Birthday

Tonight at 12:01 AM I will be 32 years old. And as usual, mentally, I feel no more than 15. I'm just as geeky now as I was then. It's just different categories of geeky-ness now. I hold no hope of ever growing up.

Peanut crawled into bed with me this morning and said, "Daddy is coming to get me from playgroup today and we are going shopping. Don't even ask where we are going." in her now, nearly perfected, teenage voice. She has already learned the knack of making her words drip with sarcasm and disdain. (Hmm, I wonder where she gets it from? LOL!) The present hunt is officially on.

Tomatoes, Ugh!

Canning season is upon us.

The family and friends are coming round with the excess produce that they can't bear to waste, thinking that we, with no garden, are in desperate want of it. And I am grateful, really. With the price of groceries in general and produce in particular, every little bit helps. I just wish it didn't mean that I had to drop everything and preserve the bounty before fruit flies began to fill my kitchen.

Last weekend it was a pile of peppers and two boxes of tomatoes, which I translated into 10 pints of salsa; five canned and five fresh. All of that boiling, peeling, chopping and onion tears. My husband will probably finish it all off before the end of October.


Maybe I should take my FIL up on the offer of more tomatoes.

Tonight is a dreaming night.

The laundry is undone.
The dinner dishes are still sitting and waiting to be washed.
Today's mail lies unopened on the table.

Maybe it's the crisp change in the weather.
Perhaps it's that the moon is just past full and glorious to see.

Likely, it's just that I have been rereading the "Anne of Green Gables" series lately.


Whatever it is, I'm not anxious to break the misty little spell that has fallen over my house tonight and has me staring at stars and planning in my head. I think I'll just enjoy it.

The dishes will still be dirty later.

Stoned

Yesterday was spent in the ER having my first CAT scan. My husband made a silly joke about feeling like the jelly in a doughnut. I thought I was going to leave the hospital with frostbite, the ER was so cold.

It turns out I had a kidney stone.

I say had, because as of this morning, I no longer have a kidney stone. But for the last four days, it was all that I could think about. All I can say is "Ouch!". Don't get one of these if you can help it.

I've had my gallbladder removed, I've endured labor pains, and I've gone through a scary hemorrhaging miscarriage. This was less fun than all three.

But now things are fine and my bladder isn't making me do the twelve-trips-to-the-bathroom dance all night long.

Now if I could only get my daughter to be as considerate about my sleep.

Short Vowels and Miracles

This has been the week of "Zac the Rat". Next week it will be "Peg the Hen".

Yes, we are working our way through the short vowels.

It's funny, but I expected this to be the most boring part of our homeschooling years. I thought that the interminable repetition and struggle that comes with laying down the foundations of reading would frustrate me, but it just isn't the case.

Seeing my daughter's eyes when she realizes that all of those sounds that I have been forcing her to learn actually make words when she says them out loud together is priceless. Walking through the grocery store and noticing that she is actually reading the signs for "milk" and "eggs", carefully sounding out each letter, is such a thrill.

I love that I get to be here for those moments and that they are not wasted on some exhausted teacher with 38 other minds to mold who has seen it so many times before that it is no longer miraculous to her.

I love that the miracle is mine.

Autumn

The first Canadian geese were sounding their call over the house tonight on their way south. My heart heard them and instantly thought, "Ahhhh, Autumn!" My favorite season of the year is nearly upon us. I am so thankful that we live in a place where we actually have a change of seasons to enjoy, instead of where my husband would love to be (Utah anyone?). The changing leaves and crisper air just call to me.

Also, that other inevitable is upon us, the new school year. Peanut and I have officially started kindergarten this week. I'm being blown away by how much that little mind can retain when it's something she enjoys (Reading, Yay!) and how stubborn she can be when it's something she feels challenged by (Handwriting). I don't know if it is because I fill double duty as Teacher and Mother or if it's just that my child is stubborn as mule, but when it is time for something that she considers work, the excuses and the guilt trip come trotting out.

"My tooth hurts."
"I'm thirsty."
"My pencil is too small."
"My pencil is too big"
"I already know that, Mama."

And the child hates to practice. Unlike a lot of children, repetition is not her strong suit.

Except when it comes to her favorite books. Now, those I have to read over and over and over.

So I feel safe in saying that I think I have a reader on my hands. Which comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me. In fact, it was probably inevitable. But my heart is joyful at the thought!