From which platform does the train to Normal depart?

I am still waiting for the New Normal to kick in. We feel at home in the New House, I feel at home with the New Commute, but I still feel quite unsettled. Can't quite figure it out. So if you see that train to Normal, will you let me know? Or even the plane.....

Being Lax

So we've been a bit busy in the last few weeks. Selling a house, trying to buy a house, not buying a house, finding another house, doing all the various things to get that house, and now packing while we wait for word on a specific closing date. I just finished and emailed off my final paper for the class I took in July, so now I can focus my energies on getting rid of a bunch of accumulated crap and packing the rest! I look forward to being on the other side of all this!!

What I did today.

I made this basket. I have had the kit since Mother's Day of last year, and finally had the time to make it up. I think it's about the fourth basket I've made. It's fun to do.

A few days of sunshine

It rained most of last week. I mean every day, most of the day. And if it didn't rain, there was a thunderstorm at the end of the day. It was just a crazy, gray week. Friday we finally had some sunshine, and it lasted most of the holiday weekend.

This year we had a kind invitation from our friends to go to their condo in Bartlett for the weekend. We had a great time. There was a parade, food, walks to a river for wading (the water was too high and cold for swimming), ice cream, a walk through North Conway, music and fireworks, a drive up Mount Washington, and short hike to a waterfall, and a genuine terrific time with good friends. When we got home on Sunday evening, I felt like we had been gone for days instead of just overnight. And isn't that a testament to a good weekend?

Again I've been using Maggie's camera a lot, but halfway through the weekend it seemed to sort of die. So annoying! It would turn on, but then not shut off, or it would be on but not have anything on the screen and not let me take a picture. I don't think it's just the batteries, but I'll look into that this week. Danielle took some wonderful pictures, as usual, so I'll hijack her photos for our own memories!! These few I did take:

DJ and Paul, wading in the river.

Maggie and Kaylyn hamming it up. What a surprise.

Danielle and I had to figure out a way to make the t-shirts work when things didn't go as planned with our first effort, but they turned out great! People kept commenting on them, and it sure did make it easier to spot the kids and do a head count while we were in North Conway! Plus, her three wore them in the parade as part of their decorations, and they won first place for their 'division'!!

And finally, a good picture of Danielle! And she can't delete it, because it was on our camera, not hers! :-)

On Sunday we drove up Mount Washington, which was a bit harry, but fun, too. It was so windy at the top, and we were right in the middle of a cloud, so we all got wet! I'm glad we did it (though Paul doesn't have any interest in doing it again!) The drive down was the worst, in one area where the road is dirt and it is very narrow. But luckily I was only a passenger and not the driver! Jonathan did a great job.

As soon as I figure out how to copy pictures from her site, I'll post more photos. She took a nice shot of our family, and a cool one of our car and the mountains in the background from her car as we drove up the mountain.

Crocheted Socks

I am so happy with how these socks turned out! They feel great on, and they really worked out well. I followed Allycol's pattern, from Ravelry, (I'll see if I can find the link), and just altered one or two things to make them fit my foot better.

I used Patons sock yarn with elastic in it, and I think that helps with the way crochet socks don't stretch as much as knitted ones. Now I'm dying to buy some more yarn so I can try some toe-up crocheted socks! And for a time to wear the socks, too. But I'm not going to wish for colder weather, because our June has been cold and wet enough already!!

Field Trips

Danielle and I have been on two field trips (if you want to call them that) so far this summer. On Friday we went to Squam Lakes Natural Science Center. It's a wild animal park, and the animals have all been rescues and rehabilitated. The kids had a great time. Maggie took a bunch pictures there, and this is the best one, of the bald eagles.

Truthfully, I've been having a great time with the camera my parents got for Maggie for Christmas. I think I've taken more pictures than Maggie has!

Today we went to Vermont to the Montshire Museum of Science. Here are all the little goobers. (good thing Kaylyn's not a ham or anything, huh?!).

It rained all the way there, pouring for a good part of it, but stopped raining just in time for us to do some of the activities outside. Then it rained off and on all the way home. I have to say, it was an exhausting drive there and back, but it was a good day over all!

So now, where do we go on our next field trip?!

Yarn Ball

It is so silly, but I am inordinately proud of this little ball of yarn!

I was knitting a pair of socks for my hubby, and it wasn't going all that well. For one thing, I was trying a toe-up sock for the first time (which really wasn't that hard, until I got to the heel) and the heel turned out kind of lousy. I didn't like the wrapping method the book I was using suggested, so if I decide to do a toe-up sock again I'll have to do some research and find a better way. For another thing, I was doing a ribbing pattern, and it was sucking up the yarn like there was no tomorrow. I have another ball of yarn, but I wouldn't have had enough to make two socks that had more than a couple inches of cuff on them. Definitely not something the husband would want to wear. So I ripped back the sock and wound up the yarn.

Here's where the ball of yarn comes in: I have always just wound yarn into balls that you pull from the outside. It's easy enough, you just wind the yarn around your fingers for a bit, then keep going. The problem is that when you're working with the yarn, the ball rolls away from you! This time I tried something I have wanted to do for awhile, a center-pull ball of yarn. It's stupid, I know. I'm sure there are many, many craftspeople out there who have done this all their lives. And truly, now that I've done it, it truly is easy.

