Every year I look forward to "kidless week," that week where my mom takes all three for a week, or about a week. Jay and I use the time to do at least one household project involving paint and ladders, and I try to get caught up on some stuff. We eat out (so, so rare for us) and when we don't, it's easy to feed one person, to make sure there's something for him to fix instead of enough to feed the army.
This year we painted the hallway going up the steps which I. have. hated. since we moved in here four years ago.
It looks delightful.
Then we hung things on the wall going upstairs because I haven't wanted to while the wall was a flat-paint-scuffed-unsightly mess. I think the last people who rented this house just took the upstairs furniture to the top of the stairs and pushed it down the steps when they moved out. Anyway, we got the new family photos up in the living room, some photos moved to the stairs, and the newly framed picture of my folks up in the stairway - an EXCELLENT photo taken several years ago. My dad looks fabulous in it (sniffle sniffle).
I also cleaned, finally replaced the kitchen rugs that I am so very very tired of, I crafted some, and I finished the wall hangings for the bathroom.
And I worked 52,000 hours.
And made a new Weight Watchers dish this week - quinoa and spinach.
I went to the library right before it closed one night and found two books by two new authors.
But I am so ready for the kids to be back. I miss them. I miss their faces. I miss Joshua sitting on my lap first thing every morning when he wakes up, the way Hannah checks on you to see if you're OK, the faces Sarah makes when she first gets up and sees all the activity from the rest of us who have been up for hours before she makes a beeline to the couch and resumes the prone position changing channels every three seconds.
How do people without children deal with all this quiet? And what will I do when it's quiet for good?
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
A lot of stuff
I was a reporter today.
It's been years. Years since I sold out to be an editor for more stable hours, more money. It is selling out, shutup, it is. I admit it. But you do what you have to do to provide for your family in the way YOU want to provide.
Anyway, I did two assignments that were fun and somewhat simple. Just like old times. Then there was a scanner call for an overturned bus.
Camera, orange safety vest, ran out of the newsroom.
I was thinking that I would be working more hours than I planned. I was pissed.
"Holy crap" I said when I saw it. Fireman running everywhere. People being pulled out of the bus.
I took a better look.
It's a bus from my daughter's school.
No, she wasn't on it, but does she know the kids that were? Do I know these kids?
Between the photos and the phone calls, the posting and the calls from AP to get them photos and info, it was busy for hours. Crazy busy.
And in the back of my mind I'm shushing the "mom" I am.
Everyone is now safe. Broken bones for some. No death. No coroner call. No Lifeline.
The bus was on its way to church camp. Elementary kids.
God watches us all the time, and this time it went the way we'd hope, not the way we wouldn't understand.
Thank you God.
It's been years. Years since I sold out to be an editor for more stable hours, more money. It is selling out, shutup, it is. I admit it. But you do what you have to do to provide for your family in the way YOU want to provide.
Anyway, I did two assignments that were fun and somewhat simple. Just like old times. Then there was a scanner call for an overturned bus.
Camera, orange safety vest, ran out of the newsroom.
I was thinking that I would be working more hours than I planned. I was pissed.
"Holy crap" I said when I saw it. Fireman running everywhere. People being pulled out of the bus.
I took a better look.
It's a bus from my daughter's school.
No, she wasn't on it, but does she know the kids that were? Do I know these kids?
Between the photos and the phone calls, the posting and the calls from AP to get them photos and info, it was busy for hours. Crazy busy.
And in the back of my mind I'm shushing the "mom" I am.
Everyone is now safe. Broken bones for some. No death. No coroner call. No Lifeline.
The bus was on its way to church camp. Elementary kids.
God watches us all the time, and this time it went the way we'd hope, not the way we wouldn't understand.
Thank you God.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The first invented dish of summer
Weight Watchers really encourages people to eat a variety of foods, because boredom leads to eating stuff that isn't the best for us (pass the Oreos, yo).
