A Day in the Life???

You know, I do love a humorous, yet honest, Day in the Life piece. By the time my sense of humor kicks in, though, and it dawns on me to grab the camera, the day's half-gone. Ah, well.

On that note, I found this little do-dad in my inbox. IKEA is sponsoring a photojournalism essay on the whole Slice of Life theme: What Makes Your Home a Home. Something like that. For those of you who don't run three to four weeks behind the rest of the world, you might want to check it out. It started yesterday, with daily assignments, and (bless them) a two-day grace period. (OK, in the interest of proper marketing and all that good stuff, the official title is: America At Home, a close-up look at how we live. There. Now I feel I've performed due diligence and all that.)

Tomorrow is also Talk Like A Pirate Day. Again with the coffee kick-in lag time, all you're getting from me is a Pirate Name Generator. But hey, a little rum and a couple'a coconuts, and you won't need anything more from me!

We've excperienced some stunning time-warp issues at the house today. Two hours to count to five in Latin and then stare blankly at four *review* questions. That pesky review. Such challenging stuff. Oh, what was that? Zelda? What? Uh-huh... *sigh* OK, let's take it from the top. Zelda has nothing to do with Latin! No, nothing. Fine. If you can prove to me that Zelda has ANYTHING to do with Latin, we'll talk. In the meantime, I am going to force you to recall such painful information as vocabulary, and then I am going to torture you further by forcing you to look up that which you cannot recall. No, it's review. Re-view. Looking back over what you've already done. So, um, yeah, it's not gonna be on that half of the book. It'll be in the half that looks vaguely familiar. Yeah, the part you've already drawn in. Yup. There ya go.

And yet, set the timer, and they can perform amazing feats in very little time. (90 challenging math equations in ten minutes!) *shaking my head* I'm going to have to get timers. Perhaps I can get timers implanted in their foreheads for Christmas. Not much fun for them, but oh, what a gift for me!

EmBaby, aka The Pit Viper, is learning the nifty lesson that if you are going to do unpleasant things, then the fun things will not happen. I hate this part of parenting. This is where I want to be able to explain once, "IF you bite somebody, you will not be allowed within arm's reach of people" and have that be... well, enough. There. Now you know. "IF you throw things at people during storytime, storytime will be abominably short." And again, that should do the trick, right? No? No. You're right. I know you're right. It's worth the effort to be gentle, consistent, and to develop the fortitude of our ancestors in not just eradicating the herd and starting over. That's why those little ones have such big eyes and fuzzy heads: God's protection for them while they work through this phase. They're too cute to toss to the wolves or exile to the compost bin.

Plus, when they do catch on, you have the opportunity to enjoy such beautiful moments as this:

And look, they were even all there, working together!

Right now, it looks like the grass suffered a stampede of sorts. Well, it did. But there's hope it'll perk right up soon. We might post pictures, if the plants survive!

OK, break time is over! Back to work. Hyeah!

(Kiss those babies!)
~Dy

The Dove Hunt

(The following post contains pictures from the hunt. While not "graphic" in nature, if you're upset by hunting, or by firearms, please go ahead and skip this post.)

Well, John was a little sad when he learned that he wouldn't be able to actually shoot until he's passed his hunter safety course. In Alabama, that's still two Very Long Years away, for him. So, Zorak took him to the upper meadow and they shot a few rounds before heading out. See that stance? That's not poor form -- that's recoil. A shotgun behaves very differently from a .22. A couple of those, and John decided perhaps it's best that Dad does the shooting this trip. (And yes, he's got hearing protection in.)

There's a lot of waiting.... and more waiting...
But when the company is good, it's not such a bad thing.

John wasn't sure how best to carry the birds, at first...

But he found his stride the second time around. He took his job very seriously, and I think he has a grasp of things that's good. As he laid the doves on the table to prepare them for the freezer, he commented on realizing now why it's so important to give thanks before you eat.

And Dad? How did Dad fare? Well, he had a truly fantastic day enjoying his son's company, enjoying the countryside, getting to know some of the farmers, and imparting a bit of himself with his child.
He's still glowing, and looking forward to spending more one-on-one time with the kids. It was a great day, all-around.

Kiss those babies!

~Dy

Saturday Coffee

My goodness, I think our house is a place of lore: Where Insects Go To Die. Blech. The windows are vile! It's time for a coffee break.

Zorak and John are out dove hunting today. I've never seen a child more excited about anything. Ever. That includes Smidge's full-body vibration when he's thrilled with something. John was simply abuzz with activity, packing, checking, loading, double checking. He was understatedly serious, yet eager. He's still a little guy, but he's veering into the next port, and it's never been so obvious as it was this morning. He loaded the Suburban, then climbed in and waited. I didn't get the chance to kiss him good-bye, and had to give his travel mug of hot chocolate to Zorak. He was off and ready. Then, I stood on the porch and waved good-bye to a child who had already turned his mind and his heart toward the awaiting adventure as they headed down the drive. He's spending the day with his hero, doing something that beckons of high adventure. My heart is bursting with joy, with thankfulness, and with a wee bit of wistfulness that my JohnBaby is fading so quickly. (Not too much wistfulness, though, because this Young Man is a wonderful person, as well. And I am thankful that Zorak has both the opportunity to spend time like this with him, as well as the desire to do so. That's good stuff for both of them.)