I used my trusty Readers Digest Complete Guide to Needlework for the directions, and it was as easy as pie! It turned out so well that it even has a flat bottom, so it sits just right, and the yarn comes right out the top middle! I just love it.

So there. I am easily pleased and amused. This little center-pull ball of yarn cracks me up. I'm going to be a bit sad when it becomes a sock. :-)

Gold Belts!

The kids had their first belt promotion tonight! They moved from white to gold belts. Very exciting. Paul was a bit nervous, but he gets nervous about everything. Maggie seemed to be taking everything in stride, as is typical. If she was nervous she didn't show it. I think it helped that we had been to DJ's last belt promotion so they knew what it was going to be like.



Sensai Linda does such a nice job, with a quiet comment or two to each student. You can tell by the time she spends with each student that she doesn't just say the same thing to each child. She says something of particular importance to that student. Danielle says DJ never remembers what Sensai says to him, and of course Paul was of no help whatsoever, but Maggie said it was something about how she worked hard, and also a comment about how she did a great job answering a question during the 'ceremony' and that most white belts wouldn't even try to answer one of the questions. Maggie just jumped right in and raised her hand. Smart girl.



Danielle actually forgot her camera tonight, so unusual for her! So she shall have to make do with my poor pictures, dark though they are! We all went for pizza afterward, which was fun. Might make a nice tradition.

A Fathers' Day Photo

A couple of months ago my husband said something about how he'd wear a shirt with a picture of the kids on it if he had one, so I thought I'd get him one for Fathers' Day. I hadn't done anything like that before because I didn't think he'd be crazy about something like that, but hey! I'll try it!

So a couple weeks ago (I was so proud for getting this done early and in time to order the item so it would be here in time for Fathers' Day! I've not been good about that kind of thing in the last several months!), I took the kids outside and had a quick photo shoot before J got home from work. I got a few pictures that were worth keeping, but this one was the best.



It was so nice how everything in the yard was so green and beautiful! Great backgrounds. Now, I'm not as good a photographer as Danielle, but once in awhile I do ok!

Picture....

I was trying to post a picture of our troop from Camporee, but can't quite figure it how. It is most annoying.

Camporee

Danielle took our troop to another Camporee! Well, I went too, but she did all the work. I did a lot of standing around and wondering if there was something I should be doing!

The girls had a great time, and they were exhausted by the time Saturday night came around! I think it is a good thing it's only a one night deal! Two of our town Ambassador girls organized the whole weekend, and they did a great job. They even got the perfect weather! There was a Brownie troop of 16 girls and several adults there, as well as the girls from our town, so it was the perfect number of girls to split up into groups, etc. The older girls from our town led the activities.

I was lucky this year and got to come home and sleep in my own comfy bed! Danielle and another mom stayed over, so I figured they didn't really need another adult there. I never sleep when I'm at those things and end up feeling lousy the next day, so I think I was better off.

It was fun to see how much the girls have grown up since the first time we took them to a camporee when they were Daisies. They are so much more independent now, and were great about helping the younger girls from the other town figure how what to do on some of the activities. There was a time when Maggie and Delaney wouldn't have spoken to the girls from another town, but there they were, showing them how to do things, in such a great way!

Now I have to go clean my house, which is all my hubby really wants for Fathers' Day!

An exhausting week

This is the last week of school for my kids (and hence for me, too!), so it's a busy week anyway. Add in a wake and a funeral and you've got a crazy week.

My aunt passed away early Saturday morning. She was 70. She had been sick, but only for a short time. It doesn't really seem real, somehow. I feel so badly for my cousins, and for my mom and her other siblings. Just seeing my cousins and uncle at the back of the church with the casket was what got me crying. We were all grown up when our grandmother died, but my cousins' children are so young! I know there are a couple of them that probably won't remember her.

And of course this all makes me think of losing my own mother, which fills me with dread. She takes very good care of herself (much better than my aunt did, truth be told), but still, we are only mortal. I know I need to just enjoy whatever time we have, because we don't know when it will be our turn. I was watching some of the older people at communion, and I wonder how they bear it, losing their friends one by one as they age. It is one of those difficult things about life, I supposed.

The kids at school are getting a bit nutty, and really, who can blame them? At their ages, summer vacation seems to stretch on infinitely in front of them. There is a little nervousness for some of them, too, as they think about next year and wonder what will be expected of them. A couple of weeks ago my Little Bug was getting really clingy. It took me a few days to realize that it is probably because they are talking about moving up to fourth grade and she is, quite naturally, a bit nervous about that.

But these things, life, death, change, are all part of life, and as long as we can hang on to the important things then we should all be ok. I hope my cousins and uncle will be ok, and that they will find strength in their faith.

A Movie and Dinner

We did the dinner and a movie thing in the opposite order. Today is my hubby's birthday, but we also still needed to celebrate the little guy's birthday with his friends. So we decided to go to the movies with our friends the J-Zs.

