In an effort to get some things done yesterday afternoon, I missed out on a phone call from a friend/neighbor from down the street. I had just talked with Joe who was finally coming home from work after no break and working over 11 hours. We were going to go back out once he got home, so I had to get ready. I had the dog outside when he pulled into the driveway, I told him that Curry had called and that we should call them back, we've been so incognito lately. Luckily before we could even call them, Curry came to the door and told us that they (Penne, Kayla, and himself) were going to Applebee's for dinner and that they would love for us to join them, if we were able. We had other things to do, but decided to go with them. After a few minutes we headed out, hoping to not be too much farther behind and that they wouldn't have to wait for us too long. I'm glad we went out. With random things going on in life, we haven't kept in touch with friends and neighbors as we should. We had a great time with their little girl, Kayla, who is the cutest thing EVER! Afterwards we went over their house to watch 13 Ghosts. I don't remember that movie coming out in the theater, although Curry and Joe swear it did. It was a decent watch, not sure if I'd really recommend it, but wouldn't rule it out for people either.

Getting back to our being out of touch with friends of late. This is becoming more clear to me all the time. I got an e-mail from a friend in Chicago saying she was moving to Colorado, a letter for a friend that used to live in Ohio - but now she's back in MI, and I totally forgot to respond to another friends bridal shower invitation that her mother was nice enough to invite me to (luckily she knew I was most likely not going to be able to come, but still, I feel SO RUDE!) Things seems to keep happening around me, with my only finding out after the fact and needing to react accordinginly. I know that there is no way to be kept abreast of everyone's life, all the time, but I need to make a better effort at keeping in touch with people. I rely on the internet and e-mail so greatly to do my job every day that I come home and don't even want to look at the computer. Get over it! Use the computer to keep in touch, it's cheap and convienent since I can write at any hour of the day and not have to worry about waking someone up, or staying up late, to call them. Also, something has got to give with my work situation. Working the alternate hours that I do on Tuesdays and Thursdays have left me with no ability to be social during the week. I come home so tired that I have all I can do to feed the dog, throw something together for myself and eventually get into bed. Heaven forbide I make a decent dinner and my husband is home to enjoy it with me.

So after all that bitching and moaning...I will say that it wasn't for sympathy. I have nice things in my life and great people that I consider friends. The point to all the above venting was to remind myself that I need to make an effort. We don't have things handed to us on a silver platter and I have to make time, not only for myself, but for others. I have this ability at times to block people out and crawl into a hole. That's not healthy and I need to stop doing it. I don't plan on turning into a party animal, that's never been my style, but I need to take a que for my hubby who enjoys talking it up with neighbors and has always been our social connection to the world.

I think I can take the lead from a friends blog that reminded me that it's back to school time. It's a chance for new beginnings, just as we would receive with a new teacher and a new school year, I will take this time to create a new chance for myself.