I've got the dining room, living room and kitchen windows (insides only) washed, as well as the sills, stoops, and aprons. It feels delightful (particularly as I've interspersed the cleaning with a little time at sea with Hornblower, and some fresh bread with peanut butter and honey!) However, my stomach is queasy from being eye-ball-to-spinnerettes with all the spiders that live between our storm windows and our house windows. It's like living on the INSIDE of a spider farm. Thankfully, our current "moving forward without much cash" project is the windows - still stripping, priming, glazing the windows, and repairing/replacing the storm windows. They do need a lot of work. I wish we could just replace them all in one fell swoop, but that would require much cash, and then we wouldn't be doing the "moving forward without much cash" aspect of it, would we? *grin* Actually, Zorak Of The Indomitable Spirit is insistent that we replace the windows *ourselves*, and... that's just not a horribly enticing concept for me at present. So, well, I'm not going to complain (too audibly) about having to repair/replace and clean the storm windows. Plus, it's that savings that'll pay for the new windows in the long run, so it's all good. And it will be wonderful once they've all got properly fitting screens and have been reinstalled w/ the proper gaskets so that the spiders cannot get in there to set up house at all.

The remaining Smalls are out back, digging for things I probably won't want brought into the house. Particularly not after I've finished cleaning. But they'll come in. And it'll be fascinating to see and hear all about it from their perpective. I really must find a place to put things like that. The bookshelf isn't conducive, as I realized while vacuuming the school room the other day -- cicada shells don't survive the shopvac well, at all.

And so, my coffee break is over, and it's time to turn our attentions back to the day at hand. Thanks for taking a break to visit this afternoon.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

*edited to correct my typographical stuttering problem :-) *

Vaccines, delays, and disease, Oh, my!

Thanks to the threads recently at the WTM forums, I found this article on delayed vaccinations. It includes a suggested schedule, as well, which is why I'm including it here. Sometimes it's difficult to get an idea for the "how" or the "what now" once you've come to a point where you say, "OK, that's not going to work." Hopefully, if you're looking for more information, this will help.

Kiss those babies!
Dy

Well, that didn't work so well.

You know, we've kept the shopvac out for our daily vacuum jobs on the laminate floors. It's more efficient than sweeping, and does a better job than our "normal" vacuum does on the bare floors. One of these days I'll buy the carpet attachment for it, and then I can do away entirely with the "normal" vacuum. In the meantime, however, it's just my hard floor vacuum.

Well, one of the things I *love* about the shopvac is that it will suck up ANYTHING, from about six inches away from the opening of the hose. That makes it so easy to get into the crevices and crannies, beneath the tea cart and the corner hutch... just, easy.

One of the things I *don't* love about the shopvac is that it will suck up ANYTHING, from about six inches away from the opening of the hose. That means I may have to sieve through the bin before dumping it, in order to retrieve stray socks, tinker toys, chess pieces, and matchbox cars (man, can those things move, though, when they fly across the floor to the hose! It's quite a sight, really. Kinda fun, too, but don't tell the boys that.)

Ok, I don't actually try to suck up the toys. But there are so many of them. And they're small. And my eyesight isn't what it used to be. Nor are my reflexes (which were never stellar to begin with). And so, most of the time, it's the clunk-rattle-schlooop, followed by the kathunk-thud-thud of a solid object pinging it's way up the hose that alerts me to the fact that I've just sucked up Something That Oughtn't Be Sucked Up. I sucked up something just the other day, as a matter of fact. But it didn't have the distinctive sound of any previously identified objects. So I didn't really worry about it.

And now, we cannot find the key to the corner hutch.

I wonder if Rigid sells a 1/4" screen attachment for the floor attachments? Might be a good investment on their part. I can't be the only one who uses the shopvac for daily cleaning? (Andie, back me up, here!)

Well, it's grocery day, so I'll handle that, and then, perhaps, Zorak will take pity on me and check out the shopvac this evening? I'd probably better make sure supper is FANTASTIC, huh?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

It's COMING!

Fall. Is. Coming!

I'm so excited, I can hardly restrain myself. Or spell. I had to put on a *hoodie* this morning, people! Well, I suppose I could have just gotten dressed, instead, but where's the fun in that? It's so much better to sit on the porch and watch the oppossums destroy the garden when I'm in my comfy jammies. Come to think of it, where was the dog while that was going on? Hmpf. Probably inside, wallowing on the couch.

It was DARK when I got up this morning. At six. It was still dark at six! It was foggy, and chilly, and dark. Oh, the joy! The sun didn't actually come up. The air lightened, the fog glistened, the birds went absolutely nuts. The neighbors' rooster did his thing. Repeatedly. Ah, here comes the dog, once he heard the rooster. (The rooster likes to strut into our upper meadow. He's not horribly bright, that one.) All of it, except the potential for rooster mutilations, was absolutely beautiful.

