Spring Cleaning

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Spring Cleaning Current mood: cheerful Something about Spring tends to make me feel like organizing a bit. I must not be alone in this, considering the "spring cleaning" cliche. It seems a little odd to me that the urge seldom strikes in the Winter- wouldn't that be the best time, when you are holed up inside anyway? Wouldn't it make sense to concentrate on your interior spaces when you are staring at them all the time? But no. . . in the Winter, I feel like hibernating. I feel sluggish and unmotivated much of the time, and staring at the same clutter all the time can easily make one blind to it. No, it's the Spring that starts to awaken my senses- I throw open the windows and breathe fresh air, and suddenly see my rooms in a new light. I get the urge to finally finish storing and labeling the outgrown baby clothes and diapers. I want to overhaul my closet, and banish all that stuff that Billy and I will never wear. I want to turn out the kitchen pantry and cabinets, purge my shelves of ancient specimens and put everything back in some sort of logical order (unlike the current haphazard storage). I still want to finish storing and labeling my art supplies (a project long-since begun, and long-since suspended). I want to sort through the toys and banish some of the junk that's crept into the collection. And I want to scrub the inside of my fridge, wash all the windows, and really clean the floors. In the course of cleaning and organizing, I would like to set up some areas to be more condusive to the Montessori philosophy- so that the boys may have more freedom to do things independantly. I'd like to have an accessible cleaning station in the kitchen for them, with child-size tools (broom, mop, bucket, dustpan, rags, duster and a spray bottle of vinegar-water for cleaning with). I'd like to have the bottom shelf of the fridge organized to be accessible to them, so they may help themselves to healthy snacks when they want them. (Including a small pitcher of milk that they may pour from). I have other ideas in this vein, but you get the general idea. My tidying trend doesn't stop there- I want to trim shrubs outside, fill in the doggie excavations in the backyard, and dig out/level/mulch a path. And of course, I'm preparing the vegetable garden! I let it go sadly over the last couple years, but with a little TLC I think we can have a rockin' veggie garden again. It's a wonderful thing for Littleman to be a part of at this age- I have everything ready for us to start planting seeds tomorrow. Hopefully the garden will be ready to receive them by the time they sprout. Therin lies much of my motivation- any time I start to feel lazy or intimidated by all the work that needs doing, I remember that these things work right in to my preschool "curriculum"- my unwritten, loosely defined set of values and goals that I am using to guide us in our current homeschooling. Organization (to some extent) is important. Fostering independance and responsibility at home is important. A comfortable learning environment is important. Just being outside is important. And learning about plants and growing things is important. So, even in my extremely limited time, I am making time to do these things. (The organization has made minor progress so far, since being outside comes first. . . but there has been progress!) It feels good. I love Spring. P.S.- I know something you don't know. :)

kid fun

Saturday, March 17, 2007

kid fun Current mood: indescribable Rustles, muffled thumps and murmuring voices. "Boys", I call- (sudden quiet) "Boys, go to sleep!" No response, of course. Here in the rocking chair in the next room, Mr Sweetcheeks is nearly asleep. I keep listening until I hear the rustling begin anew. I wait a few moments before calling to them again. Who knows how long it will take them to go to sleep? After all, I guess, isn't that part of the fun of your first sleepover? Littleman is so excited to have his 5 yr old cousin over to spend the night. I set up a little tent in his room for them to sleep in, and when they do finally drop off it's in a mingled heap of blankets, arms and legs. LOL, what fun. * * * (Sweetcheeks says excitedly as I start the yoga DVD) "Gogo! Gogo!" (translation: "Yoga! Yoga!) Speaking of yoga, when we were in Disney's Animal Kingdom Littleman was looking at the flamingos. He turns to me in surprise and says, "They're doing yoga!!" Sweetcheeks likes to say "Bye bye", but (like his brother did at this age) usually waits until you're out of sight. Littleman was looking at a picture in a National Geographic magazine with Billy. It was about tourists who go scuba diving with sharks, and it showed several scuba divers amidst a swarm of swimming sharks. The guide is off to one side, and next to him is a prominent underwater sign with the name of the Cove. Littleman points to the sign and knowingly informs his Daddy: "That sign says, 'Don't Eat Me'." Sweetcheeks will now say "please". It's the most darling little thing ever. Littleman is currently fond of telling anyone who will listen "I'm going to grow up to be a Daddy!" Then again, he also explains that "Daddy will grow up to be a boy".

Breathing room!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Breathing room! Current mood: cheerful Whew! As usual, my accountant had to e-mail me to remind me that corporate taxes are due March 15 rather than April 15. Dammit! I seem to have a mental block going with that one. It's my true feelings about income taxes asserting themselves in my subconcious. Regardless, as usual I had to scramble to get all the required information together for him in time. Don't get me started on the waste of my precious life that is the income tax. What a ridiculously unwieldy system. . . but I did say don't get me started. So the good(ish) news is that the returns are prepared and postmarked, and I don't have to do that again until I forget about it next year. A bonus (of sorts) is that the personal return is done too, so I have some breathing room again. (Until next year). That's not the only reason I went AWOL- we've been super busy, mostly with fun stuff (just that very large exception of tax preparation). My Uncle got married, and we adore my new Aunt. (Plus we get some cool cousins in the bargain!) The wedding was really nice- for me, the highlight was after I pawned the boys off on their Daddy and other relatives, and I spent a few hours in a loungechair on a sandy beach at the lake, feeling pretty, digging my bare toes in the sand and reading Harry Potter. (again, but who's counting??) THAT was a rare delight. My Uncle works at DisneyWorld, so after the wedding we were able to take the boys down for a day of Disney frolic. We all had a great time, and Littleman is already planning his next trip there! LOL. To top off a great little trip, I snagged 5 letterboxes on the way home. Very nice. Between trips I've been struggling to keep getting the house back in (semi)order, and then along comes taxes. Now that those are done, it's time to prepare for the fast-approaching family campout in Jekyll Island! I'm assuredly not complaining, though- just explaining my blog disappearance. I do prefer to post much more regularly than I've managed lately. I'll try to get back to it! One nice little note: yesterday, the boys and I met up with Aaron and my high school Art teacher at the High museum. It was so wonderful to catch up with my former teacher- she has been a lasting and very special influence in my life. The boys had a blast just playing in the courtyard and in the playroom there, then at closing time we all went to Houlihan's for an early dinner. It was a lovely afternoon. It can be all too easy to lose touch with the meaningful people in our lives. Most of us keep up with our family in some way or another, but think of all the other wonderful people over the years that have had a lasting positive influence in our lives, but whom we just haven't managed to keep up with. Sometimes it's because we do not realize their importance until they've disappeared from our lives, and sometimes it's just that pesky life details keep getting in the way of reconnecting. Or perhaps we just procrastinate, or forget. . . I know I am guilty of all of the above. But when you do reconnect with someone extra special, you wonder "What took me so long??" I really intend to keep in regular contact with my dear Art angel. She's a true gem.

Sick kid, and snow trip.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Sick kid, and snow trip. Current mood: sympathetic Poor Littleman is sick again- can't keep anything down. He's miserable, and though he's a real little trooper about it, of course taking care of him is taking most of my attention these past couple days. Thank goodness Billy was available to help us all through the worst of it! Today I've been juggling Littleman's needs and a trip to the pediatrician with also taking care of Sweetcheeks and trying to keep up with the rapidly replensihing piles of dirty laundry. Of course the worst initial vomit of this episode happened in the car, on a road trip, with sub-freezing temperatures outside. Not pretty. I guess this is the stuff that family reminiscences are made of! One day, we will tell this tale so we can shake our heads and laugh at our past misfortunes. Right now however, I just feel very, very sympathetic of my Littleman. Before all this began however, we were all having a blast in the snow. Yes, my fellow Atlantans, snow! We finally decided that we will probably not get enough snow this year for Billy to take his boys sledding. (Looking like we may get no snow at all) Billy has been wanting to play in the snow with them every year, and it never quite works out. So this year, we decided we would go where the snow is- without flying, anyway. We went to Beech Mtn. NC, because the Chamber of Commerce there manufactures snow on a hill set aside for sledding. (That way, if we missed out on natural snow, we'd still get to sled). We had beautiful weather and frigid temperatures, and the boys all had a great time. (Littleman definitely enjoyed it more than Sweetcheeks though- a couple of sleds, and Sweetcheeks was ready to go warm up!) Anyway I am very tired, and still have a few things to do before bed. I hope we all sleep well tonight. I will try to blog again soon, so I can write something more interesting. :)

Dust in a sunbeam

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Dust in a sunbeam Current mood: calm Today the house was quiet for a good couple of hours. It was wonderful. Billy took Littleman with him to a couple casual meetings, so when Sweetcheeks was napping I had the house all to myself. The radio was off, the dogs were outside and the most pressing chores were done. After tidying the kitchen a little I took a shower, read and cuddled under the blankets. For some reason I couldn't quite sleep, but just relaxing there and listening to the relative silence was very nice. It's only in these rare moments of quiet contemplation that the normally hidden sounds around me reenter my conciousness- birdsong outside, the creaking of the walls as the wind blows, some voices next door, the highway far off. Though the sun was pouring exuberantly through the bedroom windows, pooling and dripping light from every surface it touched, it's honey warmth was mere illusion- the air was crisp and quite cold, and I wrapped my blankets tighter around me. The birds made a riot of cheerful sound, and it made me happy to hear it because that means Spring is not really so far off now. Lying there, I was thinking about awareness- about really seeing, about being in a place. So much of the time I am consumed with concerns that are abstract, with realities in the future and with the mundane physical aspects of my environment. So much of my life is spent this way, trying to keep up with my responsibilities and conform to a schedule of sorts. So much needs to get done each day, that there is no time left to just be in the day. No time to recharge my soul in quietude. No time to while away with my boys, focusing on what they have to say to me or what little games they want to play. No time to watch the sunlight filter through the leaves, or quietly spend an hour watching the birds come and go at the feeder. No time to inspect acorns or make detailed analyses of dirt, no time to mentally catalogue the curve of Littleman's cheekbones or the shining curl of Sweetcheeks' hair. If it were not for photographs, I'd have no memory at all of huge chunks of the last few years. I feel like these things are slipping through my fingers, yet I am struggling to keep up with all the "real" things I must get done. I try to stop once in awhile to focus, to listen, but it is far, far from enough. I know things will improve as the boys continue to grow, as they get more self-sufficient. But until then, what? Am I losing precious treasure to the bank accounts, meal preparation, endless cleaning, dishes, laundry, running errands, damn tax preparation? To wiping dog feet, sweeping up cereal, folding diapers, brushing the teeth of a screaming struggling toddler? I don't know. I'm not sure it matters much, because this stuff has to be done. What am I to do? The enlightened thing, I suppose, would be to find transcendence in these mundane necessary tasks. Ideally I should find the zen in the everyday. But I'm sorry- it's just not there for me. If I try, I can find it in theory. I can understand the zen of picking up megablocks. But that's sort of an oxymoron isn't it? Transcendence is not about understanding. It is a state of being. Transcendence IS. Transcendence can be found in the dust motes dancing in a sunbeam, but only if you really see them. These days, I don't have time to see. My soul shrivels in blindness. OK, that sounds very bleak. It's not as bad as all that! Luckily, it doesn't take much for me to get a glimpse, if you will. After all, dust is pretty easy to come by in my house! And I seem to have a naturally cheerful disposition that resurfaces easily, like a cork. I have been feeling down for a few days, and I'm sure it's not totally over. But this afternoon, for a little while at least, I watched dust in a sunbeam, and I listened to the birds calling.

egg salad, speechless and the things they say

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

egg salad, speechless and the things they say Current mood: drained I made some excellent egg salad tonight. It all started when I accidentally put honey mustard in rather than dijon. I just went with it, and based my seasonings on what I had going. Turned out quite delicious! Here's what I used, in order of most to least: - hard boiled eggs, mashed up - mayo - honey mustard - grated carrot - sweet relish - minced garlic - lemon pepper - dill - coriander and cumin - sea salt If I'd had it, I might have added minced fresh celery or minced sweet onion. I almost hesitate to mention this, but it still has me speechless. Yesterday morning this was said to me: "I just don't understand what you could possibly be doing all day." (This comment in relation to all the assorted housework chores that don't get done from day to day). Um, EXCUSE ME?? Really, I just don't know what else to say. In their defense, the party in question has been helping out more the last couple days. But it's still awfully depressing. Sigh. However much time they take, the boys do offer little rewards to keep me going. The things they say and do. . . for instance, Driving along, we pass a motel. Littleman exclaims, "A hotel!!" "Yes, that was a hotel." I agree. He informs me, "A hotel is where you sleep if you're not camping." LOL! He'd better be cute, when his favorite phrase right now (I think it even surpasses "Why" at this point) is "I don't want to". Repeat ad infinitum. AAAAARRRGGH!! I just remembered that tomorrow morning is trash/recycling pick up, and I CANNOT forget to put it out tonight. So I'm going to do that right now. Let me know if you try the egg salad!

"my brain feels better"

Saturday, February 03, 2007

"my brain feels better" Current mood: busy "When I wake up from a nap, my brain feels better." Me too, Littleman. Me too.