HomeLife
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard
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the weekend ramble (1. a mouse 2. a race 3. a whine)
1. There was a mouse. It was deceased. The location of its demise? Under our stove. (Yes, please be horrified with me.) Its removal was necessary. The other day Otto asked me who my favorite child was. I think my answer is – whichever one of them gets that rotting mouse carcass out of my house. Turns out it was a team effort so now I have two favorite children. Their names are Mosely and Otto. I stand by that decision until another horrible task is set before me. 2. We ran the Swamp Rabbit 5K. This is a race we have been running since, well – since kids were…
Keep Reading . . .
… a new dinner option
I’m over here …
some tiny epiphanies via my quarantine education
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five finds friday (may is sort of mean, also there’s a lot about potatoes in this one)
May is a bully of a month. She’s bossy and demanding. She has lists upon lists to complete. She says – finish that math curriculum. Wrap up that history course. Better turn in that project deadline before your summer plans. But then. She’s all sunshine and temptation. She’s luring you out of doors and whispering in your ear to ditch all those pesky duties and to run with the breeze, to frolic in the field, to wade in the stream. And just when you give in to her siren call, you’re like a dog on a leash. You’re yanked back into reality with your deadlines and your grades to turn…
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45.
This morning, before I found the fortitude to crawl out from under the cozy covers my own age (that actual number) landed itself right in the middle of my mind. Plopped with a thudand sank deep. This isn’t mid life. That was five years ago. Maybe. If I’m a statistic. (And a lucky one at that.) This is the other side. And I have no idea what’s remaining(like all the rest of humanity) And I have barely an inkling of an idea ofHow to Get There. But I do know, deeply and profoundly, that I don’t want to miss it. This Life.This Adventure.Sunshine. Rain. I plan to enjoy my life.…
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tell me about utah . . .
We’re on a countdown, and like most of my life lately, it has snuck up on me. In less than a month (what? for real?) we will be heading out for our fourth (seriously?) Beyond Wildwood adventure to the happiest place on earth. (Nope – it’s not Disneyland.) To say I cannot wait is an understatement. The fact that we have the privilege to go back for a fourth year, to feel like regulars, to ride horses in the Pike National Forest, to let someone else cook for us and make our beds …. oh dear goodness, it’s amazing. This year – we have the joy of having my dad…
Keep Reading . . .
… a new dinner option
weekend ramble (fishing, manicures and Noonday)
Oh hi. It’s me.
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morning song: a poem
The house is quiet. I can hear my own bare feet pad along the floor. Think my own clear thoughts. This quiet beginningCan never be the way the day stays. And that’s alright. Bookends are what I prefer – Quiet at the startQuiet at the finishCome What May in the middle And the youngest daughter awakens. Her hug still warm from her cozy sleep. A bed-warmed hug is the sweetest start. The sun is shining just warm enough to lure me outside to the deck for morning words. Rwanda tea with honey and creamhot in my clutch. Shine on, this beautiful morning. O Beautiful Warmth. The birds are trilling a…
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in between. it’s hard to be a teen. (and a teen’s momma.)
I’m trying to remember. Although I can’t honestly say that I recall it entirely. What it was like to be 12. Or 14. 16. At odds with my mind and my heart and my body. (I mean, I’m still pretty familiar with that in too many ways.) But I watch my kids. Long past the baby stage. Jetted right away from the toddler phase. My youngest turns double digits next month. We all have conversations about novels and crushes, heartbreak and Marvel movies. I watch their faces when they’re trying to get their way. Hear their arguments trying to convince me that staying up late is the best choice or…
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weekend ramble (the wrong date. the wrong time. the right pants.)
This weekend I . . . Spent a girls weekend with three of my daughters while my boys went fishing. Watched two movies about Jane Austen in some capacity. (Austenland and Becoming Jane. One was satisfyingly happy and one was real gloomy.) Took my girls shopping – with friends – and marveled at how much they enjoyed it. The times – they are a changing. Asked my friend if I could pull off pinkish/purpleish pants. She said yes. Purchased said pants. And two days later, wore said pants, deciding that even if I couldn’t wear them in some perfectly flattering way, that I didn’t even care because the color made…
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five finds friday (freckles, strawberries, plants)
The sunshine this week has been the actual best. funny I received this email from PayPal, the convenient way for you to receive and to pay money amongst friends, family and clients. Also the way to have a small percentage of that money disappear into the recesses of space via the service fee. I just thought it was hilarious that their response to you not agreeing to the changes they were imposing on your account was for you to close your account entirely. And then, you know, if you close your account – these changes won’t effect you. Uh, right. fashionable Today’s fashionable are my kid’s freckles. Aren’t…
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thoughts. on this fragile world.
We really live in the most frail of worlds – don’t we? Our own personal ecosystem is a mess. I’m not even talking about actual environmental problems. I just mean – things fall apart. It’s hard to maintain anything – your yard, your living room, your friendships. Recently my friend had a plumbing issue and her (new) floorboards had to be torn out and there was literal water just flowing under her house because it’s basically all a charade. A puppet show. Held together with glue and cardboard, propped up with sticks and strings and what on earth are we doing here? You know what I’m saying? We…
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five finds friday – (Congaree, more soup, another Otto saying & sunshine)
I really need to go to bed instead of writing this post. I don’t feel at all certain that I can think of Five items tonight. But, at the same time, I really want to do this. funny We went to see a play at local college with many of our friends. The lead role was performed by a friend we made through our stays at Lost Valley Ranch. I love that sort of connection and how that works out. It was Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and, like every event of late in our home, the feelings about attending the show were mixed. (In fact, Bergen heaved a heavy…
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weekend ramble (the stillest of weekends)
This weekend had an Original Plan but got waylaid by a sick kid. Instead of heading out of town with our sweet friends, we all stayed at home. Where we hardly left the house and instead rested and recovered and tried to monitor all the ways in which we could keep any sickness from spreading throughout all of us. We watched some TV. This is the first year we’ve ever really fully embraced American Idol. The boys can’t stand it. The girls all love it. It’s sort of ridiculous how much I have enjoyed it this season. I just love seeing the judges be so encouraging to these young kids…
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five finds friday
This week in numbers. (Even though numbers are NOT my thing.) 3.5 hours at a testing facility for kids and school testing. 1 broken motor mount on my Yukon. 5 hours spent driving kids to cross country, soccer and errands on Tuesday afternoon. 10 kids at my house on Wednesday. 22 baked potatoes for a group dinner. 19 chocolate chip cookies stolen and devoured by Ryder. funny Our pup Talluah is a funny one. She adores sleeping curled up on a pillow. Preferably above someone’s head. And I know I share a lot of photos of this dog sleeping – but it’s what she does a lot. And –…
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messy
Today was a messy day. It was destined for a poor start the night before. I knew it, even as I raced the clock and stayed up later than I knew I should. I woke up at 5:30 am. Which is unacceptable to me. I contemplated being the sort of person who actually gets out of bed at that time. I tossed and turned. I thought about turning on the light. To read. To do work. To do something useful. But a wayward son had found his way into my room late last night and I didn’t want to rouse him at that unholy hour. I remember when I was…
