:: the return of the native, yo ::

I being the native, returning. 

yeah.  

important things first: MY VACATION WAS ABSOLUTELY SPLENDIFEROUS. I love the beach, and kitty hawk is amazing, and it was the off-season so everything is empty, but it's fall so the weather was spectacular. OBX FTW. 
        we got in at 2 am last night, and this morning we had doughnuts, which is always a good way to begin a day which has loads and loads and loads of vacation-hangover laundry. ugh. 
        seriously, I detest laundry. having 11 people in my family means that we do at least 2 loads a day, and guess who gets to fold that? the children, of course, and which child is the most responsible and diligent? the oldest, of course, which is coincidentally me. so when we get ready for trip, we have to do approximately 5 million loads in the preceding few days -- to pack -- and then about 10 million when we get back (somehow our dirty clothing proliferates during the trip). yeah, I have a lot of laundry on my horizon. 
        I can't complain, however, because when I do my mom reminds me that if I don't want to fold I'm free to run around the house naked so I don't get clothing dirty in the first place. you know how some moms sweetly remind their children to be thankful for the clothes they have, "count your blessings," "be cheerful," et cetera? well, my mom likes to snicker and give us a clothing-optional spiel that we can't really reply to, and calling her bluff would be... well, that's not really a price I'm willing to pay. 
        so I fold. 

        I did read some on the trip -- some rereads (the hollow; elephants can remember [both agatha christies]; and almost halfway through walden) and some first-time reads (christy and an l. m. montgomery short-story collection). agatha christie I always recommend, catherine marshall I am definitely not into, l. m. montgomery is fun but not worth a ton of attention; walden... I truly enjoy thoreau, actually, and I've been thinking a lot about it over the past few days. this will soon spill over into posts about sitting alone on pumpkins rather than crowded velvet cushions and chanticleers crowing merely to wake neighbors up. be warned. 

        by the way, did you know thoreau was really into his neck beard? I know: a neck beard. dude, it's gross. ...why the heck are guys into facial hair, anyway? CHICKS DO NOT DIG FACIAL HAIR.*
        I have a lot of stuff I need to do today and talking about guy problems and thoreau's beard** is not really on the agenda. here comes that demmed laundry. I'm off! 

*except on aragorn and boromir. exempt from facial hair laws, they may do whatever they want.
**if you image-search him, don't say I didn't warn you. this is what nightmares are made of, and you will never unsee it.