tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188376732024-03-13T11:30:51.098-04:00Able Ponderso we'll never stop wondering.Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.comBlogger742125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-39906306993960243972016-09-20T15:55:00.001-04:002016-09-20T15:55:17.522-04:00So, Once.So, once there was a boy.<br />
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He was tall (REALLY tall) and he had brown eyes that crinkled at the corners when he looked at me. He was funny. He thought I was funny. He smelled, really good, so good that I kept finding myself drawing closer and closer to him. He said things I didn't expect, and liked things like I do, and just, sort of, got me. Meeting K. was like meeting someone who spoke my language for the very first time.<br />
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Oh, and life goals? Kids, yes. Farm, yes. Happiness. Double-check. And life-long matrimony. Yep, matrimony as a goal.<br />
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So, all of twenty-two, I married him. I married him like falling off a cliff, the way young people do, but I was smart enough to make sure there was a net at the bottom. And so, two kids and businesses and life changes later (we've surprised ourselves and each other quite a bit with what we've done and are doing :) ), we are still rock-solid. I love being married. I don't say it aloud much, because it seems like tempting fate, but it's two days past our eleventh anniversary, and maybe once a decade or so, I should get to brag. I love, love, love being married to K. It's my favorite thing in the world.<br />
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He doesn't make me happy all the time. I'm not happy all the time. I don't float around our admittedly idyllic life in a state of bliss... I'm myself, and so that means I'm sometimes grumpy, often tired, and always easily irritated by sundry small quirks of living with K (pants? Pants? How many places can one man PUT pairs of pants that they don't belong? And why are his enormous clodhopper shoes everywhere I ever go?). But here's the magical part: I get to be myself, and I STILL get to be happily married to this man. He's okay with me being batshit crazy a quarter of the time and super happy about an eight of the time and really kind of over domestic mayhem 90 percent of the time and who knows what I'm like the rest? He doesn't care. He's happy to be married to me, whatever I'm like, about 99 percent of the time. And me? Well, I take him for granted and I count on him.<br />
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But then, periodically I look up at this still super-tall, still eye-crinkling man whom I spend my life with and he still, to this day, takes my breath away.<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-2442422990211424232016-09-06T17:01:00.002-04:002016-09-06T17:01:55.646-04:00Labor Day WeekendSo Friday, K and I left our kids with a friend who likes our kids, frankly, more than she likes us. We usually have a regular babysitter, but the usual girl was out of town for the long weekend with her family. And it was Dixie's rehearsal dinner, not child-friendly, with a menu that involved octopus, so I literally looked across the counter at friend D. and said, "what are you doing tomorrow night? Want to watch my kids?" She said yes :) And spoiled the pants off them Friday night with meatballs as big as their heads and a cookie baking marathon.<br />
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So K and I made it to Dixie's rehearsal dinner. We felt an awful lot like family as we entertained relatives and chowed down on exotic Portuguese food. It was something!<br />
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Saturday, I prepped for the wedding by doing the flowers out at the peaceful Mississippi school house in the morning. Annaliese and Caspian accompanied and spent most of their time collecting seeds from the tall roadside grasses. It was a nice way to spend the morning, on a beautiful day. Then I went to work for the lunch shift accompanied by Caspian, got off and went to check on the flowers one last time, went home for some lazy pre-wedding time, and then got a text that we were expected an hour before I though for pictures. So we THREW nice clothes on and headed out for the third time that day.<br />
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This time, the sleepy little school house was packed with folks. The flowers were stunning :) and the vibe was sweet as could be as the two ladies said their classic vows surrounded by family and friends. I love weddings. I hope they're happy for ever.<br />
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Rainbow cake, fried chicken, and Soul train classics ensued. We stayed til the very end-- this was a homespun wedding, and they needed help getting the school house put back to rights before the night was over.<br />
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Sunday we woke up to a whole day of nothing. It was glorious. We read on the porches and napped and made it to the pool in the late afternoon.<br />
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And Monday! Monday, Labor Day, is the only bank holiday (other than the true holidays) that the store closes. Bad for business but good for the soul. We had another lazy morning and then hopped in the car and sped our way up to Pickwick Lake, determined to swim in a lake at least one time this summer. They don't make it easy, in the South... the culture seems to see lakes as accessories for power boats, and not so much for lounging and swimming, but we managed to find a beautiful secluded cove with big rocks and deep water right off them. We swam and sunned and picnicked and whiled the afternoon away, saying goodbye to summer for real.<br />
