Tuesday, April 24, 2012

A massive update

So. Kagan made me a beautiful desk that sits next to a window in the living room. It has casters, which I loooovve, and since we use this big ole mac of mine as a tv, comes in handy for show-watching time.

I have never had a desk before that was specifically to my taste, not something making do, and I'm charmed by it. It has casters. A hidden compartment. Heart pine. I adore it.

We have had a long lovely spring and knock on wood, seems to be no signs of stopping. Last month it cost us $200 to live in our house, since we're mortgage-free and disconnected our landline, and just paid a year's worth of house insurance :) One good reason my little subsistence salary stretches as far as it does.

Oh yeah. This grocer is getting PAID.

With K. quitting work, I seized the chance to reorganize my schedule at the store, and now, for the exact same payroll as we had before, everything is working much more efficiently and I. GET. PAID. 

Not a lot, mind you.

The federal government would judge me impoverished.

But it feels all kind of rich to me, after nearly two years of working full-time without a dime to show for it.

So what else is new? I have sunflower seedlings up to my knees. 

I've been journeying to the Amish country twice a week to pick up freshly picked strawberries, and one morning, I actually knelt in the dirt and helped a handful of kids in boaters and bonnets pluck berries off and put them in old ice-cream gallon containers.

I've been working hard and loving it.

K has been taking the kids on all kinds of adventures and in general is super-cheerful and pleasant to be around. He does not have his future career planned out and we are both ok with that. It's been a month, and it's nice to have him around more, nice to see him getting a little color in his cheeks and spending more time with his kids. 

We had a rocky start to his time-my time now that he's not working and Caspian's hardly ever at daycare, so we mapped out a schedule that neither one of us is 100 percent satisfied with, but it sure does cut down on the arguments.

Annaliese this morning, accompanying me on my produce-bread-fancy cheese rounds,  squeezed in a little pocket of space and surrounded by food:





My little monkeys about 10 minutes ago, sneaking out of their beds to play and rough-house:




I am trying to carve out a little space for me to do things like run and do sit-ups and in general not be at the store or mommying it up. like literally, 4 20 minute spaces a week. it's tough. time is so tight, but then, I've never done all that well with a lot of mental space, so maybe it is for the best?

All I know is...

the kids are great, the husband's good, we're happy, the weather is superb, I love my store, my garden, my house, and my *new* desk, and all is mostly, pretty much, even if time is too tight, well. I have plans to see if I can convince K. to spend a few dollars on a babysitter so we can go to a dinner and a movie next week, since it's been months since we had a date-night. I want to plant some more tomatoes and seed some more zinnias and keep stealing roses from abandoned houses that make my house smell divine. I want to buy a new bottle of red wine since my children frequently make me wish I had some. I want tourists-- yep, we get tourists-- to buy the new t-shirts I had made today. I want to lose five more pounds, but I'm not in a big hurry.

Oh yeah.

I got a pair of cherry red Converse sneakers, low-top style.

They're rocking.










3 comments:

Vinnie+ said...

You are rockin. You make life in ole Miss sound down right enviable.

Find the $$$ for date night....helps to make sure life stays dang near perfect :-}

Big love to all ya all....
xo

Regina said...

Hi, Your Aussie/Virginia pal here,
My grandmother would sometimes take a rose from a grave bouquet in the cemetery across the street from our house. Then, she'd root it and had the best rose garden.
You might want to read, "People with Dirty Hands" by Robin Chotzinof. There's a whole chapter on "Rose Rustlers."

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a PERFECT desk - again, K has such good timing! HUGZ n LOVE - Auntie J