Possible Solution and BONUS! Get to watch freaky neighbors!

I'm trying a new little experiment in light of my recent post. I am setting my alarm for 30 minutes before the kids wake up (hardy har har! I mean before the kids are allowed out of their room. They wake up at like 4 a.m. but are trapped until 7. I am so evil its awesome) and then I am GOING OUTSIDE. I am going to sit on the porch with my coffee and just....be.

I just tried it for about 20 minutes this morning. My mind was relatively blank. I listened to the birds and the crickets. I watched the trees. I watched an ant running around delighted with all the food crumbs available in the near vicinity of my house. I stretched and closed my eyes for a minute and meditated on these three words, "Peace. Calm. Happy."  I saw my neighbor open and close his outdoor trash can at least 10 times and then start sweeping the concrete around it. Why is someone outside cleaning the trash can holding area at 6:30 a.m.? I don't know. Maybe he needs some quiet morning time as well and nothing says peace and calm like trash can cleaning.

Of course, after a few minutes I thought about blogging and had to jump up from my little reverie to rush in here and REPORT on everything. Because no way can I just BE. Without REPORTING. That's impossible. I really suck at meditating. I want to do it. I really do. And I can do it for about 30 seconds and it feels great for those 30 seconds and then POOF! Gone!

On an unrelated note, there have been a bunch of burglaries in our neighborhood this summer. GPS units stolen out of unlocked vehicles, etc. One neighbor had beer and wine stolen out of his garage. John and I are wondering if someone would please come into our garage and steal a wagon full of broken ass plastic kids' toys and hoopty bikes and trash and piles of unsorted crap. I am even considering leaving the garage open at night with a sign out there: Please help yourself!