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As always, things are percolating, I wish business was better, I'm working on getting things ironed out, I'm behind in the garden, but when I step back and look at the big picture... things are good. I like my life. I love my family. I wake up in the morning and I feel like what I'm doing matters. I have a hundred thousand small doubts but no big ones. Hard to ask for more.<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-12106548923382687602016-08-30T17:18:00.001-04:002016-08-30T17:18:26.541-04:00Nope. Not Even an Apology.Life! A little town, a little shop, a little farm, a small family, and it all adds up to A Whole Lot.<br />
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Sitting in the window lunch counter at the BTC right now, listening to a transplant from New Hampshire show her niece around and some ladies eat cake and drink sweet tea behind me while the new girl busts her bottom to keep the store the way it should be. She's not a naturally gifted shop girl but she makes up for it with heart.<br />
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I've got twenty minutes before I pick up Annaliese and Caspian from after-school chess. Today's mishap? My tire is flat, stone-cold empty. Good thing I can leave it downtown indefinitely until it can get dealt with. Yesterday's tragedy? Water pouring through the ceiling from a broken pipe in the upstairs restroom of K's coding academy. Who knows what will happen tomorrow. A decade into life here and I've stopped trying to anticipate the ups and downs. All I know is they will keep coming.<br />
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Tonight? I have to figure out what to feed my family for supper. I skipped my dawn exercise routine so I'd feel better if I did it before bed. We spent three hours at the local soccer fields last night for the kids' first fall games so it'll be sweet to spend the evening at home.<br />
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Soccer. Lord have mercy. Caspian tore the field up, was everywhere all at once, yet managed not to score. He played very well, though, despite the sudden onset of cockiness. Apparently this is a second-grade thing? A normal subdued buddy was beating his chest like an angry gorilla in the goal last night. Hubris is catching :)<br />
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Annaliese, on the other hand, did not tear the field up as much as smell it up. For a naturally athletic kid who effortlessly reaches the ball first, she sure doesn't do much when she gets there. She pleaded to play goalie the last quarter, then lost her team the game by letting four goals in. Hands on her hips. Mind clearly elsewhere. Talk about phoning it in.<br />
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Good thing I love her anyway.<br />
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Twelve minutes. Better go transfer the things I carry around in the station wagon for the school garden into the truck. The school planters need watering, and I've got to get the squash bugs under control.<br />
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Happy life!<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-27371279977829971422015-12-18T09:18:00.002-05:002015-12-18T09:18:09.891-05:00Christmas Is ComingMy kids are the perfect age for Christmas. There, I said it! Old enough to help, young enough to listen wide-eyed to tales of Santa Claus. I love this time of year.<br />
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Things, in no particular order, to remember this year....<br />
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Annaliese especially has been capital-P Possessed by the CHristmas spirit. One Saturday (when I was at work) K texted me a pic of Annaliese's face. She had a red nose and little antlers on her forehead. She painted herself like Rudolph, turned the radio to Christmas music, and spent a solid hour begging her brother to be Santa.<br />
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She also strung most of the Christmas tree lights, hung the stockings, and made the cats a Christmas present, wrapped and underneath the tree.<br />
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About a week later, she appeared on the porch when the rest of us were out feeding animals. "Y'all!" She hollered. "Come up to the house! The cats are getting their present!"<br />
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We promised to be up soon, but daylight was fading, and were mid-chore. "I'll do it myself!" She called cheerfully.<br />
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When we came into the house, she said, "The cats didn't care about their present," and held up her hand-drawn picture of a mouse.<br />
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And now for a Caspian update... he's getting quirkier as he gets older. He's definitely my child. Massive anger at injustice; a deep dislike of loud crowded places; losing objects wherever he goes. He's also entirely himself: I don't know many small boys with such an ability of focus on one thing and do it, well, to the exclusion of all other activities, for over an hour at a time.<br />
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His Nonni sent both children $10 in the mail awhile back for good grades with the injunction to spend it, not save it. We'd made plans that the children would go to the local drugstore and Fred's after school one day. Caspian emerged from the bus without his sweater, and as it was a chilly day, I wouldn't let him go out without a coat. Annaliese had both a coat and sweater, so we told him to wear Annaliese's (blue and green and entirely gender-neutral) coat. He couldn't do it. He wanted to go, but for whatever reason, he could not put on that coat. He sat in a booth at the store, weeping, stuck in a corner, and K. and I tried to reason him out of it. When Caspian is stuck in one of these corners, reason doesn't work. At all.<br />
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Twenty minutes passed. The weeping continued. Then I told him he could wear my sweater, a loose gray cardigan. The tears stopped and the shine came back in his eyes because, sure, that would work! We tied it behind his back kimono-style and he went off shopping looking much stranger than if he'd just worn his sister's coat, but happy as a clam.<br />
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So. Six, and almost eight, and it's almost Christmas.<br />
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The tree is up, the lights are on, I have another week of work, and then I'm taking some time off to be at home with my family. I can't wait.<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-58713615737655957112015-11-16T10:34:00.001-05:002015-11-16T10:34:04.987-05:00When Life Gives You Lemons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have so many things that have happened since August. Eliza is engaged! Annaliese is a read-aholic! Caspian is super charming! K. finished bathrooms and built a fish pool! </div>
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But as always, my vision extends about one foot ahead of me, which means that today, I am horribly sad. K. went to help his sister in VT, who had an incredibly handsome, thick-haired, beautiful baby boy a few weeks ago. It was my idea, and a good one, so he went up for a week to take night shifts and clean house and make food and be of service.</div>
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Which means that I have been flying solo since 4am last Wednesday, and it turns out, I kind of suck at it.</div>
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Not that practicalities. The kids are fed, the house is clean, the animals are tended. We've even had fun-- my kids are awesome, and I like hanging out with them.</div>
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But my emotional equilibrium is all the way off and I feel like a lemon that someone sucked the juice out of. Bitter and dry. </div>
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Charming, huh?</div>
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I need my sweetie to come home already.</div>
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-45033489357154184772015-08-18T12:45:00.001-04:002015-08-18T12:45:44.294-04:00Farm Art, courtesy of Annaliese & A lazy Sunday<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lyE-JjjNcAM/VdNhKGIdJRI/AAAAAAAAO8c/LgTV3wnPsNo/s640/blogger-image-1519805572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lyE-JjjNcAM/VdNhKGIdJRI/AAAAAAAAO8c/LgTV3wnPsNo/s640/blogger-image-1519805572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mbyqU_qCUd0/VdNhD_OVsPI/AAAAAAAAO8M/jC_UtAWXDwE/s640/blogger-image--714955915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mbyqU_qCUd0/VdNhD_OVsPI/AAAAAAAAO8M/jC_UtAWXDwE/s640/blogger-image--714955915.jpg"></a></div><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lyE-JjjNcAM/VdNhKGIdJRI/AAAAAAAAO8c/LgTV3wnPsNo/s640/blogger-image-1519805572.jpg"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uygsvon4804/VdNhHQ3O-pI/AAAAAAAAO8U/FUOQhkJQY9w/s640/blogger-image--239789273.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uygsvon4804/VdNhHQ3O-pI/AAAAAAAAO8U/FUOQhkJQY9w/s640/blogger-image--239789273.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WH-b3N2dIcc/VdNhNfuhmMI/AAAAAAAAO8k/FDS_v_Xwxf0/s640/blogger-image-1232894792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WH-b3N2dIcc/VdNhNfuhmMI/AAAAAAAAO8k/FDS_v_Xwxf0/s640/blogger-image-1232894792.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GnBy5sJe3Yg/VdIW5Be4maI/AAAAAAAAO70/YHuRxbYCVTQ/s640/blogger-image-1713027258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GnBy5sJe3Yg/VdIW5Be4maI/AAAAAAAAO70/YHuRxbYCVTQ/s640/blogger-image-1713027258.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div><br></div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-26765224417181494472015-08-12T15:36:00.000-04:002015-08-12T15:36:05.788-04:00And Life ResumesWe are tanner, rested, and renewed, which is a good spot to be in for fall.<br />
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Yep. It may be August and pretty much 100 degrees, but mentally, it's fall. We are just waiting for the weather to catch up.<br />
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So, with that in mind...<br />
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I took a few days off from work and stenciled/re-organized the kids' rooms.<br />
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K. built an amazing heart-pine genius solution to cover some ugly water pipes/water heater that nonetheless need to be accessible. The whole thing slides to the right if necessary. Otherwise, it just hangs there looking gorgeous.<br />
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K. also has decided to become a gardener and has spent great deal of time on a tractor lately, making a flat-tish spot. This involved a family evening of moving limbs onto the burn pile.<br />
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Surfaces have been cleared off, dishes and meals are on target, and it's so good to be home, chugging full steam ahead into what always feels like a new year, technicalities aside. As much fun as it was to work with the kids this summer... and it really was.... K and I are both so glad to watch them trundle into school five days a week.<br />
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Annaliese had to write four things about herself for a homework assignment. Number 1: "I am bossy." No. Not her :)<br />
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We've been talking about the world lately and picking countries to discuss. Caspian picked Iran, "because it's next to the Caspian Sea, and I've been hearing about it in the news lately. And I-RAN." Cue chortles.<br />