I don't eat certain things often because I think it's too many points. Rice, for example. I've been hungry for rice or pasta lately, and decided to make the rest of the brown rice in the pantry (brown rice takes longer to cook than a roast, I swear). I added in fresh cucumbers and tomatoes that I bought at a roadside stand, and then mix in some olive oil. We're supposed to have a certain amount of healthy oils every day and I almost never do. Someone at my WW meeting told me she puts olive oil in her oatmeal to get her oils in. GROSS.
So my first invented salad of the summer is: half cup of brown rice, cooked; one tomato cut (one cup), one small cucumber cut up (measured to be one cup) and one cup of scallions, chopped. I advise cutting way back on the scallions, or else having a lot of gum handy for later.
Anyway, I put just one teaspoon of EVOO on this and stirred it up.
Six points plus. I know, right! But it's huge. You could half it and have a 3 points plusser.
You might catch a glimpse of my beachy coffee cup there in the corner. I bought it on Anna Maria Island where we stay for our girls-only spring training trip each year. I love that beach and I love that cup - it's huge, like drinking a bowl of coffee. A bowl of coffee can never be a bad thing, right?
So to demonstrate the bipolarness of my kitchen, here is what the younger kids had for lunch that day. I know, I know, child abuse, right? Hey, it's summer.
I don't eat certain things often because I think it's too many points. Rice, for example. I've been hungry for rice or pasta lately, and decided to make the rest of the brown rice in the pantry (brown rice takes longer to cook than a roast, I swear). I added in fresh cucumbers and tomatoes that I bought at a roadside stand, and then mix in some olive oil. We're supposed to have a certain amount of healthy oils every day and I almost never do. Someone at my WW meeting told me she puts olive oil in her oatmeal to get her oils in. GROSS.
So my first invented salad of the summer is: half cup of brown rice, cooked; one tomato cut (one cup), one small cucumber cut up (measured to be one cup) and one cup of scallions, chopped. I advise cutting way back on the scallions, or else having a lot of gum handy for later.
Anyway, I put just one teaspoon of EVOO on this and stirred it up.
Six points plus. I know, right! But it's huge. You could half it and have a 3 points plusser.
You might catch a glimpse of my beachy coffee cup there in the corner. I bought it on Anna Maria Island where we stay for our girls-only spring training trip each year. I love that beach and I love that cup - it's huge, like drinking a bowl of coffee. A bowl of coffee can never be a bad thing, right?
So to demonstrate the bipolarness of my kitchen, here is what the younger kids had for lunch that day. I know, I know, child abuse, right? Hey, it's summer.
First Crafty Friday under our belts!
We had our first Crafty Friday of the summer this past week.
Attendance was down - Sarah got invited to an overnight that turned into two days of her becoming part of someone else's family, and that family is way cooler than ours, apparently.
To ease into it, we did a glue and tissue paper craft.
Joshua kept asking why we had to do this when cartoons were on, and I perservered through without yelling. (Because I keep telling myself yelling negates the togetherness and happiness intended by Crafty Friday.)
When it was over, he said "That's it? It's already done?"
Sigh.
This week will be more challenging.
Here's what it looked like:
Attendance was down - Sarah got invited to an overnight that turned into two days of her becoming part of someone else's family, and that family is way cooler than ours, apparently.
To ease into it, we did a glue and tissue paper craft.
Joshua kept asking why we had to do this when cartoons were on, and I perservered through without yelling. (Because I keep telling myself yelling negates the togetherness and happiness intended by Crafty Friday.)
When it was over, he said "That's it? It's already done?"
Sigh.
This week will be more challenging.
Here's what it looked like:
Thursday, June 16, 2011
It's Summer! And I like it!
I'm ashamed to admit that summer has not been my favorite thing in the past. Since leaving Colorado, summer has been an inconvenience - changes in schedules for the kids, lack of consistency, failure to establish a pattern. That's the control freak in me wigging out.
