages.