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.










Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Children.

Let's talk about the children. The fighting, whining, whinging, children.

Parental disclaimer: they are good kids. They are reasonably polite. They are good-hearted. They play together often nicely. They are also 2 and 4 and siblings.

Yesterday evening the kids were driving me a tad mad and then Caspian asked for water so I was filling him a glass and I thought, "Back when they were babies, I couldn't WAIT for them to be able to tell me what they needed."

And now they can, and they do, and I am totally psyched by the idea that someday, I will wake up and hear my child going to the bathroom and going to the kitchen for breakfast by themselves.

But they are 2 and 4 and that time is not now.

Which some mornings, when you stayed up too late watching Lost and they're having major-league feuds about Caspian touching Annaliese with a spoon and the coffee hasn't kicked in yet, seems eminently unfair.

I read this parenting nugget somewhere that said basically all you try to do when you raise your kids is teach them to be decent human beings.

Say please, say thank you, don't hit, share nicely, don't throw your crap on the floor... yep, just a decent human being.







Wednesday, April 11, 2012

So K. Started Blogging Again.

Which means I've felt it's ok to stop.

But the masses, they clamor! (Hi Mom :) )

Today, a good friend's mother died. She is a friend, customer, and neighbor (one block over). She is very sad. It is very sad. But I am proud of what my children and husband did:

Picked a flower bouquet. Found a nice chocolate bar. Drew a picture. And walked it over to say how sorry they were.

Proud of my good-hearted family.



Caspian messin' with the day's catch of worms.


K. coloring.

Annaliese coloring.