I'm trying to get away from the big party with a bunch of kids. It's expensive, for one thing, and I always end up running around trying to find things for good bags and art projects. Plus, a large group and lots of kids isn't really P's speed. So we decided to try a movie. He's never been to the movies before (have we been lax? Or have we just gone with what we think is right for his attention span and auditory issues? Who knows), so we thought we'd go see 'Up' and bring the J-Zs kids.

What was great was that it turned into both families all going together to the movies, the girls all sat together, the two boys sat together, and the grown ups sat together. Then we all went to Applebee's for dinner afterward. It worked out very well, and even though the movie wasn't the best and P was kind of scared during most of it, I think he did have a good time.

Plus, we got the servers to sing to the hubby when they brought dessert! Aren't the kids adorable?



One thing that is funny is that I got J a radio/iPod dock/alarm clock that he had told me about seeing a few weeks ago, and when he opened it he didn't even remember that he had told me about it! I thought for sure he would see the wrapped gift and know what it was before he even opened it, but he didn't, so that was nice. He was pleased, and I think he will really enjoy being able to choose what he wakes up to each day. Plus it will be handy to charge his iPod there and not have to hook it up to his computer to do it. I must say, I'm rather pleased with myself!

Growing up, birthdays and all.

My Little Guy lost his first tooth yesterday, just two days after his 7th birthday. That was followed closely by loosing his second tooth today! He lost it at some point during the school day and had it in his little box his teacher gave him to bring the tooth home in, but the poor guy, he then lost the actual tooth while he was waiting for me to come back to 'my' classroom at the end of the day. As I was coming up from the lower level, all I could see over the railing above was the top half of his face, red and wet with tears. It took several minutes for me to convince him that it would be ok, that the tooth fairy would understand that he didn't have the actual tooth. Tonight he wrote a little note for the tooth fairy to leave under his pillow. :-)

My sweet husband has a birthday tomorrow! I need to wrap his present. I hope he won't mind that he's getting one kind of big present and that's about it. It is something I know he talked about having, so I'm pretty sure he'll like it. There were a couple things he bought for himself in the last couple months that he told me to put away for his birthday, but I'm going to save them for Father's Day.

I guess I better go get wrapping! I'm not even sure if I have a card for him! How awful of me!

Sock It To Me

I love my knitted socks, and I've even started a pair for my husband. But they do take a fair bit of time to make. Crochet would be so much faster, though it would take more yarn. The thing is, the only pair I have crocheted weren't a big success. I think it was partly the pattern and partly the yarn. They are close to being two different sizes, and the heels just didn't fit right.

I just found another pattern for free on Ravelry for crocheted socks, so I'm giving that a shot. The yarn has a bit of stretch to it, so I'm hoping that might give it a different feel (less tight, for one thing). We shall see how it comes out. I'm not sure that the way crochet stitches are made will ever feel quite the way knit stitches do once the sock is on the foot, but I'm willing to give it another try.

Maybe this is why I need so many bags:

Or at least part of it.

It is finished.

Finally. I've been working on this afghan for months (obviously not non-stop!) and I finally finished it. It is for a friend at work, and she had her baby 6 weeks early. I have felt so badly that I haven't had a gift ready for her! She has been in to work a couple of times for meetings, and I know she will be in this coming Wednesday, so I was determined to finish it. So here it is!

It is a basket weave pattern from an older Leisure Arts leaflet entitled "Snuggle-Up Baby Afghans." I have made one other pattern from this booklet, I think.

If I had made it according to the pattern directions it was going to end up huge, really too big, so I made it a bit smaller. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't quite as soft as I would have liked after I had washed it, but it did come out nicely (if I do say so myself). Now I'm looking for other projects, even though I already have a few in progress! :-)

Off to Girl Scouts. My little bug is flying up from Brownies to Juniors! A big evening!

I think I have a problem.

It's a bag problem. No, I don't mean big. I mean Bag.

I love bags. I like big ones and small ones, long straps and short, with pockets and without. I love looking at bags and wondering what I would use them for, and buying them even if I don't have a particular purpose in mind.

I like making bags. I have been known to spend days and hours on a bag, only to use it for a couple of short weeks. I just bought a pattern for another bag that I really like, and need to order a couple of 'notions,' as we sewists call them, in order to finish it, and I'm not even sure I will like it once it is finished.

I've been known to buy a bag, use it once or twice and then never use it again, but still, I keep it! I still like it, I just don't have a current use for it!

I have bags for knitting, bags for crochet, a bag for each little project. I have bags with all the embroidery floss from when I used to do counted cross stitch, and I have bags with kits for projects I haven't even started yet.

I have bags of yarn, and bags with all the bits and bobs that go along with yarn crafts. I even have a big bag full of other bags!

I just love them. I don't know what it is. I don't change my purse with great frequency (I've been carrying the same Coach knock off from Target for several months as my every day purse), and I even carry the same bag to work every day, but I love having the bags around me. One of my favorite bags I don't even carry that much because the straps aren't long enough to carry over my shoulder and I know I would get tired of just having to hold it in my hand all the time. But it is perfect for a current knitting or crochet project, and if I need to I can throw a couple other items into it for whatever we're up to on a particular day.

I bought another bag at LL Bean the other day. I couldn't resist. I didn't have boat and tote bag in that size, and I thought it might be handy. Plus it was 50% off! It was one of those personalized bags that they charge less for because you have to use a seam ripper to get the monogram off. But who cares! It was $5 for a boat and tote bag! Who could resist!

I wonder where this bag fetish comes from. I'm pretty sure my mom and dad had plenty of bags should I have needed one while I was growing up. I'm pretty sure I wasn't bag-deprived as a child. Is it because I was sometimes forced to wear bread bags on my feet with winter boots as a kid? Probably not. I don't feel scarred from that experience. So what is the deal?!

Perhaps I'll never know. Perhaps I shall just keep collecting bags for reasons unknown until I am too old or decrepit to do so anymore. I don't think my little habit is harmful to anyone, except perhaps my wallet (which is not really a bag, but I love wallets, too!!). I don't think I'm hurting anyone with my bags, and they frequently come in handy (though one did cause a major mix up with my brother at camp last summer, but that is another story). So I guess I won't worry too much about it.

But if you every hear of a 12 step program for bag lovers, let me know.

Guilty Pleasures

Dear Julia,

I have this little confession. It's about a place on the internet I visit almost every day. I am nearly compulsive about it. I have told very few people that I go there, and still wonder whether it changed their opinion of me.

To make it worse, I have introduced my children to the website, as well. They love it, but isn't it true that children often love things that aren't good for them? I hope I have not scarred them for life.

Shall I tell you? Should I feel guilty if you go there and you love it to? If you begin to be compulsive about checking each day as well?

I shall take that chance. I cannot resist. Every addict has to try to share her love with someone else. Here it is: I Can Has Cheezburger.

Yes, I know, I know!!! The mutilation of the English language! The bad jokes! It is like a train wreck, Julia! I cannot stop looking! The pictures, well, those are bad enough, but the videos! Oh, the horror!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry I tempted you to look. I'm sorry I shared my shame with you. Forgive me.

Please, forgive me.

Love,
Lynn

Fitting Frustration

Dear Julia,

What is it about whoever designs affordable clothes? Why do they not understand that women have hips AND they have waists? Why do all the pants I try on have waists as big as the hips?

I went out today in a pretty much futile attempt to find some new capris (see a previous post for the sad story of my favorite capris). I tried on lots, but really, none fit. I bought one pair, but even those don't fit all that well. They fit about as well as the Unfortunate Pair, and they were actually bought at the same store, so I figured I might as well get them. They will at least provide something different to wear to work. I shall make every attempt to keep this pair from meeting the sad fate of the Unfortunate ones.

At one of the stores, the one I used to work at, they have these nifty little labels for the length of bottoms - capris, bermudas, shorts. The one thing they didn't have a label for was one called the 'skippers'. What are skippers, you ask? They are what I would call pedal pushers. I guess that name is too passe, so someone decided to come up with some cutesy name for them. Skippers. Huh.

I've gotten lots done on that afghan I'm working on, and hope to get more done tomorrow. :-)

Love,
Lynn

Productivity

Dear Julia,

I'm not sure if productivity would have been a word you would ever have used, but it is used commonly now. For me, it means that I got a lot of little things done in a day, or that I got quite a bit finished on a long project.

Today was a day when I got a great deal accomplished (finally!). I feel as though it has been years since I had a day like today. My energy was high, my focus was good, and I felt able to finally follow through on things.

First of all I tackled the huge pile of laundry that has accumulated in my basement. Last weekend when we were cleaning up for a showing of the house, we tried to neaten up any of the laundry that wasn't done yet (mainly because we knew we wouldn't have any time to put all that laundry away if it was clean!), and left it at that. I got several loads finished and three loads folded. Put away, you ask? No, most of it is not actually put away, but I will put my pile away tonight and the other members of my family will have to put away their own!

Next I washed the dishes, cleaned off the counters, and put all the items from our "showing box" that has been sitting on the counter all week. What is a showing box, you ask? For us it means a box that we bring out when we have a showing, into which we stuff anything that normally resides on the counter next to the phone, any current mail, any papers that usually hang on the side of our refrigerator. This box is then put away with some of the other boxes we have previously packed. After the showing we then take the box out and put the items back where they belong - or at least sort the items that had not been sorted (opening mail, that kind of thing). I did a good purge of the items that had been hanging on the fridge, and went through all the mail. That felt good. I also cleaned off the kitchen table.

After lunch Hubby and the kids and I went for a little drive in the car he was thinking of buying. We stopped and had ice cream. :-) The day was much cooler than we had expected, but it seemed an appropriate thing to do on this traditional first weekend of summer. And the ice cream was very good!

While Hubby was gone making the decision about his car, I got a new lamp! Well, actually I didn't buy a new lamp, but I did spray paint an old one to make it look new! It was an old brass type lamp that we have had since we got married 15 years ago, which my mother-in-law bought for us at a garage sale. It has been a useful lamp for many years, but it has never been particularly attractive. I had a brainstorm the other night while watching yet another episode of "Get It Sold" on HGTV, and realized all I needed was a can of black spray paint! I got the paint weeks ago, but that energy burst today was what I have been waiting for. I must say, it looks rather good. Almost like a wrought iron lamp. I am pleased.

While each coat of the paint dried, I weeded in my garden. Yes! I did. I know I'm always saying I'm going to weed, that it needs to be weeded, and that I hardly ever get around to it. Usually it is a case of horrible black flies or extreme heat that keeps me from the flower garden, but today it was lovely weather with just enough wind to keep the black flies away. Lovely! I didn't finish it all, but I got quite a bit of it done.

Plus! Yes, there is more! I worked on the baby blanket I am crocheting for quite awhile, too! I still have a long way to go, but I am more than half way done. I am determined!

So, Julia, all in all, it was a very productive day!

Love,
Lynn

Dear Julia,

Dear Julia,

It has been so long since I've talked to you! I'm not sure if you will even remember me. Do you remember those days when it was just the two of us, you and I? You wore a cloak, almost always (there has always been something so evocative about that word for me, cloak). I've been wracking my brain for the last couple of days to remember your last name. Forgive me. I know it will come to me in a day or two.

I thought maybe writing to you would be a good way to blog. I can share my days, my silly stories, my joys and ideas. If you will let me. Would that be permissible? I hope so.

Love,
Lynn

Felt like a Monday

I had a lousy day. I won't go into details. It's not important. But it really was a lousy day. The drive to work, a couple things that happened at work, going to the doctor. But the really kicker was when I came home ready to relax for a bit....

I went to put on my favorite capris, the ones that are still nice enough to wear to work if it is going to be hot, but comfy enough to just bang around the house. The ones that go with everything, are so easy to just slip on when I want to get comfy in the late spring like today. The ones that actually fit just right and actually look pretty good on me. Yep, those.

Well, I evidently did just what I said I wasn't going to do, which was put them in the dryer. Now, I'm not a complete ignoramus - I do know that if something is 100% cotton, one might not want to put things in the dryer for fear of shrinkage. I try not to dry things that I really love because of just this fear. I swore when I put them in the laundry the other day that I would pull them out and hang dry them, even if it meant I had to iron them, and even though they are not 100% cotton. I'm not going to be taken in by security in whatever percentage of the capris is not cotton. Nope, not me. I'm going to make sure they stay just as comfy as they have been for some time, just as comfy as they were all last summer. I have a hard enough time finding things to fit that I have learned this lesson the hard way. Instead of "No Soup for you!" it was "no dryer for you!"

Fast forward to a weekend where I felt lousy but then found out late on Sunday that we had a showing of the house on Monday. Some scrambling to clean, it must be admitted, did occur. Having felt lousy for several days I had not caught up on the little piles of papers or the larger piles of laundry. I whipped through a couple of loads (or maybe it was the hubby who did that), folded them and put them away so as to neaten the house and make sure the laundry area didn't look like a wreck. Somewhere in there, I put a load in the dryer, brought the load upstairs when it was done, folded it and put it away.

Fast forward to me this afternoon. The legs go into the legs of the capris, they ease up over the hips, but lo, though the button can be buttoned and the zipper can be zipped, they are too tight. Too tight in the waist, too tight in the backside. Not good. I wanted to cry. Coming on the heels of the lousy day, it was just too much. To make it harder, I could not blame this on anyone else. No unfeeling husband or recalcitrant child could be blamed for this blunder. I had no one but myself. Not a good feeling.

I did what one must on occasions like this. I put on something else, I threw the errant capris on the floor, and I called a girlfriend. I explained, complained, and was comforted. Distance from the lousy day was obtained, and entertainment was obtained from a story about her stressful week (with humor involved - don't go thinking I'm completely unfeeling!). Phew.

So the more positive side of my nature rejoices in the fact that tomorrow is, indeed, a new day and it is bound to be better than today! Thank God, indeed, for that!

Ideas, inspiration and a bit of disgruntlement

I'm a bit tired of feeling lousy. One thing that is getting me down is watching very little other than HGTV. When I'm sick, I like to just watch something that doesn't require any emotional investment, and HGTV is good for that. I have a thing for makeovers, and this channel has those in abundance, every half hour. I love seeing the transformations, the character of houses, the incredible ideas that some of the homeowners and designers have. I like the budget makeover shows the best, because I can't quite understand spending tens of thousands of dollars on a bedroom or bathroom. I love to see what they do with very little money (and usually a lot of paint).

I have noticed, however, that watching all these shows does make for a bit of discontentment with what I have. I am sure this is exaserbated by having the house on the market, and thus wanting something more in the first place. Having all these ideas and no money, and this weekend, no energy, to do them is a bit frustrating.

I have a floor lamp that needs some help. My mother-in-law gave it to use when we got married, something she picked up at a yard sale, because we needed a lamp. It's in sad shape, but was probably once a brass type finish. I had a brainstorm one day, and thought painting it too look like one of those wrought iron lamps you see in catalogs might work. I have the paint, but haven't had a chance to get it outside and paint it.

I also see all the little things that should really be done (especially if we get some traffic through the house to go along with the drop in price). Bits of painting outside, a bit of organizing inside. So frustrating to not be up to doing it. But I am committed to taking it easy today so I don't feel worse tomorrow.

So I must watch myself and my feelings of disgruntlement (which are natural, really, considering how we've had so little interest in the house) and discontent, be content with today, and hope I don't dream about dining room chairs again, like I did this morning! :-)

Shop, sniff, shop, sniff

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a lovely day, despite waking up to the news that we had no power. It came back on just as I was leaving the house! Of course. I met my mom in Kittery and we had lunch, chatted for a long time, then shopped. Naturally it was the last store we went into, 20 minutes before they closed, that I found some clothes for myself! It was nice to have the money for Mother's Day so I could spend it on myself without guilt!

The weather was very nice, though quite breezy. Quite a change from the crazy thunderstorm we had last night. Maggie and I went to Kaylyn's dance recital yesterday afternoon, stopped here at home to pick up the boys, then went to the James and Danielle's for pizza, a birthday celebration for DJ, and a piano recital! In the middle of it all, the rain came pouring down, then stopped just as suddenly. It was nice to sit down and eat and talk with friends!

My cold is still hanging around, hence the sniffing while shopping. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better.

You're feeling very relaxed.....

Last year for Mother's Day, hubby gave me a gift certificate for a one hour massage. In turn, for Father's Day, I gave him the same thing. He has had that massage and a few more since, and until today I hadn't had any.

Today I finally redeemed that gift certificate and had the massage. It was lovely. I have had massages before, but the place I used to go to isn't there anymore. This was my first time at this place. The therapist was very nice, and really listened to what I said needed work, etc. She found that my hands were really tight - no doubt all that knitting and crocheting I do, and even gave me suggestions for how to stretch those hands out each day.

When I first got out, I felt kind of lousy (I think because it had ended with me face down, which wasn't ideal with my cold!), thought relaxed. Now I feel pretty darn good!

So last year's Mother's Day gift was finally used, and I hope I feel just as relaxed and refreshed tomorrow as I do today!

Forsythia

My forsythia are just in the middle of blooming, as well as my tulips and daffodils. I also have a ton of violets that have overrun part of the flower garden! It is amazing how Danielle's garden is about two weeks ahead of mine, even though it's just down the road. The front of her house gets so much more sun, since she's on the other side of the road.

The apple tree would be blooming right now. I miss it when I look out the window. It was a casualty of the ice storm, and was just recently taken way. I loved looking out the kitchen window and seeing it's blossoms, hearing the bees investigate it.

The leaves on the trees have really popped in the last few days, and we've had enough rain in the last few days that everything has turned green. I know my husband thinks he'd love living in North or South Carolina, but I would miss seeing all these changes of seasons! And if only the black flies would go away, I'd be able to enjoy my little porch! Gotta love life in New Hampshire! :-)

Bleh

Maggie has a cold, and I think I'm on my way there, too. Very annoying.

FIrst Communion

Our little girl is growing up! She had her First Communion on Sunday! It was a lovely day, and she did very well, despite being a little nervous. We had a lovely brunch here afterward, and I think everyone had a nice time.

The dress was a great deal, bought for a friend's daughter, whom it didn't fit, at a yard sale. So we bought it from her. It included the headpiece. It was a bit more elaborate than I would have bought if I had gone out to shop for one, so she lucked out! I did go buy the little bolero jacket, as the dress itself is sleeveless, and I didn't care for that style for First Communion. It was nice that the three girls in the class had very different styles of dress on (though they all had bolero jackets, oddly enough!).

The funny, but not so funny at the time, thing was that on Saturday night as I was getting things ready, I wanted to gently press the veil a bit to get the wrinkles out. Not a smart move. I melted a hole in the veil. I cried. Then I called Danielle. "Hang on, let me think....hmm....let me go look in my hope chest and I'll call you back in five minutes." Just when I was wondering if it had been five minutes, she knocked on my door, her own First Communion veil in hand. We adjourned to the basement. Surgery ensued. The glue gun came out. The original veil was torn from its moorings. The new-old veil was fiddled with, pressed (without melting), folded, trimmed a tiny bit, and glued into place. I sighed with great relief. I went to bed.

My daughter hardly noticed any difference in the morning and made no comment or complaint (I sighed again). After Mass and pictures and all, we came back to the house where Danielle (and her hubby, it must be said) had started the coffee, taken off plastic wrap, warmed up the oven and various and sundry other preparations I was unable to do. Danielle brought out her album with pictures of her First Communion and we made a startling discovery: her mother had given her the wrong veil to put in her hope chest! We had made free with her sister's veil! Danielle consoled me with the thought that her sister would probably not need it for her own daughter, and I told her that if she should ever want it, she could have the entire (improved) headpiece.

So all in all, a very nice day. We missed Jonathan's sisters (who had evidently written down the wrong day) and my brother (who was at a conference for work) and their families, but it did make for fewer people jammed in our little house! Still, family never minds that kind of thing!

Maybe, not so much....

For the last week I've been thinking about my little guy and realizing that the questions I had are not really all answered by an ADHD diagnosis. Luckily, it seems the team at the child development center felt the same way. Someone will be coming for a classroom observation tomorrow, and after she reports back to the team, we will decide if we need to go see the developmental pediatrician. So that makes me feel better.

The assignments for case managers for next year in my school have been made, and there are no openings. *sigh*. I am disappointed, because it is a great place to work, and I'd love to do special education there, and under that particular supervisor. My current position will be available to me for next year, and it may be that I will have to take it, but getting a teaching position will certainly pay much more!

