Some days I wake up and the whole day seems filled with so many interesting possibilities that I know I'm going to have a wonderful, productive day. Other days, I wake up and feel grey and dispirited, and know that I'm going to have to drag my way through till bedtime. Today has been one of the latter. On a grey day, even activities that I'd normally really enjoy seem tedious and boring. Had book group tonight (the mom one). I felt disconnected and out of place, and I knew it was coming from me not them. Generally these moods last for one day, occasionally two, and there generally doesn't seem much rhyme or reason to when they strike. Oh wait. Maybe this is PMS. Nope, just counted up. It's not. Most likely it's just residual tension - worry about Thursday's appointment with the neurosurgeon is always in the back of my mind, and then there's also the fact that our visa is still not through. We got a remarkably unhelpful letter from the INS today : it says something along the lines of "We note your query of April 12. Your visa status is pending". And that's it. Um, yes, we know it's pending, how about telling us why it's still pending 8 months after you received our application? Or giving us some kind of idea as to how much longer the process is likely to take?

Oh well. Nothing I can do right now to influence either the INS's machinations or the outcome of Emily's medical issues, so I need to breathe and let go.

I hope this mood lifts in the morning, because I really want to enjoy tomorrow. I have a whole bunch of science experiments planned for Sophs, and she always gets such a kick out of those. And then in the evening we're going climbing with friends (the kids have practice on Tuesday nights anyway, so it all fits in nicely). I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself on the climbing front, because I've recently improved a whole lot - Steve's been coaching me. I climbed a 5.10 yesterday, which I've never done before, and I have the blisters to prove it. We're hoping to get over to New Mexico this summer and do some climbing there - though if Bobby can't get much leave we may just go up to North Carolina again. Bobs is keen to camp in the mountains there - we saw some great potential camping spots last October, and our guide told us that one can camp anywhere in those forests for free, so long as you're more than 100 feet from the path. I'm more in favour of camping somewhere with showers, though ... they don't have to be hot showers, but I really like to be able to get clean after a day outdoors. We'll see whose will prevails.