new digs

Same old me. Just a new space. We’ll see how it goes.

air flow

We rearranged K’s room so that all of her intake and outflow floor vents are not covered by a bed or dresser or bookshelf. I hope that helps her room stay either cooler or warmer, depending on the time of year. We moved every piece of furniture in her room at least once, except her dresser. Whew!

running away

Well, it finally happened. I always wondered when K would think she could/would run away. Late this afternoon, deep into a temper tantrum, she handed T a note and stomped out. She went to Bobby and Louise’s house, two doors down. It was very cute actually. They weren’t home so she had to come back to our house. But at least she knows where she can go.

us and them

K and I went to my friend Amy’s house today for a coupon swap. We swapped coupons while the kids played. When we arrived, K said as we pulled up to the 4000+ sq. foot home, “everybody in MOMS Club, everybody we know, everybody has a bigger house than ours.” I wondered when one of the children was going to notice that. Apparently it is at 6 years old. Then she said, “we have a big back yard. That’s where we can have people over when they come to our house.”

overwhelmed with stuff

I want a simpler household. We have too much stuff. I know we live more simply than most folks, but we still have too much stuff for my psychological well-being. Some of it comes from my need to re-sell everything to get as much money out of something as I can. Couple that with the items I have inherited from my one Grandmother or received from my other Grandma, plus a house that is one bedroom and one closet smaller than I really wanted, and we have an abundance of stuff. I like a path through a room. I’m a “in case of fire/emergency” kind of person. Things don’t have to be totally neat all the time, but I need to be able to get in and out of every room in the house in a hurry should I need to. I just don’t have the patience to deal with all this stuff any more.

conversation last night

K: Can I go to sleep in your bed?
Me: Why?
K: I sleep well-er in your bed than in mine.

site I just found

Have you seen this site? It’s fantastic! Thank goodness someone has finally done this. It honors the shape that is a mother:
http://www.theshapeofamother.com/

busting my ass

I busted my ass today. No, really. I literally busted my ass. I was walking very slowly but just happen to put my foot on a slippery place on the top step of our friends’ pool. Down I went. I broke my fall with my arms fairly well, and I’m lucky I didn’t break my coccyx bone. I had to just sit there a minute while the feeling returned to my legs and I could open my eyes again. Fortunately the children were very good and sat still while I fashioned an ice pack out of ice and saran wrap that I found in the pool bathhouse. It now hurts to get up and down and to carry E. Again, I’m just trying to concentrate on how lucky I am that it is only bruised and not broken. But it really really hurts.

summer comes

The week where K gets out of school is over. So is the week where she’s at my parents’ house. So is the week of two Bible schools. Ahhhhhh….finallly, a week where we don’t have to be anywhere on time (except for the one swim lesson on Wednesday), no obligations, no schedules. Yea! Summer vacation is really here. I plan to garden with the children (their little garden didn’t make it at all so we’re going to replant it and see what we can get to happen in there). I want to take them to the library. I want to cook with them. Mostly I just want to have days where we hang out. I woke up with a child on either side of me … ahhhhh…lazing around in bed, getting up only when we want to. The only thing that would make this better would be if we were at the beach for it all.

today

I love preaching. I love leading worship. and I got to do both today. I didn’t know until I arrived at the church that I’d basically be doing the entire service by myself. Which is fine; quite honestly I slipped back into preacher-mode rather easily, considering I haven’t done this in several years. But it’s like riding a bike, etc. I did all the rising and seating of folks (“would you please join me in singing hymn number 355?”) as well as the little transitional moments of worship that lay folks forget even happen: the blessing over the offering, the prayer before the sermon, the words of dedication after the reading of the scriptures, etc. You just don’t forget how to do a Benediction or a Pastoral Prayer. Taking prayer concerns is always a delicate thing (you must be properly concerned and yet move along to the next one in a timely manner), and I manuevered that well enough. It was easy and natural and very enjoyable. I took K with me to the church, which was 90 miles away. She was great in the car and we did a lot of basic math from her school workbook to pass the time. On the way home, she was making up songs about loving the Lord and having a lot of conversations with her imaginary friends about how she was the preacher and the music director and the youth group leader all at the same time. It was good for her to see me preach. She was fun to have along, too.