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Five Finds Friday (a song & a rug & senior photos)
It’s been a week of RAIN and work and heavy lifting in the parenting realm. But here we all are – Friday. Happy to have made it this far. funny I walked into my bedroom. Waiting for me on the table was this character. I said to my grinning son, “Where did this come from? Why is he on my table?” Bergen laughed. “Oh, you know. I thought he looked like Jason Sudeikis.” fashionable I feel intimidated by rugs. I love them in other people’s homes. I want them. But I have zero idea how to pick one out, how to know if it fits the space, how to commit…
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U.S. 4D Map Puzzle: A Timberdoodle Review
_____________________________________________ This is a review post. Timberdoodle graciously sent me a free product in exchange for a review. A review that is always my own, honest and truthful, and hopefully helpful. _____________________________________________ Every March a homeschool conference takes place in our town. People drive from miles away, they stay for several days, they attend lectures and listen to experts and shop for new school curriculum and seek out advice and opinions and new ideas for their own homeschools. This annual event happened just last week. Although I didn’t attend the actual conference this year, I did head over to the exhibit hall for the free evening of perusing the curriculum…
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five finds friday (oatmeal cream pies & a little explaining about “that” photo)
You think those baby and toddler years FLY by? Good grief, so do these high school ones. Everything I see is in fast forward. funny Laughing is my favorite hobby. Bergen is especially funny of late. And thank goodness, because life is so overflowing with NOT funny things that I need some daily doses of humor. Our TV and movie viewing has shifted dramatically from the days of Veggie Tales and Little People. (Remember that tune, “Discovering Michael, discovering you. Discovering there’s room for everyone …”? No? Just me? Okay.) A quick Google search helped me find this memory — But that’s not even what I was planning to share…
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cliff’s edges.
There are a lot of ways to fall off a cliff. Metaphorically speaking. (I guess literally too.) Some days I get dangerously close. (I’m rolling with the metaphorical version of the cliff jumping today.) The thoughts in my mind are strong and demanding. And they take many forms. Lately, the thought that has me dangling my legs on the cliff’s edge is the death of my mother . . . far too soonwhen she was far too youngwhen I still wanted so much more timeand I was too young myself to recognize how badly I would need more time because there was just so much I never knew I would…
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five finds friday (the worst jeans you’ll ever see, Otto says something funny and Dolly is the best)
Has this week been kind to you? This week has handed me a stack of “you messed this up” and “hey, here’s another bill” and “whoa – how did it get to be so late so soon?” (Which is a quote from Dr. Seuss, by the way, so that I don’t add plagiarism to my list of wrong doings and inefficiencies this week.) But also. This week has been fine. Does that make sense anywhere outside of my own head? funny It’s our Break Week from school. One day I let the kids watch far too much TV. I looked at Otto, lounging on the sofa, having hardly moved most…
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doing the right thing when the right thing doesn’t seem to work
What we tell our kids: Look for the good.If you can’t find the good, BE the good.Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We say: Kindness wins.Prefer others above yourselves.Love anyway.Work for the good of others before yourself.Forgive and forgive, as often as it requires.Forgive when your brother keeps yanking your hair or stealing your Legos or leaving their t-shirts in your laundry basket.Think of others first. This is how the world should work. Right actions should begat right results. Sowing generosity should reap the same. And, you know – sometimes it does. Sometimes this exact formula produces kindness and forgiveness and thoughtfulness. Some days the…
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five finds friday. snow cream. snow tubing. London’s cute hair and laughter from junior high.
But the time just goes by so fast even when the days are slow or the world is weird. funny Last weekend my friend Sara and her family stopped by for a Sunday visit as they were driving through town. It was all sorts of delightful and we had such a lovely time catching up and chatting and enjoying one another’s company, something we’ve been doing for the past THIRTY-FIVE years. That number makes me both laugh and cry. Who are we? How can we be so old? But what really made us laugh was pulling the boxes out of the attic and rifling through the memories I have hoarded…
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soundtrack of my mind
I live with the relentless steady beat of the sound of time passing. I am never not aware. This is not hyperbole. Is this awareness a gift or a curse? Yes. When I think, “Oh my word. I never sleep alone. A kid is always making their way into my bed at some point in the night.” The next immediate (actually simultaneous) thought is, “Who cares? I will be sleeping alone so soon.” When my daughter stays in the bathroom so long at night that I cannot brush my teeth before bed and I think, “When will I have the bathroom to myself?” My instant response is – SOON. As in, two seconds…
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Unnecessary Tasks: A List
I’m all about learning how to do tasks well. Challenging myself to rise above and to learn new things. But also. I think there are just some skills that hold less value for me and that I have no problem with never learning to do them well. Here’s my incomplete list of unnecessary (to me) tasks: Folding fitted sheets. Sure, there are YouTube videos dedicated this. I just do not care. I’ve rolled them. I’ve shoved them in drawers. Currently, I roll them up and insert them into a pillow case and store them in a trunk until their next use is required. You can show me how to do this…
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london. the city & my daughter.
London has been a homebody since she a wee thing. She wrote an essay about it for English recently – her love of home. (And she called our home “endearingly chaotic” and I love that.) Aside from being with her friends, the place she most likes to be is at home. She’s a creature of habit and she likes coming back from a vacation pretty much more than going on vacation. I love home too. Its comfortable and warm and cozy and I’m always happy to be here. But, unlike London, I also adore a good road trip. I’m never not thinking of the next adventure – big or small.…
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Five Finds Friday (teen drivers. the first egg.)
This week kind of felt like a million years long because we did ALL of the subjects for school and worked hard to get up on time and to be regular contributing members of society. It’s hard, y’all. funny Two parenting tasks that rank high on my list of Least Favorite Parenting Tasks are potty training children and teaching teens to drive. Fortunately, I’m all wrapped up with one of those but still right in the middle for the other one. This week Bergen got behind the wheel. He buckled up. Adjusted his mirrors. Then asked, “The brake is the big one, right?” Jesus, take the wheel. fashionable This week,…
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five finds friday (why I’m sticking around for fridays and shows that make me laugh)
You know what’s discouraging? When you type a whole post and then your son unplugs the internet connection and your computer doesn’t save what you typed. That’s a bummer. Also, it’s a bummer when you are so old or distracted or tired or distracted or distracted that you honestly can’t recall the words you typed mere minutes earlier. I think I said something about how I really don’t know how much time in this new year I can commit to writing in this sweet space because I really do want to finish that book. And how Ruth, my writing coach, said that it will be hard and that I will…
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Bergen Hawkeye, HomeLife, Keiglets, London Eli Scout, Mosely Ella Claiborne, Otto Fox Wilder, Piper Finn Willow
teens. parenting them.
I feel like I haven’t talked about too many hard things over here lately. I think it’s because – they’re all hard things. This year has been full of hard things. And yet. We’re all okay. At my house. In this moment. We’re okay. Nothing is currently on fire. You know what I mean? Everything feels hard. And nothing is really that hard. That’s how cliche extreme my brain feels lately. The teen years are vastly different than the toddler years. (I mean, sort of. They’re both years where some kid is always hungry. And where some kid always needs you. But just – differently, you know. Teens are messy…
