I haven’t been around in a few days because I’ve been in a funk. And know what happens when I post when I’m in a funk? You get funky posts, that’s what.

Ba dum bum!

Last Friday I had a very minor fender bender that was completely and totally my fault. The van is fine — barely scratched, nothing a bottle of touch-up paint from Canadian Tire won’t fix — but of course, the guy I rubbed up against was driving a shiny clean, brand new, Mercedes SUV. I’m still waiting for quotes for repairs to his car, so I can figure out if I can just pay for it by myself or if I need to get my insurance to cover it. Either way, though, it’ll cost me money that we could have spent on stuff that is much, much more fun.

Although Sir Monkeypants has been very generous and kind, I still feel like a total idiot. Hence the funk. And I don’t mean in the good 70s way, either.

Since I didn’t feel like posting I spent the last few days going through every post I’ve made since I started this blog over four years ago. Most of my old posts needed formatting fixes from the LJ import, so I was repairing them, and also, I was reading them over in order to put together this page of “Turtlehead Favourites.” It’s a list of about 50 of my best posts from the past four years, sort of a little get-to-know-me for anyone who is new here and has a couple of hours to burn.

Re-reading all my old posts, however, did nothing to help with the funk situation. Back in November 2007, I took part in NaBloPoMo, an event in which I posted every single day. I loved it, and I felt like I produced some of the best posts I’d ever written. I thought that it would be a great idea, then, to continue to post five or six times a week, on the theory that it would get me writing and get me praticing and get me creating great stuff. But I found that in 2008, I haven’t really been happy with my posting — my blog entries are all long winded and chatty without being very interesting and in general are not very good. So perhaps taking a break from blogging is a good idea. Not to give it up altogether, but maybe not to feel pressure to write something, anything, when I don’t have anything meaningful to say.

Summer is the perfect time to be a little less posty, anyway, because there’s so much fabulous stuff going on instead. I spent almost all winter pining for the day when we’d be able to get out of the house, and then May and June were unseasonably cold and rainy, and the patio work had torn up the backyard, and I despaired that we’d be trapped in here forever. Heeeeeeeere’s MOMMY!

However, July has dawned beautifully sunny and warm and the past week has been almost dreamlike in its glory. It’s been a festival of bubble blowing, chalk drawing, swinging, and riding bikes to the park. We’ve been having BBQs and eating popsicles. We’ve been to the petting zoo, the experimental farm, the splash park, and for picnics. We’ve been through a whole bottle of sunscreen already.

Just being able to wander out into the backyard without having to put on shoes — let alone snow pants — is heavenly. Being able to sit in a chair sipping on a lemonade, pushing Little Miss Sunshine in the baby swing while Captain Jelly Belly and Gal Smiley spray each other with squirt guns is divine.

In short, summer is AWESOME. If you’re looking for me, I’ll be outside.