Envy my mental energy

Last night I enjoyed a phone conversation with one of my favorite people: my Grandma. We were talking about my sister-in-law (known hereafter as SIL) and how self-disciplined and fit and healthy she is. And it's true. She runs 4 or 5 times per week, eats very healthy foods, does like 100 sit-ups every morning... hey! As I write this I am amazed that we get on so well. Disciplined runner-types who start the day with sit-ups and eat big bowls of salad at every meal aren't usually my type of pal. But my SIL is a saint; truly one of the sweetest, kindest Christian women you will meet, so I tolerate the excessive helathiness. Anyway, Grandma was going on and on about what a wonder SIL is and how she keeps such a neat little figure and how she's lost every ounce of that baby weight. I agreed completely, and then Grandma went silent for a moment (very rare indeed.) Finally, she said, "Well, dear, and you have so much mental energy!"
HA! HA!
I started laughing really hard, "Well, thanks Grandma! Nobody has ever given me that compliment before!"
She started stammering and justifying it, "Well, it's true! You write all those grants and you have so many ideas. It takes a lot of energy to do that!"
I agreed so she could be off the hook. It's just too bad that mental energy doesn't help you lose weight and stay in shape, or I'd put that SIL to shame. And if only this mental energy of mine could do the laundry or clean up the 1 gazillion toys that are littering my den floor...
But maybe you can get a glimpse of my hulking mental energy on this blog.
Mental energy. Ha!

I will leave you with a few blog entries I have enjoyed this week:
Andrea has some yummy-looking recipes for homemade salad dressing (get to it, mental energy!)
Holly gives tips on how to manage life with young children. She has 8 (yes, 8) kids, but the tips are helpful for someone with even one measly ol' little kid.
Meg is doing a month of puppets. (I have a thing for puppets. More on that another day.) This one is especially beautiful and doable.
This blog is just right up my alley. Artful parenting? Sign me up!

OK, my mental energy needs some Gatorade before the kiddies wake up. Gotta go ice down the old brain. They say using too much mental energy is just as bad as using none at all.
Sorry- I just can't help myself!