This year, thanks to some input from some of the greatest women in cyberspace (Meg and Beth especially) I decided to treat summer like summer.
This past weekend - the first weekend everyone was done with school in our house - there was a new slip-n-slide (only because once I invited Josh's BF to come over and slip and slide did I learn the old one didn't work anymore, so we scampered to Target), the snocone maker was out, the grill was on. I even bought a little firepot to quench my need for some flammage outside in the dark. I thought "this is pretty cool! This feels like summer!"
What took me so long to like it, right?
I also have some photos of the teachers gifts, since I went jabbering on facebook about painting bags. The cute tags on the candy bars, Swedish fish and root beer are from 'eighteen25" - another superbulous blog for the crafty.
The second photo is the painted bags - I cannot for the life of me remember what website that idea came from but I like it -- and a rather unflattering shot of the potato chip scarf for Josh's wonderful kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Super.
This year, thanks to some input from some of the greatest women in cyberspace (Meg and Beth especially) I decided to treat summer like summer.
This past weekend - the first weekend everyone was done with school in our house - there was a new slip-n-slide (only because once I invited Josh's BF to come over and slip and slide did I learn the old one didn't work anymore, so we scampered to Target), the snocone maker was out, the grill was on. I even bought a little firepot to quench my need for some flammage outside in the dark. I thought "this is pretty cool! This feels like summer!"
What took me so long to like it, right?
I also have some photos of the teachers gifts, since I went jabbering on facebook about painting bags. The cute tags on the candy bars, Swedish fish and root beer are from 'eighteen25" - another superbulous blog for the crafty.
The second photo is the painted bags - I cannot for the life of me remember what website that idea came from but I like it -- and a rather unflattering shot of the potato chip scarf for Josh's wonderful kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Super.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
If wishes were horses
When I was little, my mom would tell me "don't wish your life away."
I would wish for summer, or Christmas, or time to go to my friend's slumber party, or for a concert date to get here quick.
Today, I wish for so much. So much that I actually started throwing that in when I go to Confession: that I just want and want and want. I think there has to be something wrong with that!
Right now, I want to go to Meg's first craft weekend. (Meg at the Forever blog, bestest blog ever.)
No way I can afford that right now, plus the plane ticket, but I really want to.
I want more clothes (I have reason - I'm very low on clothes for a full time working person, here, because of the weight loss) and I want more ball games to go to, more time with friends, more time with my husband where we're not so tired and strung out all we can do is stare at each other for a second then one of us falls asleep (him) and one of us gets on the computer. I want big things too - I want to go back and appreciate more of my past, I want my dad back down here and not in heaven, I want my daughter's cat not to get old. because it will break her heart to lose that cat.
Get the idea?
When I said it in confession, Father reminded me that to covet what others have is to not appreciate the circumstance God gave me - just me - and to make my life of that.
It's profound advice. Now if I could just take it to heart!
I would wish for summer, or Christmas, or time to go to my friend's slumber party, or for a concert date to get here quick.
Today, I wish for so much. So much that I actually started throwing that in when I go to Confession: that I just want and want and want. I think there has to be something wrong with that!
Right now, I want to go to Meg's first craft weekend. (Meg at the Forever blog, bestest blog ever.)
No way I can afford that right now, plus the plane ticket, but I really want to.
I want more clothes (I have reason - I'm very low on clothes for a full time working person, here, because of the weight loss) and I want more ball games to go to, more time with friends, more time with my husband where we're not so tired and strung out all we can do is stare at each other for a second then one of us falls asleep (him) and one of us gets on the computer. I want big things too - I want to go back and appreciate more of my past, I want my dad back down here and not in heaven, I want my daughter's cat not to get old. because it will break her heart to lose that cat.
Get the idea?
When I said it in confession, Father reminded me that to covet what others have is to not appreciate the circumstance God gave me - just me - and to make my life of that.
It's profound advice. Now if I could just take it to heart!
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