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The kids both landed experienced and long-time teachers. Let's hope this year goes more smoothly than the last.<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-23585429645433899992015-07-06T11:14:00.003-04:002015-07-06T11:14:36.856-04:00More Vacation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-57842557597153279192015-07-04T11:11:00.002-04:002015-07-04T11:11:32.417-04:00Vacation Pics Round One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've been pondering lately the impact of children. </div>
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One is that the desire to give them a summer full of family, cool water, and adventure compelled K. and I to work our tails off, spend a significant amount of money, and move folks into our places in our town to enable us to take nearly three weeks off as a family. In the middle of produce season, tourist season, tomato season.</div>
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The kids left Mississippi a week before us with their Nonni and spent their time in Virginia going to museums, hanging with Auntie Eliza, and heading to camp. Then we joined them. K. and I went to Monticello, ate a lot of ice cream, and did our best to dry Nonni's tears that we did, after all, need to move on. </div>
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My personal highlight was the museum an hour-plus south that I've visited many times throughout my life. It depicts working farmsteads from Germany, Ireland, England, and more. The kids loved it and I did too. Plus we hit up Roy's and Cooter's and other classics within driving distance of Nonni's farm. The wildflower meadow is calling my name...</div>
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-60170459981265278342015-05-12T08:17:00.001-04:002015-05-12T08:17:55.039-04:00Rainy Spring Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iPycNMOvfmQ/VVHvaTimg4I/AAAAAAAAO1s/KLEI5nnsT2U/s640/blogger-image-1227062348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iPycNMOvfmQ/VVHvaTimg4I/AAAAAAAAO1s/KLEI5nnsT2U/s640/blogger-image-1227062348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5y82LRruHB4/VVHvVMAtwoI/AAAAAAAAO1c/8xfaY0Hm6ZQ/s640/blogger-image--1571988626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Hectic week or so. It's rained at least every other day here for ever now. Which makes gardening difficult , but the trees--and the pair of ducks, who now live in the chicken house-- are happy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The farm is overrun with new creatures. Sarah had her calf, and there are a dozen new chicks in the kitchen under a heat lamp. Not to mention my monkeys leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. I try to keep up, best I can.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">K. is mostly a man of leisure these days. Caspian asked him what his job was now that he's done actively constructing the new project, and k. said he's a full time daddy who makes money. Which, knock in wood, is true. His project is doing wonderfully and has surpassed both our fiscal expectations.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I crave more time at home but I'm working a normal amount. Pretty much keeping school hours. Probably can't do much better than that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">No plans for new big projects on the horizon. Which feels right. There's plenty-- from gardens to the school board and local politics to animals and home improvement and the upcoming summer-- to keep us busy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5y82LRruHB4/VVHvVMAtwoI/AAAAAAAAO1c/8xfaY0Hm6ZQ/s640/blogger-image--1571988626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_o81GdxOpVQ/VVHvSF0LepI/AAAAAAAAO1U/I9OVMJnutTM/s640/blogger-image--1042739417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_o81GdxOpVQ/VVHvSF0LepI/AAAAAAAAO1U/I9OVMJnutTM/s640/blogger-image--1042739417.jpg"></a></div><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5y82LRruHB4/VVHvVMAtwoI/AAAAAAAAO1c/8xfaY0Hm6ZQ/s640/blogger-image--1571988626.jpg"></div><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-iPycNMOvfmQ/VVHvaTimg4I/AAAAAAAAO1s/KLEI5nnsT2U/s640/blogger-image-1227062348.jpg"></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WF-y65f-xLY/VVHvYMOoWkI/AAAAAAAAO1k/Gu0SJ-fA1K4/s640/blogger-image--1996221694.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WF-y65f-xLY/VVHvYMOoWkI/AAAAAAAAO1k/Gu0SJ-fA1K4/s640/blogger-image--1996221694.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nMNGjtM_0fQ/VVHvcQKgytI/AAAAAAAAO10/kTI_aFiM6Aw/s640/blogger-image-1006982332.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nMNGjtM_0fQ/VVHvcQKgytI/AAAAAAAAO10/kTI_aFiM6Aw/s640/blogger-image-1006982332.jpg"></a></div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-67577561157664934882015-04-03T19:31:00.001-04:002015-04-03T19:31:31.880-04:00Customer of the Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CsViNQdzz7s/VR8i0fz0-CI/AAAAAAAAOzg/4Pp3LffrxIg/s640/blogger-image-1117421377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CsViNQdzz7s/VR8i0fz0-CI/AAAAAAAAOzg/4Pp3LffrxIg/s640/blogger-image-1117421377.jpg"></a></div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-58261500685089596212015-03-23T11:04:00.001-04:002015-03-23T11:04:48.629-04:00This kidI always dreamed of having a daughter.<div><br></div><div>Had no idea about boys. </div><div><br></div><div>This one dazzles me. </div><div><br></div><div>He's eccentric, charming, smart, handsome, and he surprises me every day.</div><div><br></div><div>He likes to cut up necklaces right now. I don't know why.<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CxCZ1r-uIMQ/VRArj0dsZmI/AAAAAAAAOzE/NsUhiJgyHTs/s640/blogger-image-1295060392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-CxCZ1r-uIMQ/VRArj0dsZmI/AAAAAAAAOzE/NsUhiJgyHTs/s640/blogger-image-1295060392.jpg"></a></div> Grumpily posing post church.