We are sort of in a Catch-22 situation. We would be able to afford a bigger house if I get a teaching position, but we won't qualify for the loan if I sign the contract for a job before we get the loan! I know all these little things will work themselves out, but I have a hard time waiting. It could all be a moot point if the house doesn't sell.

I never really thought of myself as a control freak until an evening a couple month (maybe more) ago with Danielle and Janabeth. We were talking in the car on the way home from a girls' night out, as we are wont to do (it almost makes we wish we had longer drives home from wherever we go to eat), and started talking about control freaks. Some comment Janabeth made (and it wasn't an accusation or anything like that!) made me think that perhaps, in a way, I am one. I like things done the way I want them done, I sometimes wonder why people don't do things the way that I do them, and I have a hard time delegating (not that I have to do much of that these days, but still). I have to keep my mouth closed a lot in the 6th grade room because there are ways I would do things if I had my druthers, but it isn't my classroom, and I'm not the one with the elementary certification.

Maybe this is why I have such a hard time with the house being on the market and the job hunt I now have to engage in, and so forth. I'm a control freak. Or maybe not a control freak. A control nut, maybe? Is a nut less obsessive than a freak? And if I am, how do I let go of that and let things happen the way they are supposed to happen? lol. I never thought of myself as particularly impatient, but perhaps I've been kinder to myself than I should have been! :-)

Yep, it's spring.

The black flies are out. A bit early this year, but they are out. Ugh. So I'll be spending most of the next month inside, thank you very much! It's too bad the best weather of the whole year is spoiled by those little beasties. If it weren't for them swarming around my head or getting stuck in my hair, I wouldn't mind them so much!

Exhausted, but with questions answered.

We finally had an appointment with the neuropsychologist for our little guy. The answer, or at least part of it, is ADHD.

Phew. I was sort of assuming it was Asperger's, there are lots of signs of that, but he doesn't meet enough enough of the criteria to really be considered that. But he is definitely ADHD. He was so patient through the whole thing, waiting while we talked to the adults, going in another room to draw, etc, while we talked more, then doing the cognitive test with the neuropsychologist (some of it literally on his head!). He was so good, and then so tired afterward! We had a quick dinner at Burger King and then made a not-so-quick stop at Walmart on the way home. (The weather has been so warm that the kids both needed new shorts!).

It will be about 6 weeks before we have the full written report, but we have the big answer now. The report will have recommendations for us and for school, and more details, I assume. But the biggest part is over. Thank heaven for that!

Little Bug stayed with my girlfriend down the road, and I think she must have been exhausted, too, because she was crying about the smallest things after we got home. I'm sure she thought we were having tons of fun while she was there, but she was forgetting she had a fun time, too!

Now we can relax a bit.

Tuesday again.

I hate not having anything to do at work. Yesterday was one of those crazy days where there was little I could do. My fourth grader was taking a math test at the usual writing time, so I couldn't help him. My second grader was absent. My sixth grader was taking a test in the computer lab. Then suddenly it was early release. Almost the same story today. I hate those bits of time where I don't have a student to work with or a place to be. And there are certain times of the day when if you can't help in the upstairs rooms, you can't help at all because all the downstairs kids are either at recess or at lunch!! Hopefully tomorrow will be better that way.

We have had one showing of the house, which is good. They ended up putting a bid on a different house, but still, we got the house all cleaned up and looking great, and we'll try harder to keep it this way now. Plus, there aren't any houses out there I'm dying to go look at right now, so it is just as well for the moment that we don't have an offer. I'm trying to be patient and sanguine about it all. Trying, I said.

I suppose I should go to bed, because I know I'll be sorry in the morning if I don't.....

The good, the bad, and the sad.

So our teachers didn't find out until Friday whether they would have jobs or not, which was hard, and then when they did find out, it was even harder. The teacher I work with most is safe, as are all the other first year teachers. The bad news was that my daughter's teacher is not having her contract renewed. We are shocked. The only way I can make any sense out of it is that she has not been there long enough to need an explanation as to why she was non-renewed, and that she has a masters degree and is therefore more expensive. I feel so badly for her. It does not seem fair or right, and I don't understand how or why they made this decision. I'm glad I didn't have to make it, but I don't envy our new principal having to deal with it.

News about my job will have to wait a bit, but I'm not worried. I cannot stay in my job next year unless I am unable to find a general special education teaching job. But I suspect that the position I have right now will be cut in half. We shall see. Now I have to go update my resume and write a cover letter to state my interest in any positions that might end up open at my school.

The saddest part of today was saying goodbye to my dear friend. She and her family are moving to California for at least two years. Her oldest is almost to my chin now, though she is the same age (actually 6 months younger!) than my daughter. It doesn't seem possible I met her mom almost 10 years ago! Little Bug was just a baby and she was pregnant with her first. We were friends immediately, and we have so much in common. I will miss being able to see her when I want, and our girls' nights out with Danielle. I know we can call each other and email, but that three hour time difference is sometimes a pain!

All this makes for a restless me. Jobs, friends, house waiting to be sold....ugh. Give me patience, Lord!

Feeling for the other teachers.

