• Staying up until well past 4am because there were NOISES outside and no one INSIDE to check them out.
• Trying to sleep facing the doorway, with one eye open, because I was CONVINCED someone was in my house at various points throughout both nights (mornings).
• Dealing with a ceiling fan that decided to quit on me, leaving my kitchen marginally more than warm.

It was great. A friend of mine came over Saturday evening and brought dinner from Palotta's (Chicken Marsala, YUM!). We popped open a bottle of wine C-Boy had given me for my birthday and tucked in. Oh boy, did we tuck in. Then, we drank a little and talked a lot. C-Boy came by around midnight and we all stayed up until well past three in the morning, talking and laughing. It was fun.

Sunday, I slept in - much to the disgruntlement of my horse (Feed me!) and Shaggy's dog (I. Need. To. Go. Outside!). Mr. Clean arrived home late Sunday afternoon with the following:

• A LOT of dirty, stinky clothes
• A new ceiling fan for my kitchen
• COFFEE
• One 10-year-old child who completely and utterly FAILED to receive diligent application of sunscreen, now referred to as Lobster Boy.

I was maybe a tiny bit livid about the red child. I mean, Seriously? How freaking hard is it to remember sunscreen Every Time he's in the sun?? Ridiculous. I'm still applying different aloes and facial creams every time I lay eyes on the child, at which point he does the shoulder-dropping "Aww Man" routine. He's about sick of me chasing him through the house with Aloe Vera and Oil of Olay.

I do believe the coffee may have been an attempt to draw my attention away from the Lobster Boy. It didn't work.

In other news:

One of my uncles (on the let's-go-on-a-family-cruise side of the family) contacted me yesterday with an invite to join up on Vox. I think the idea is to create a family "neighborhood" where everyone can blog and share pictures and stay in better touch between family reunions and Thanksgiving holidays. Good idea! Except...

Sweet Bleeding Jalepeno... how many freaking "connection" places are there on the web?

I have this blog, you know, where I BLOG. And really? I need to get off Blogger because it annoys me. Greatly. But to do that, I need to get a web host... blah blah blah. The only thing holding me back is my procrastination. And the deep, intense muscle cramps I get in my neck and shoulders every time I think about having to come up with a design.

Now, on top of the blog, I have a MySpace. Because everyone has a MySpace. Because Shaggy has a MySpace and I wanted to see what he's doing online stay connected. MySpace is great.

Then, Cousin Neesie sends me a Facebook invite. I'd created a Facebook account some time ago because BabySis was on there (as well as a couple of other folks) but I never use it because... I. Don't. Like. The. Facebook. For some reason, it just ANNOYS me. There's all this poking going on and yeah, not really for me but I stay there because... Okay. I don't know why I stay there.

I also have a Classmates account, because who doesn't? I don't really use it all that much but some of my old classmates are apparently not HIP enough to get blogs or MySpace or Facebook accounts. So I keep the Classmates.

My younger middle sister, Pixie, wants me to get Skype and a web cam. So we can chat while I am in my jammies and my hair looks like a red medusa. I realize Skype is free. The web cam is not, however, and I have yet to get to Best Buy to purchase one. There's a very slight chance this might be related to my not really wanting to be seen in my jammies with red medusa hair.

And now Vox. Well, of course, I had to get the Vox account. It's family. And if they're all going to do it... then I'll feel guilty if I don't. "But I'm not blogging on here," I told my uncle. And then I said, "Okay, well maybe just little stuff. But not much! Because I don't have time."

To top it off, my friend who came over this weekend? She wants to start a podcast. The idea surrounding it is GOOD. But seriously? How am I going to find the time to do this? Is it any wonder I can't finish a book due to distractions (which I ALLOW to happen way too frequently)?

I always thought I had a good, solid, "NO." I'm finding out that perhaps it doesn't carry the weight it should. Or perhaps I need to find a way to get rid of the GUILT that goes along with saying, "No."

At what point do you say Enough Is Enough with the staying connected? When do you tell people, "Hey, if you really want to talk to me... here's where I am and here's where I'm staying?"