<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UrP0L5refY4/VRArh7-3EkI/AAAAAAAAOy8/maWjBri67Jg/s640/blogger-image--1649125296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UrP0L5refY4/VRArh7-3EkI/AAAAAAAAOy8/maWjBri67Jg/s640/blogger-image--1649125296.jpg"></a></div>Chinese checkers on a rainy sunday . <br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pEHNlbrZPM4/VRArgFkVMOI/AAAAAAAAOy0/D8cDQoLaAao/s640/blogger-image-558044485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pEHNlbrZPM4/VRArgFkVMOI/AAAAAAAAOy0/D8cDQoLaAao/s640/blogger-image-558044485.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Strange, dear, magnificent boy.</div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-43735858226156800782015-03-17T22:07:00.001-04:002015-03-17T22:07:26.453-04:00Things that happened at work this weekA customer brought in a bag. With two lovely live baby ducks in it. For me .<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qT5YFDk4hJo/VQjdR1immvI/AAAAAAAAOyE/j3TKQyiemdg/s640/blogger-image-1627111836.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-qT5YFDk4hJo/VQjdR1immvI/AAAAAAAAOyE/j3TKQyiemdg/s640/blogger-image-1627111836.jpg"></a></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mf297SLX-4s/VQjdgbCIczI/AAAAAAAAOyM/_f7XtpjzXKM/s640/blogger-image-943289724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mf297SLX-4s/VQjdgbCIczI/AAAAAAAAOyM/_f7XtpjzXKM/s640/blogger-image-943289724.jpg"></a></div>Then this dude: (relaxed, into local dairy products and right wing politics) gave me a bottle of homemade cherry rose wine.<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-APiK63cFxkA/VQjdu3q3_-I/AAAAAAAAOyU/N42bjUIVaso/s640/blogger-image--1334335196.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-APiK63cFxkA/VQjdu3q3_-I/AAAAAAAAOyU/N42bjUIVaso/s640/blogger-image--1334335196.jpg"></a></div>Fancy magazine photographers were in the store all bleeping day today. It's Tuesday, y'all. What a week it's shaping up to be.<div><div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RSahaAMW8n4/VQjd20b5-YI/AAAAAAAAOyc/J03FY_l58tU/s640/blogger-image-1777577326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RSahaAMW8n4/VQjd20b5-YI/AAAAAAAAOyc/J03FY_l58tU/s640/blogger-image-1777577326.jpg"></a></div></div></div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-10766992514250033882015-02-26T12:23:00.001-05:002015-02-26T12:23:58.818-05:00K sent me some of his Me/Snow Pics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Such a fun day!</div>
<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-89572887267117418242015-02-26T12:14:00.001-05:002015-02-26T12:14:17.427-05:00Snow Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vJRowUyCxmM/VO9UZ-hZWQI/AAAAAAAAOwo/CLCennrm24Y/s640/blogger-image--761249297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vJRowUyCxmM/VO9UZ-hZWQI/AAAAAAAAOwo/CLCennrm24Y/s640/blogger-image--761249297.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2tkColOxejo/VO5wEWtVhII/AAAAAAAAOwI/f-KzOViwXiw/s640/blogger-image-1633468371.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">6 inches of snow! We've lived here for 8 years and never seen it like this. Thick, fluffy snow that crunches underfoot and makes an excellent snowball.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mEZKfbToXgs/VO5vesXR-II/AAAAAAAAOwA/X_s1omkx_Aw/s640/blogger-image-768641715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-mEZKfbToXgs/VO5vesXR-II/AAAAAAAAOwA/X_s1omkx_Aw/s640/blogger-image-768641715.jpg"></a></div><br></div><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-2tkColOxejo/VO5wEWtVhII/AAAAAAAAOwI/f-KzOViwXiw/s640/blogger-image-1633468371.jpg"></div><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vJRowUyCxmM/VO9UZ-hZWQI/AAAAAAAAOwo/CLCennrm24Y/s640/blogger-image--761249297.jpg"></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dOja8CtL3ZI/VO9UQdcLslI/AAAAAAAAOwY/cRhnfAubdt0/s640/blogger-image--442836219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dOja8CtL3ZI/VO9UQdcLslI/AAAAAAAAOwY/cRhnfAubdt0/s640/blogger-image--442836219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-BC4MIb1siHE/VO9USVslI-I/AAAAAAAAOwg/zV35OZUGLE0/s640/blogger-image-562396274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-BC4MIb1siHE/VO9USVslI-I/AAAAAAAAOwg/zV35OZUGLE0/s640/blogger-image-562396274.jpg"></a></div><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-dOja8CtL3ZI/VO9UQdcLslI/AAAAAAAAOwY/cRhnfAubdt0/s640/blogger-image--442836219.jpg"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Kids' school is canceled tomorrow. The towns here don't even own snow plows. Happily for the store, the entire morning crew can walk to work :) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We've all been depressed with the unrelenting cold and gray. This is a welcome change!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Kids are playing a board game, fire is roaring, and I went sledding today for the first time in years.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Good day.</div>Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-64215496625843169992015-02-21T11:02:00.000-05:002015-02-21T11:02:03.812-05:00This Guy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Been kind of in love lately with this guy. Which is handy, he being my husband and all.<br />
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He turned 34 on Wednesday. We took a long, child-free walk out at our favorite spot. Saw a blue heron on the way in, and on the way out he flew next to the truck for a good long minute.<br />
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Talked about this and that and held hands and watched the dogs enjoy themselves.<br />
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It's not that we live life in a state of ecstatic happiness all the time, because we don't. I have anxiety often. He gets restless, often. Sometimes our best conversations are about celebrity gossip.<br />
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But he's my favorite person to be anxious, restless, and discussing the Kardashians with :)<br />
