The Quilt Is Finished

"Daddy's teeth with all the cavities" by Finley

In Preparation...

If I was still in my twenties with no children, change and adventure would be a lot easier. These days, it takes a little more preparation.

We spent the weekend preparing to put the house on the market. Yes, I know. We've been doing that for at least two years. But the realtor is coming on Saturday, and we will make it official.

I have been changing my habits over the past several weeks in preparation for the house to be on the market. I don't want to have a heart attack when a realtor says they want to the show the house in a half hour. I started making the bed every morning. I started making the kids' beds every morning. I started putting bedtime books back on their shelves when I make the beds. I started washing the breakfast dishes right away, then drying them and putting them away. We've stopped cramming bills and other mail behind the cookie jar on the counter. I'm becoming more consistent telling the kids to put toys away when they are done playing with them... Changing habits is not easy. It is easier if you do it one little habit at a time.


I've been preparing the kids. Finley told me the other day she doesn't want to move to a stinky and cracked house. I told her that most likely our new house won't be as nice as this one, but we will either build a new one or make that one as nice as this one.

I've been preparing myself mentally for 'the worst'. When I was seventeen, I spent three months with YWAM, taking daily cold showers to avoid the log jam at the one hot shower available to the 18 others living in our little dorm-house. Back then it was mildly unpleasant, but adventurous and exhilarating. Today, I am so spoiled, the thought of a cold shower prompts whining. But I am telling myself that if the house sells and we have to live in something not as comfortable as we have now, it will be adventurous and exhilarating.

Hints of Spring

There is a woodpecker pecking madly at our sugar maple in the back yard. The sap must be flowing. Is spring almost here, or is nature just teasing my anxious spirit?

Quilt Progress

Almost finished. After a disastrous attempt at machine quilting (my little White just can't handle it), Chris offered to drive me and the quilt to Alabama. Aunt Carolyn, who lives there, is a pro. I opted to just tie it, as I have been anxious to finish this project. All that is left is to hand stitch the binding to the backing. Ugh.

Things

This will be my 375th post.

I think about my kids someday, and wonder if they will be thankful for the things I've typed out, or overwhelmed at the amount they would have to read through in order to find the few things worth reading.

I think about the thousands of pictures we have taken in this new digital age, and look at the one picture I own of my grandfather that is hung on the wall, and realize it is worth all the more because it is rare.

Our house is stuffed full of things we don't need, but we seem to have a hard time letting go of them. My husband keeps stashing away toys the kids don't want because he thinks they are cool.

It is a fine line between blessing and burden.

Weekend Update and Other Ramblings 1/12

Finley and Joe got to go sledding this year. On Saturday (was it?), I loaded them into the van, drove around the corner to the church that backs up against our property where there is a tolerable hill, found the one spot where they could slide all the way down (with the help of a good push) with the amount of snow we had, and let them enjoy thrill of 'sledding'. They still have no idea, though... I remember the year we got a good amount of snow ('02) and took Reanna to the State Capitol (didn't I pick the right spelling?) where there is a killer hill. She was terrified. Somehow, after this weekend, I don't think Finley and Joe would have much of a problem flinging themselves down that one... Chris tore into the bathtub plumbing as I didn't think an old, leaky faucet would help sell the place. No, it isn't finished yet. He has some tile work and minor plumbing to do yet.

Reanna is now 14. (Happy Birthday!......) In one year, she can get a learner's permit.

Z tried her hand at the spoon. She wouldn't let me feed her, so I had to hand it over. Less of a mess than I expected.

Otherwise, we have runny noses and coughs. I can feel some pressure/pain in my left ear. Hate that.

I've been buying local raw, unfiltered honey from the Co-op. They were out of the 5 lb. jug I normally get, so I called the local supplier. Found out they sell some from their honey farm, so went to buy some. I had an idea in my head of what the place would look like. Nice pasture, orderly white boxes where the honey is kept. Thought I'd ask them if they ever give tours when the weather is warm... Didn't expect the haphazard pallets of hive boxes and rows of empty metal drums, or the grey, weathered house tucked back in the trees, the plywood box nailed to the house with several shelves of honey and a little wooden box with a padlock in which to deposit the money. Some friendly but ghostly guy slipped out of a side (plywood) door with a complimentary calendar, told me to holler if I needed anything, then disappeared. Knocked on the door to ask if they could give change, but apparently not loudly enough. Joe held tight to my finger, wary of the roaming roosters, worried they would get in the van and wake Z. Decided to buy what I could and leave the minimal change... Very funny.

Raises new questions in my mind about honey production (especially since I don't know much). I think they get pollen from somewhere for the bees. There was a jar of pollen for sale in the box. It's not like there was farm land or orchards for the bees to feed from.

Life is strange.

The Physics of HotWheels

We set up the HotWheels track a few days ago for a fun activity on these cold days. After moving one of the loops onto the stairs (and taping it securely), I figured out that the cars had too much speed going into loop 1, where the cars would just bounce out, and shortened the starting track. Today, Joe wanted a longer track, so I added the rest of what we had to the end.

Zivah loves the track, and Joe gets frustrated as she tends to hog the cars. If I'm not around to recollect the cars and carry them back up the 'hill,' it doesn't keep their attention long. But, admittedly, if the kids weren't around and I had no other obligations, I could spend hours running cars down the track.

The Most Pathetic Snowball Fight I've Ever Seen

If you look really hard, you can see a small snowball about to hit Fin.

Quilt Progress

After what seemed like forever, I finished all the blocks. Decided to add strips in between the blocks so that I wouldn't have to make quite so many. Then realized I should decide on the layout before I got too far ahead of myself...

At Almost 18 Months...

She smiles like this for the camera,

she puts things away when I ask her,

most of the time I can get her to stop crying for something and say 'please',

she usually says 'thank you' without prompting,

AND

since she watches carefully what every one does and likes to try it for herself, (although she can barely say the word) tonight she wanted to sit on the potty for the first time.

Is she too good to be true?