Mountain Mama

30 Days of Thanks :: 2

Today I am thankful for...

the third nice evening out in as many days

the beautiful way that others put words together

my dad

my mom

my sweetie

a friend coming to my aid at the last minute

Wordless Wednesday :: Something about a pair of ruby red slippers

'Tis the season

Paul worked on his grad school stuff all weekend. All. weekend. Twelve-hour day yesterday.

For some reason I just didn't want to be alone at home with the girls all weekend. So I ran off to my mom's (after a very lovely visit with my dear friend Cathie Friday night, including much needed wine and whine and gab sessions).

I thought we might go to the apple farm or at least a pumpkin patch, but then Barrett developed a fever, which has lasted now for three days, and I just did not want to get her into the cold cold wind so much.

She spiked at 105.4 in the middle of the night last night, so today we're off to the doctor to find out what's up (especially as she has no other symptoms). I'm hoping it's an ear infection only, except that this morning I feel a tiny bit feverish myself (skin sensitive, warm yet can't get warm, temp only 101, though).

I know it's the season: for Paul's work load to increase, for cold winds to blow, for fevers and colds. But knowing doesn't make it feel any better. I'll be back to this space when I can.

Fall Break

It's Fall.

It's Fall Break.

I've been craving some outside time.

I've been craving some quantity family time, especially with Paul.

These shoes were made for walking.

And that's what I'm gonna do...

Go camping!

We'll be back on Sunday. Hopefully with pictures and stories to tell.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

Come, Autumn

My arms splayed wide in welcome, my head thrown back in joy, eyes closed in surrender.

Come, Autumn.

I'm ready for your gifts.

The NC Mountain State Fair

The animals:

The sights:

 

The Ferris Wheel my mom rode at the 1962 Seattle Worlds Fair, when she was young, not yet married, and traveling with her girlfriends (and the same one Elvis rode in this movie about that fair):

The kiddie rides that both my kiddies could ride this time:

 

The food:

The games...and prizes:

The best day.

 

 

Things kids say

 

Barrett and I pick Owen up from school. Last week to celebrate her first week of school, we went out for slushies. This week, Owen has a different idea.

"I think every week we should do something different," she says. "Because I'm in school."

"Okay. So you don't want to get slushies?"

"No."

"Ice cream, then?"

"No. I was thinking maybe the library."

Good idea. So off we go to the library. On the way, Owen says "Are we going to the library? Because I want to go to the library."

Barrett picks up on a word she knows and starts chanting: "Library! Library! Library! I want to go to the library!"

After a several rounds of this, she is silent for a few minutes, then says, brightly: "Hey! I have an idea! Let's go to the library!"

It's the most articulate sentence I have ever heard from this child.

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In the car on a night ride to the grocery store, Barrett starts telling us her version of a joke. It goes like this:

"Mommy? Know what?"

"What?"

"Elephant!" Giggle, giggle.

"Mommy? Know what?"

"What?"

"Vvvvpppphhhhrrrrrrrrrrrr!" (Elephant sound.) "Mommy? Know what?"

"What?"

"Giraffe!" Giggles. "Daddy, know what?"

"What?"

"Elephant!"

And this goes on for a while. She totally cracks herself up.

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On the way home from the grocery store, Paul and I are talking about the upcoming season of the Showtime show Dexter (which we watch in DVD and on the computer when we can). I am telling Paul that in Season 4 of Dexter John Lithgow is going to play a serial killer. I tell Paul I think Lithgow will make an excellent serial killer.

From the backseat Owen begins, thoughtfully, "Mom? You know that cereal is not alive don't you?"

"Yes."

"So it can't be killed. You must mean a cereal stealer, not killer, 'cause you can't kill something if it's not alive. Don't you mean cereal stealer?"

Oh, yeah, right. I do so hate it when someone takes my breakfast!

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Have a great weekend ya'll now y'hear (Like the accent?)

Update

This is going to require a numbered list (Warning! This is long) :

1. First of all, my photography class didn't make. The University canceled my section of it due to state-wide budget cuts. The other two sections were full and anyway were being offered at times that did not fit with my schedule. So no art photography for me. I was pretty crushed.

2. When I recovered, I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do instead. You see, we have committed a certain number of hours to the babysitter and I feared that if I reduced that significantly, it would no longer be worth her while to take the job (more about her in a minute). So what to do with my time on Mondays and Wednesdays? I didn't want to do nothing (I don't handle totally unstructured free time well). I don't have that much work to do for my classes (and I don't get paid for time outside the classroom, so I don't want to overdo that). So...I decided to take ceramics. As in pottery. Something that has long been an interest of mine. Even so the class, being a beginner's class, is only two hours once a week. Which leaves me the rest of that day and a whole 'nother day to fill. So I've decided to use that time for writing practice. Dedicated writing time.