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On Thursday, K invited the whole town courtesy of a half-page ad in the newspaper to join him at the official unveiling of his project. Despite frigid temperatures, a ton of people came, oohed, ahhed. The mayor said some nice things. Binnie prayed. These are the three guys who got the vast majority of the work done. I'm proud of all of them, but mostly of that one in the middle. I can take no credit for the last venture; frankly, I thought it was a bad idea. But 15 months after starting, it's in the black, looks fantastic, and he did it in less time and for less money than I ever would have believed.</div>
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I was 22 when we got married. A very adult decision for a mere kid-- but boy, has it panned out.<br />
<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-67660586347592232562015-01-15T12:49:00.002-05:002015-01-15T12:49:44.262-05:00January!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Two nights ago, we were discussing re-incarnation. Caspian piped up in his little-boy squeaky high voice that he wanted to come back as our son. Annaliese agreed. </div>
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Boy, that made me feel like we are doing something right.</div>
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We've pressed through our annual change-everything and the cafe is spruced up, in the front, with Dixie's name on it and a fryer in the kitchen. We have fried chicken on our plate lunch special today and homemade french fries and onions rings every day now. It may not be healthy, but it's pretty frigging awesome nonetheless.</div>
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Annaliese is seven. Caspian is awesome. Husband is not sickly at the moment, wrapped up with his project, a third of it already rented, and happy in the woods with his chainsaw, fencing the back pasture.</div>
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I sowed my first seeds yesterday (cold-weather transplants) and K and I have been playing Uno and rummy like maniacs.</div>
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It's a good life.</div>
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-24875203938587864332015-01-03T13:01:00.002-05:002015-01-03T13:01:37.075-05:00Merry Belated Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the few downsides of disconnecting the Internet at our house is that I have to blog at work. So clearly, that hasn't happened.<br />
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The upsides are many, though. We're playing Uno and rummy and go fish. We're watching (a lot) of old-school movies, on DVDs no less. I swear the days are longer, and who doesn't need more time?<br />
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2014 has been a wild year of ups and downs. But it has refined my focus: family, and winning. Those are my goals these days.<br />
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The kiddos had an awesome Christmas and New Year. Epically, we watched all three Lord of the Rings movies, the first Hobbit, the second, Hobbit, and we're going to see the third in theaters tomorrow, so our conversations are full of Mordor and Legolas and orcs.<br />
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It's been fun :)<br />
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Annaliese turns seven on Tuesday. Seven. Seven! I might be freaking out. I always freak out. She's chosen to invite ten or so friends over to the house next Saturday for a pajama pancake party. She wants chocolate cake, with chocolate icing. No problemo, I say to my princess. Anything you want.Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-685010907374267072014-10-07T13:21:00.001-04:002014-10-07T13:21:17.969-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Pictures of Me! Taken by K, naturally.</div>
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At Caspian's Kindergarten breakfast. My baby lost his first bottom tooth yesterday and he's rocking school, soccer, life. Proud of my little man.</div>
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Sometimes I have a third baby lech. So I hold someone else's, and it goes away. Fun to pinch thighs and then hand them back.<br />
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We read The Witches. Kids loved it. Roald Dahl... love him. Fitting to read him in the British room, too :)</div>
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The customary and usual store anxieties, but the weather is perfect, the babies are beautiful and healthy, and we've got enough money stashed away to carry us for the foreseen future. I have twenty-four chickens, two roosters, a fat sow of a pig, a bull near maturity... is it any wonder I spend so much time feeling rich?</div>
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Turning 32 on Thursday. K is making me chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. Tomorrow I'm taking the kids out of school and heading to Memphis with them and my mama to go fall shopping. I'm digging October.</div>
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-59913278086715378372014-09-16T13:36:00.003-04:002014-09-16T13:36:39.113-04:00Soccer and Goats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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The weather has turned crisp and cool, courtesy of a thunder storm that struck near our house and fried our router, so we have been Internet-less since last Thursday and kind of enjoying it. Work's been more difficult, but we are reading more, cooking more, and the kids have never played outside so much together. Of course, the cooler weather has something to do with that.</div>
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Whatever the cause, it's been super fun at home lately. </div>