Tomorrow is the day that some of the teachers at our school will find out whether or not they will have jobs there next year. There are several really good new teachers, and I really hope we don't lose them. The district has to cut 5 positions, and I suspect that 2 will be at our school, and the rest at the middle high school. There will also be several paraprofessional positions that they will either cut completely or cut to part time. I suspect my position will be one of them. This is not a big deal for me, for reasons I'll get into later. We shall see!

What a woman wants.

I want more time to update my blog more often. And something interesting to actually say in it, whether or not anyone reads it.

I want a bra that fits and to have the money to buy more than one.

I want to sell my house.

I want to lose weight. (I'm working on that one).

I want to pray more and worry less (how does one do that worry part?)

I want to be a good wife, mother, daughter and friend.

I want to find a good job for next fall, and not worry about what it will be in the meantime. (there's that worry bit again.)

I want to write. And be good at it.

Now I want to go have dinner.

New plans and old friends

It seems strange to realize it, but some of my Pemberley friends could now be considered "old" friends! I've known many of them for more than 10 years now! It was lovely to sit down this afternoon with a couple of them (and a bunch of other new friends) for tea and a lot of chat. I have only just now realized that I never even had any tea! I was too busy eating and talking (though I think I foiled at least one attempt to get a picture of me talking!). It was a nice day away from everything at home. I am only rarely alone these days, so an hour and 45 minutes in the car each way all ALONE was a treat.

We plan to list the house this week. I am both excited and apprehensive. There are so many more things I wanted to get accomplished this weekend, but I realized Friday night that I had to be downtown to help with the Girl Scout cookie delivery on Saturday morning. So that took up valuable time with projects at home.

I know I don't have to have it done all at once, and that we have next week off and I can get a lot done, but I keep looking around and seeing all that needs to be done. I am going to try not to nit pick and just get things weeded out, I guess. If the house does not sell, then at least I will have decluttered. Plus I'm going to paint the bathroom. I figure that is something that might help sell the house, but I'll enjoy it if the house doesn't move! :-)

Sick Day

My little guy was complaining this morning that he felt full, but other than that he was acting normal, so I figured he had just eaten his breakfast too fast. Just over an hour later I was working with a student in a second grade classroom when I happened to look out the doorway of the classroom, which has a view of the nurse's office. Through the window I could see the educational assistant from Little Bud's classroom, and caught a glimpse of my little guy going into the bathroom. He had diarrhea, poor guy. So the aide got his things together and I got mine and home we came. We'll have to go back later to pick up my Little Bug.

All the while I was cleaning him up and getting my things together I was thinking what a blessing it was that I am right there in the school and able to do that. What would happen if I was working at a different school, as might happen next year? I suppose it will be no different from any other working mother, and that we will all get through it, and I don't want to borrow trouble, but I am so glad I was right there when he needed me. The staff at school are so wonderful, and I am blessed to be able to be working there.

Just more things to think about in planning for the future. And now I need to decide how best to use this unexpected day home! :-)

What to do, what to do...

I am hoping to find a general special ed job for next fall, and would love to be at the school I am working at right now. I'm not sure how likely that is to happen, as they will probably have cut backs, but we will see. But I am wondering what to do in the long run. I have thought about getting my masters in special education. But now that I've started this Educational Testing course, I am thinking about doing Plymouth State University's school psychologist program. As a school psychologist I would still be helping those children that need help, by testing them and helping to determine what kind of help they need, it would just be in a different form from helping in the classroom.

I'll just keep on praying about it.
:-)

A Fine Woman

A woman can pack a lot of living into 90 years.

Ruth Kimball was 90 when she passed away on Friday. She was quite a woman. Ruth was a 4-H leader for many, many years, leading so many young people in so many good ways. I met her through her grandson and his wife (my neighbors) and her daughters. She was part of my Circle of Home and Family group, and I feel honored to have known her, however little. If the crowd at the funeral home tonight, the line around the room, across the hall, around two more rooms, out the door and down the sidewalk is any indication, I am not alone feeling that way.

I had only met 'Gram' a few times before she started greeting me with a hug. She was always more interested in what was going on with me or my children than in telling me how she was. She was the kind of person that would always go out of her way to help people, the kind of person you could always ask for advice, the kind of person who would put together a quilt whenever one was needed. Dependable, responsible, funny, considerate. That was Ruth. Just plain good Yankee stock, I'd say. And a heck of a good cook to boot.

A woman from our Circle of Home and Family group called to ask me to make some sandwiches for the luncheon after the funeral tomorrow, which I did after I got home from the wake tonight. My husband hates the smell of tuna, and I can't say that it was really what I felt like doing after I got home. But it seemed such a small and easy thing to do, the kind of thing that Ruth would have done without anyone even asking her. I'm grateful to live in the kind of community where they still do this kind of thing, the phone calls to gather the food and so forth.

When someone dies at age 90, it is easy to say that they had a full life and it is sad, but what can you expect. But it is also true that the more years you have with someone the more memories you have stored up, the more you will notice their absence. I hope for her family and friends that all those memories will be good ones, that the difficulties of the last couple of months will fade in their memories quickly, and that Ruth's legacy will live on for many years to come. I am glad I had the chance to know her.