I’d intended to bring “John Adams” to the mall with me this afternoon, but I left him at home on the couch. So I decided instead to use the time while the kids were in art class to longhand some thoughts into my little notebook and see if they might turn into a blog post.

I’ve been neglecting the blog lately. I feel like I don’t have anything to say. It occurred to me a few days ago that this happens around this time every year. I run out of things to say or enthusiasm or motivation or whatever, and then I go to the Type A Parent Conference and get filled up with inspiration again. Only this year I didn’t go to the conference, so here I sit in the mall parking lot with nothing to say and no motivation and no inspiration.

My plan was to go to Ulta and buy some shampoo and conditioner and then sit in a cozy nook at Barnes and Noble and read “John Adams.” But then I left the book at home, so the plan became go to Ulta and buy some shampoo and conditioner and then sit in a cozy nook at Barnes and Noble and do some writing. But the bookstore seems to have eliminated all of their cozy nooks. I wonder if they just moved all the tables and chairs down to their Starbucks kiosk. Regardless, I didn’t want to sit at the Starbucks kiosk, so I’m sitting in the parking lot. It wasn’t a wasted trip, though. There was a copy of “Coolidge” on the clearance table. I’m quite a few presidents away from him yet, but you just don’t pass up a $6 presidential biography.

I needed a change of scenery, so I went to the toy store’s parking lot. It used to be a Hooters. (The toy store; not the parking lot.) I stopped for a sweet tea on the way. I was wand’ring lonely as a cloud. And also I grow old, I grow old, and I considered rolling up my jeans today to better display my sparkly new shoes, but then I decided against it. I don’t know what’s acceptable, fashion-wise, and normally I don’t care. Every now and then I wish I did, though.

So about the new shoes. They’re Tom’s, which as I understand it aren’t meant to be worn with socks. I don’t normally go sock less. How does one keep one’s shoes and feet from smelling funky when one goes without socks? (Really: Share your fresh-footed secrets.)

Today I saw an abandoned tampon in full bloom in the parking lot at the mall. Thankfully, it looked unused.

I also saw, on two different cars in two separate parking lots, a pair of bone-shaped bumper stickers. One declared the driver’s love of her pit bull. The other driver loved his/her vizsla. I had to google “vizsla.” I’d heard of them but I didn’t know what they looked like. That’s a fine-looking dog. There were a couple of guys outside of the used bookstore the other day discussing one of their dogs, and one guy kept calling it a “dash hound.” That is still bothering me.

So anyway: The blog. I don’t want to shut it down, but I need to find some inspiration. I’ll probably keep posting our menu plans, because it’s simple and I refer to the posts embarrassingly often because sometimes I forget what we eat. I’d like to be more consistent on the homeschool-roundup posts. I think it’s a nice little record for the kids. I thought I might write about “Stuff I’m Learning About the Presidents,” too, but that wouldn’t be a regular thing because I’m reading slowly.

What would you like to read about here?