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Annaliese, my strong-willed, bossy, opinionated little girl, is a strangely passive soccer player. She runs next to people with the ball, tentatively kicking every now and then. In other words, she's not the best, but her smiles are beautiful and she seems to enjoy it.</div>
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Caspian was a horrible player last year, content to look at the sky and constantly asking for breaks. This year, with no input from us, he has morphed into the tallest and most aggressive kid on his team. He dances when the game is going well, swings his fists when it's not. He pursues the ball up and down the field and really is pretty darn fast, faster than the other kids I see out there. </div>
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This is his best friend Graham. They played against each other last night. At one point, the two of them were duking it out next to the goal and Graham scored. Caspian gave him and high five and told him, "Good job!"</div>
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With the advent of cooler temps, K attempted to get into the woods to do some woodcutting. His chainsaw did not cooperate, but fun was had anyhow.</div>
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Goat feeding. I'll admit these animals have won me over. Feeding time is hilarious, with the chickens lurking under the cows, and the cows driving off the goats, and the two little sheepies running to and fro.</div>
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Not a bad way to spend a Sunday...<br />
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It's our anniversary the day after tomorrow. Nine years. Pretty cool.</div>
<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-5525438599431563992014-09-10T09:36:00.000-04:002014-09-10T09:36:47.323-04:00And so it's September.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's a hectic week here in the Valley. Lots of work, soccer, school, etc. I told the kids on Sunday night that there was a good chance K and I would be a bit stressed, and they needed to pitch in and help so we could check off the things that need checking. </div>
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And guess what? They have. We rocked Monday and Tuesday. Homework, check. Games, check. Family dinners, check. Decent bedtimes, check. </div>
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We were talking about some of their school's rules last night and Annaliese said "Some rules are appropriate. Others are stupid." </div>
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Smart kid.</div>
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Hopefully we will get caught up from our time away this week. Didn't much enjoy not seeing K on Sunday or after dinner last night. C'est la vie.</div>
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After nearly nine years, it's still this guy...</div>
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Uncle-Cousin Nick came home with us after BG and stayed for a few precious days, stolen between his two years in Moscow. He's Caspian's godfather and one of our favorites and can come back anytime.<br />
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Got to go inside one of the coolest Valley houses that's been bought and will be renovated, thankfully by someone other than us. It was amazing. And infested with fleas. We did not know that while taking this picture.<br />
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First time back at the local seafood joint after the staffing shenanigans that went on this summer. It's been an eventful time for me, between the W-M dispute and the two employees, one a friend, who quit mid-shift during the busiest week of the year. I've come to several conclusions... don't hire friends. Trust people's actions, not their words. </div>
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We have had a long, slow month in-store. It was anticipated, is entirely normal for the season shifting, and I was doing a good job about not freaking out about it until suddenly I wasn't. I am officially freaking out. People need to come buy some m-fr$#ing groceries. Lordy.</div>
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My typical reaction to business not being what I'd like it to be is to focus on a new area of expansion. I have ideas, folks, but on the other hand, expansions take money, and people, and a lot, a lot, a lot of energy. And I have none of those three things. So let's hope business swings up and we can ride a plateau for a little while and I can come home at decent times and work decent hours and have two days off a week and not think about the store every waking moment of my life.</div>
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It'd be nice. I had a bad dream last night, a really bad one, but after the dream ebbed away, my first thought was "hey! It wasn't about work!"</div>
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There is a local merchant here who worked six days a week for four decades. He provided for his family, did not become rich, but did his job with integrity and knowledge day after day, year after year. And then he retired. People miss him being in the store but boy, he's having a ball, finally doing what it is he'd like to do with no daily commitments. He's a role model for me. I don't want to franchise, get rich, or stop working. I'd just like to make a modest living and work about 45 hours a week. </div>
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We'll see. I guess I'm nervous because the balloon of the book is dying down and it's hard to predict the settling point.</div>
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But! all is well. Kids are amazing. Husband is... at work a lot, but in between amazing. House is beautiful, and I hear there will soon be a screened porch :) Fall is coming, my favorite season, a season I will forever associate now with being heavily pregnant with Annaliese and walking the dogs endlessly, putting acorns in my pockets to take home to windowsills and wooden bowls and thinking always of the future and what it might be like, to have a daughter and someday another child and a husband and a home.</div>
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Now I know. It's worth everything.</div>
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-89535307339264462742014-08-24T21:24:00.001-04:002014-08-24T21:24:16.937-04:00I googled myself and found this.http://www.biographile.com/alexe-van-beuren-on-the-summer-she-opened-her-own-business/33776/<br />
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Wrote it when a random house girl asked me to. Never knew it went anywhere.Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-86600788167873990472014-08-14T18:25:00.001-04:002014-08-14T18:25:43.495-04:00Turkey bumps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Annaliese accompanied me to the chicken yard this afternoon. She was telling me about sharks. Her class is talking about them.<br />
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I have thoughts about this.. why? I have done my best to keep my shark-phobia to myself, and now they're going to teach her fear at school? Arg! Annaliese saw a picture of that girl who lost her arm surfing and she was telling me about it as I gave the chickens scraps and fresh water.<br />
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"It was gross, Mama," she said.<br />
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"Not her fault she lost an arm, kiddo," said I.<br />
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"It gave me chicken bumps. NO.... turkey bumps. It gave me turkey bumps."<br />
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Sharks give me turkey bumps too. But unlike her school, I'm gonna keep it to myself.Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-47289674323362904692014-08-13T15:53:00.001-04:002014-08-13T15:53:25.139-04:00Pardon me...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
K has taken over the more frequent documentation of daily life, but I've missed checking in too.</div>
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In my family, houses have names, and so for the first year-plus we lived here, it really bothered me that I didn't have one. We thought of a lot of options... K was pushing hard for Turtle Hill, as I remember... but this place we have landed is not at all grand. It's a 1940s bungalow with an awkward 80s addition that we've cloathed in cedar and cypress that will take a good five years to mellow to the gray we want as opposed to the orange it came. It's a Mississippi hill farm. It's hard to find a good name for a place that doesn't sound... overly inflated, shall we say?</div>
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I read the kids Pippi Longstocking and the description of the horse on the porch and the nonsensical air of the place reminded me of home. You're fairly likely to find a barnyard animal on the porch here. It's a place of whimsy, butterflies, big old trees and goats, and so I christened it Villa Villekula.<br /><br />(I can't tell you how relaxing it is to have the name in my head.)</div>
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I have many plans awaiting our home but sadly, a complete lack of skill to execute them, so I am focusing on the garden and the rose bushes and the things that I am capable of impacting.</div>
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But what K has made already is pretty spectacular. The plan this year is I get Wednesdays off every week, barring emergencies, and both the children are in school now, which means I get to spend some time appreciating this corner of the world we are calling home. It's a beautiful one.</div>
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Feeling very lucky these days.<br />
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Can you tell?<br />
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This boy... five now, riding the bus with his sister to kindergarten. Handsome and smart and loving and... everything.</div>
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He's the one who really loves life at the farm. I found him underneath the azalea bushes the other day, crooning to our dog Olive, singing her to sleep while making a neat pile of mudballs.</div>
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More soon. Have to go meet the bus. But I want to get back to this.</div>
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Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18837673.post-83146135325170864572014-04-02T21:02:00.000-04:002014-04-02T21:04:12.510-04:00April 2nd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Have not posted many pics of the new house because we've been in renovation mode so long. But things are pleasing me lately.</div>
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Our room is like a treehouse. The view from the bed...<br />
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I finally have linen bedding (h&m, I recommend) and my tulips are blooming.<br />
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First local delivery of the year. Broccoli rabe and spinach too....<br />
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This came out in the paper today. Loved it.<br />
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My little girl wore her new spring cotton frock to school today!<br />
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Dinner on the porch. Caspian wants baby chicks, ant eggs, red rosebushes, and seeds for his birthday. (He is covered in ant bites because he tried to retrieve an ant on his own.)<br />
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Just another spring day in Mississippi...<br />
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<br />Able Ponderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118601855887908109noreply@blogger.com1