You see, I love to write. Really. I do. Only my usual method for writing is to wait until inspiration strikes me (or, as I usually put it, "the words come to me") and I dump it all out onto a page as quickly as possible, editing as I go along. I don't usually go back to what I write. I don't do much revising. And for many years, this has worked for me. I am inspired, the words fill my head and get louder and louder until I get them out and then I move on. But the problem with this is method that it doesn't work well for a person with little kids in the house, a person whose life means constant interruptions of her creative process, a person who wants to someday move beyond her blog and its 60.81 hits per day (thank you thank you for those) to perhaps sell some of her writing, a person who ever hopes to enter the world of deadlines or, gasp, maybe even write a book. No. That person needs to learn to write even when she doesn't feel like it. She needs a regular writing practice.

So (for this semester at least) I now have two designated days in which I will write. At least a couple of hours each day. Who knows, maybe something grand will come of it.

3. Ceramics class. We had our first real class today. The first class in which we actually got our hands in the clay, got to play in the mud. It. was. wonderful. Here is the chance for me to do something creative, something physical, something outside of my normal day-to-day, with no fear of failure. (I mean, I do get a grade--it is a University class after all--but except for my internal goody-two-shoes, who cares what grade I get? I already have a Master's degree. This class holds no weight for me.) I am completely free to play. How great is that?

4. Our babysitter situation. I cannot praise Samantha enough. I cannot even begin to accurately tell you how wonderful she is and what a blessing it is that she is so wonderful. During the first week of school, she cared for both of my girls and every single day, she came with something new and fun for them to work on together. They watched maybe 2 hours of DVDs the entire week (and some of that was with me). They read, did crafts, put on puppet shows, played, dressed up, went outside, bascially had a blast. She made cookies with them the day before Owen started school and generally made a fuss over her (which I appreciated). She has since been completely attentive to Barrett and it's obvious B adores her--she is happy and playful and engaged with Samantha, looks forward to seeing her, mentions her name when she's not here. Samantha has even been kind enough to agree to meet Owen's bus the two days a week that I work later, so that I don't have to pay for afterschool care (at a full time rate, despite only needing it for one hour twice a week). She is all we could hope for in a babysitter. Once Daisy (my friend's baby) joins us at the end of the month (when her mom goes back to work from maternity leave), I think my friends will be equally happy with Samantha, and, we hope, the shared situation.

[Oh, and before you beat me up for neglecting my young daughter while I'm out fulfilling myself, I do cut the babysitter's hours short on those days so I can spend one-on-one time with Barrett and I spend all of Fridays with her and I am home to meet Owen's bus after school three days a week and I am home no later than 4 the other two days.]

5. I've been so busy managing our life changes that I neglected to tell you about some book reviews I've done over at Simple Kids--one as part of the new book review team, and one on my own. Check them out here and here.

6. Also, I want to put a plug in here for a lovely article my dad wrote about fishing with Owen. Please read it. My dad is a great writer and he's writing about my special girl, so that makes it all the more meaningful to me.

7.  Owen still loves school. Today she said her favorite part is riding the bus. She loves it so much we've decided to let her ride the bus every day (except Fridays, when I will pick her up and take her to Sonic for slushies just because, well, it's Friday and besides they have that happy hour 1/2 price thing). As I mentioned above, two days a week Samantha meets her bus, and the other days I will. It's become a nice part of the day for Barrett and me, walking down to the end of the road and the three of us walking back.

8. Owen is very tired when she gets home, and we've had some issues with meltdowns over homework or art projects. [Did you know Kindergartners have homework? I didn't. It's not much and they get a week's worth of assignments at once with the whole week to do it, but still, I just didn't imagine they'd have it at all.] I initially thought I would make her do her homework as soon as she gets home, but after the too-tired, nothing's-working-out-I-can't-do-it-right meltdowns, I've decided on a new plan. I'm going to let her relax for a while as soon as she gets home, watch a DVD or something on the computer, eat a snack, and then do homework in the time I'm fixing supper. Maybe that will help. We'll see.

9. We have decided to allow Owen to quit soccer. I know: she just started. In fact she only had two practices before she started talking about not wanting to do it. But I did tell her in the very beginning that if she didn't like it, I would not make her play. And she is the child of two rather nonathletic, sort-of intellectuals. And it's not as if she gets no exercise. And, most importantly, she's only five. We can try again. I don't really think she'd doomed to a life of never participating in any team sports just because she doesn't start soccer at age five. And even if she were doomed to a life of never participating in team sports, would that be so bad?

Plus, that's one less thing on our already packed weekly schedule.

10. Our September is looking as busy as the end of summer. On the docket: a family weekend at the lake for Labor Day, the much beloved Mountain State Fair, a birthday party for a friend, Fall Festival at Owen's school, a visit from my aunt and uncle, Mountain Heritage Day (a local arts and crafts festival we enjoy), apple picking, and a three- or four-day conference trip for Paul. All (or mostly) fun stuff, but busy nonetheless.

That's all for my brain dump. Bless you if you stayed with me through all of that. I do have a more interesting post for the weekend, so stay tuned.

Weekend

Back-to-school shopping, tax-free

Gathering supplies--from the garden and the Farmer's Market--for and canning Dad's "famous" zesty salsa

Clam dinner