Oh, Spring Break!  How I've missed you.  I've longed to see you all winter long and I cannot believe you've arrived.  I have such plans for us!  I hope you're ready for me ; )  In all seriousness, this break is much needed by all the Battles girls.  We have been tired and a little cranky and just ready for an open, relaxed schedule for a few days.  Jamie has sent me several texts counting down this week from "4.75 days" on Monday to "2 hours" this afternoon.  I have a couple of day and half-day trips planned, but the majority of my week will consist of giving this house a good purge, weeding the lawn and readying flower beds, and getting some grad school work completed or at least started.  We are not that family who takes a fabulous trip during Spring Break.  It's catch up time around here.

I think I'll just do a dump of pictures on my phone for this post.  I've taken a break from Facebook for Lent this year.  I didn't technically make it 40 days because I had to check something the other night, but overall I did manage to stay FB free for 31 days.  It's interesting, though.  Initially I missed it and really was difficult to stay away.  I connect with so many people through that medium whom I don't see often if at all, so I did find myself missing them.  I have also had a few people tell me they've missed my posts and that's nice to hear.  Facebook is kind of an outlet for me.  As much as I'd like to think myself an actual writer, most days all I am able to manage is a status update.  But, I do really think about what I'm writing to share (most of the time).  I try to structure it in a way that conveys my voice and emotions; I revise before hitting "share."  It's seriously the most "real" writing I do most days.

I'm not entirely certain, though, that I'll be returning to that world full force.  It has been nice to focus on my world -- not that I don't -- but without the distractions of everyone else's problems and their celebrations and their issues and their grammatical mistakes and their positions on particular issues.  Funny phenomenon, this social media thing...  Anyway, I'll figure all that out later.