We've been on a pile-claiming rampage this week. I think it's working. Zorak mentioned something last night about the progress of the "house reclamation project". Sounds like it ought to be subsidized, doesn't it? Heh. Better that it's not. At least this way, we know we're making headway and we can work when we need to. Yeah, we're getting there.

It's not all about the grand adventures. Sometimes it's the great adventures. The melons slowly swelling in the patch. The sound of the pickup heading down the drive in the morning. The things that become normal, commonplace -- birds at the feeder, little children draggin fleece blankets out from the closet and into the living room, getting up in the dark -- that really cement this life of ours and make it Real. So I watched the pickup head down the drive, gave thanks for yesterday's rain, and watched the little guy drag his blanket to the living room. And I smiled at all that's real. All that's mine. I feel so lucky!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

It's 5:00 -- Do You Know Where Your Wife Is?

I got to bed at such a decent hour last night, that I awoke this morning around 4:15. Bright-eyed. Ready to go! That's wrong on more levels than I can name right now.

So, I gathered the trash (right day, this time), finished pre-reading The Story of Marco Polo, cleaned up from supper (we had company, and the guys talked into the night, so I just put the kids down and crept into bed for some reading time to let the guys have a little "me time", or the male equivalent. What is that? "Us time" sounds a little bizarre, though. You know, "guy time".)

ANYway... I'd been at it about half an hour or so, when I heard footsteps shuffling up and down the hall. Shuffle to the bath. Pause. Shuffle to the guest room. Pause. Sounds too big to be one of the boys. Balto's outside (and besides, he doesn't shuffle, he goes "clickety-clickety"). Zorak?

I peeked up from cleaning the stove to see Zorak checking the lock on the front door (he's a checker. he loves us.) "Honey? You okay?"

"AH! There you are. Are YOU okay? I woke up and... there wasn't anybody."

*chuckle* Yeah, this is what happens when I have enough sleep. I actually get up before you. Weird, isn't it?

"Mmpf. Yeah." shuffle, shuffle back to bed.

All is well.

Just checking.

Maybe I shouldn't get to bed *quite* so early next time, eh? heh. Oh, but this quiet time in the morning is nice, nice, nice.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

And Then He Was Four

Saturday night, I kissed Smidge "three kisses" for the last time. Sunday morning, he came to get "four, now, Mom!" It's gone so quickly, and it's been such fun. What would we do without our Smidge?

So, Sunday, we headed into church with a pirate ship cake, a pirate ship pinata, and a Very Happy Boy. We had lunch with friends from church -- she's from Japan, and oh, dear me, I'm glad she didn't make more food than she did, because it was fantastic and we'd have kept eating until we embarrassed ourselves. The kids ran around and had a fantastic time. And then, we headed back to the church for cake and ice cream.
Me-Tae and Me-Wa came, and another family with littles. It was a good crowd, not too big, and everybody very laid back.

Me-Tae is so. much. fun. I swear, everybody should have a Me-Tae. Like I told her, we do these things because, well, we sort of have to. But she does fun things because they'll be fun for the kids. She brought an ice cream bar - ice cream, sherbet, strawberries, caramel, and several kinds of sprinkles. What a great idea is that! The kids loved it. The adults loved it. We're going to have to start paying her for this stuff. It'd be worth every penny.



My batteries were just about dead, and I didn't get all the pictures I'd wanted to get, but the day was nice. And now, he is four. Happy Birthday, Sweet Smidge!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Book Stuff

Some interesting things have crossed my desk this week.

The Myth of the Teen Brain -- on the heels of a recent article citing a belief that the human brain isn't capable of making consistently good choices until around age 25, this article seems timely, and offers some interesting mind-fodder for discussion.

Also, after Mere sent me some links on Permaculture and its founder, Bill Mollison (and then I stayed up WAY past my bedtime watching the entire series of videos), I spent some time poking around Alabama's agricultural/permacultural communities. Interesting stuff, there.

And enjoying the music at Pandora. (Gee, thanks, Steph...) That site was very aptly named. *grin*

Offline, the boys and I are enjoying some of the Arabian Nights tales, as well as Celtic Fairy Tales (Jacobs), and the Young Jack Sparrow books John received for his birthday.

Smidge has fallen in love with The Easter Pig, and EmBaby is completely entranced by a new Carl book. (We love Carl. We can make up beautiful stories for the littles, and when they get a bit older, and wise to our humor, we can cut loose and get a little wild with that ol' dog. Carl's good stuff.)

Have any of you ever read The Virginian, by Owen Wister? I just finished it. So well-written, but I've got to say, if Zorak were to come home from work Monday and say, "So what do you think of BFE, Wyoming?" I'd be packed and en route before he could bother applying for the job. *sigh* Beautifully written. A definite must-read for the boys' in a few years' time.

There was more, but I've been invited to go enjoy a crossword puzzle with my honey. We used to do crosswords together quite a bit, and tonight I wondered aloud why we don't. Then it hit us - we aren't getting the paper, scouring for jobs every week. Oh... yeah, that would do it. We read our news online, or from the radio. And by default, we stopped doing the crossword. But tonight, he found one. So we're off to play! Have a lovely Saturday!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy