Just Float

There comes a time in your life that you have to let go and just trust that you will float... or that your feet will touch the bottom. I think it must be scary sometimes to be a five-year-old and not know what's ahead of you, especially when your imagination runs wild. It's scary sometimes to be a thirty-five-year-old, for that matter. Sometimes you just have to float, and know that you'll make it somehow.

Toad on the ropes

Life and housework has a funny way of catching up with a person. So far my list of housecleaning related accomplishments for my vacation, now four days old, is great; however, the house still looks cluttered and trashed. I've got a lot on my mind these days, so it's been good having an endless to-do list to keep me busy. Tomorrow will be my first "kidless" day, so in between a quick trip to the grocery store after drop-off and a pedicure with Lena in the afternoon (I know, shocking! I'm going to let someone touch my feet!) I hope to blitz the remainder of my list: Toad's room is done except for dusting the blinds and cleaning out the window sill; Birdy's room and our room and the upstairs bathroom need attention; the living room is mostly done; the kitchen and my office need some major work! That will be my main focus tomorrow -- and then on Wednesday, after all my hard work, I'm going to treat myself to a day of scrappy happy with my sister.

Ooh, guess what.... we've progressed to the point of painting in the basement! Tonight HG and I painted our first coat of Yukon Gold in the hall and one of the main room walls. It's absolutely divine! I can't wait to get Braided Raffia on the remainder of the walls! Pictures will soon follow.

Thanks to JT for the great photo above of our little swimmer.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Yesterday I was able to join CdB Montessori on a field trip to the Strawberry Patch! It's at the same orchard that we've gone to get our Halloween pumpkins every year since Toad was a baby (run by my former co-worker Kit and her family). We learned how strawberries grow and got a lesson in picking the very best berries. It was wonderful to kneel at the plants and search for ripe berries. It brought back a lot of memories from my childhood, running out to the garden and eating right from the plants -- strawberries, raspberries, peas. Someday I'll have a little patch of heaven in my own backyard.

Toad had a terrific time filling his basket, as you can see by the picture. It was the hottest day of the year so far, but none of the kids complained. We toured the patch and the apple orchard on a wagon pulled by a tractor (always a hit with the kids), had duck races, and had lunch in the cafe. And Toad has actually been eating strawberries! Before yesterday he was scared of the seeds!

www.applejackorchards.com

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

We've got some major teething going on at our house. Birdy began teething at a very early age and even had her one year molars by about 8 months. However, for some reason, she skipped her cuspids, aka canine teeth. She looks like a Stanley Cup Champion with a mouth full of teeth -- and four missing! She's been working on these for a while and her grumpiness level is off the charts. Poor girl. Poor grumpy little bean. Thankfully, it hasn't really affected her sleep.

Three more days of work and then vacation!

Back to the Blogosphere

Well, it would appear that I've missed nearly four months in the blogosphere. Birdy's first birthday -- long gone. Toad's fifth birthday -- a month ago. The world keeps moving and so does this family. But I am making a commitment to gather my wits about me and use the space here to record the events of our lives -- the daily grind, the special moments, the mundane, the extraordinary -- and to get back in the habit of visiting the blogs of friends and family.

Rather than re-cap the last four months, I will include two photographs, one of Miss Bird and one of Toad as they celebrated their birthdays, and then I will move forward. I hope that you haven't completely given up on Home for the Holidays.

What's new with us? Hammer Guy has finally made it back down to the basement (he's working there right now, actually!). We hired someone to finish the mudding and taping and so we're very close to the painting stage. Thank goodness the bathroom is finished, at least, since we've had to seek shelter there a handful of times already this summer because of severe weather. The Deadline has been extended once again to Labor Day (of 2008). HG is also planning to brew this month for the first time since November of 2006. He has a whole day set aside for it at the end of the month (when I am on vacation). Another major undertaking for HG is the Professional Engineering Exam in October. He'll be hitting the books again soon.

I continue to make it through work day by day. In the face of product recalls and stop-sales and increasing prices (a value box of diapers is up to 37.99 -- ridiculous!), not to mention the price of gas, more and more customers are impatient and downright rude. At one of our other locations, an irate guest ripped a credit card pinpad off its cable and threw it at the head of the assistant manager. I told my boss that the day a customer throws something at me, I will hand over my keys. Am I looking for a new job? Of course, but daily I try to remind myself about what I like about retail and why I got into it in the first place, but it is no longer worth it to me to drive 50 miles round trip each day to a job that does not make me happy. I am, however, writing again -- ever so slowly allowing myself to dream again.

Toad, amazing and wonderful Toad, completed his preschool year at Montessori and will be in kindergarten there in the fall. Next March we will attempt to enroll him at the public Montessori elementary school about 10 miles from here. It's the luck of the draw as they take applicants based on a lottery. He absolutely loves being in the small classroom with his beloved teacher. Birdy will be able to join him for the last part of his kindergarten year as well. Toad's obsessions right now include Star Wars, Star Wars Legos, Indiana Jones Legos, any kind of Legos, and Lego Duplos (he and Birdy can play together). He also enjoys castles, maze puzzle books, PBS Sprout (favorite friend Caillou), soccer, his new Island Adventures water table, riding his bike... I could go on and on.

Birdy is full of words and spunk and energy. She's a good little girl who goes nigh-night all by herself and usually doesn't make a peep. She started walking about a month after her first birthday. She and I like to go for long walks on the mornings I don't work. She likes books (mostly to chew on), cuddling, singing (eensy weensy spider and wheels on the bus), Duplos, the water table, playing with her brother, and eating. That girl loves to eat. She loves black olives and pickles. That's my girl! I've got this crazy idea that I'll have her potty-trained by the end of the summer -- who knows, stranger things have happened!

Looking ahead -- Rockin' Rogers Days is right around the corner. Hammer Guy works all three days but we're hoping to catch the parade as a family and at least get a bag or two of mini-donuts. That weekend is the start of a ten-day vacation for me. I hope to get some work done around the house, do a little writing and submitting, and maybe even read a bit... at the end of the week, we're heading to Wisconsin to celebrate the Fourth of July. The last two weeks of July brings jury duty for me, and Toad's Godfather gets married on July 26th.

One last thing... Congratulations to the Nanny, who graduated from high school this spring. She's off to UMD in the fall! Go Bulldogs!