a break from the routine

Lyd only had school on Monday and Tuesday this week; the rest of the week she’s been off due to Teacher’s Convention.  It’s been nice to have her around a little more, and it’s been especially nice to not have to hurry up and get ready for school in the morning.  You’d think that because we live right next to school that mornings would be easy, but they’re not.

JJ and I wanted to do something special with the girls one of these three days, so today we drove to the ocean and spent about an hour at our favorite beach.  The girls loved playing in the sand, and I thought the diving pelicans were great fun to watch.  They would hover about 20 feet above the water, and then suddenly dive straight down into the water to catch something they had noticed below.  HOW they noticed anything is beyond me, since there were 6+ foot waves crashing around.  But that didn’t seem to faze the birds, and I thought it was pretty cool.

But, lest you think we were lounging on the beach in swimsuits, let me set the record straight – it was downright chilly on the beach today!  The sun poked through the clouds now and then, but it never truly came out.  We all wore multiple layers, none of which were removed.  In fact, we never even took off our shoes until we went back to the car and emptied the sand out of our shoes before driving away.  I did not bring a hat, but devoutly wished I had.  For a while, I wrapped a towel around myself and tried to cover my ears a bit, as the cold wind seemed to be blowing right through them.  (No jokes allowed, JJ.)  I may have mentioned before that I am NOT a fan of wind, and today was no exception.

Despite the wind, it was a pleasure to be at the beach, listening to the waves crash against the sand.  It was high tide and with all the wind, the waves were pretty impressive.  We did not go far down the beach at all, and we strongly warned the girls not to go close to the water.  But it was awesome to watch those huge waves literally crash onto the sand; it makes a person feel very small when all you can see in either direction is vast expanse of beach with waves continually pounding down, and all you can see when you look straight ahead is an even vaster expanse of water stretching out to the horizon.

After we left the beach, we ate lunch at the Flying Fish Grill, a little dive where we had eaten over Labor Day weekend and loved.  I again had the fish tacos, and again, I simply couldn’t believe how delicious they were.  I’ve always had an aversion to the idea of fish tacos, so it amazes me that not only do I like them, but I LOVE them.  I have a feeling that future visitors to our home will get taken to this restaurant for authentic award-winning fish tacos.  They’re that good.

Then it was back home, where we managed to transfer a sleeping (and sandy!) Curious J into bed without disrupting her nap.  Lyd had some quiet time to play on her own (she chose to use the pillows and cushions in the family room to make a fort), while I got ready for my afternoon music class teaching and JJ headed back to his office.

For me, it’s tiring to spend a lot of time outside, especially when I’m outside in the wind.  Although, perhaps it wasn’t so much being outside as it was hiking around in the sand following the girls around.  Whatever it was, I’m exhausted tonight, and I’m off to bed earlier than usual.  Maybe it’s still the effects of the end of daylight savings time, too.  This year the “fall back” has hit me hard.  It’s been five days, and I still feel mixed up time-wise.  Not to mention all the concerns going on in my life which I can’t do anything about except pray.  It’s all exhausting.  Oh, well.  This too shall pass.

I would like to do something special again with the girls tomorrow, but JJ will be busy, so it would just be me.  I’m considering making some cookies.  We surely don’t need any more sugar in the house right now (I took the girls to FAR too many houses going trick-or-treating, and probably another reason I’m tired is simply that I’ve been eating far too much sugar!), but I had the idea that we could make some Christmas cut-out cookies and freeze them.  December is always such a busy month, and if we can do these cookies now, that would save some time for later.  Plus, Lyd and I had such a marvelous time making cut-out cookies for her birthday, that it would be fun to try it again.  We’ll see how it goes.  Maybe we’ll just go to a park tomorrow (provided it’s not too windy) and play outside for a while.  The girls would love that, too.  Maybe I’ll get really ambitious and do both things!

(I’ll hopefully add a few pictures to this post from our trip to the beach today in a few days.  I’ll let you know when I do.)

bad news, yet good news

There is never a shortage of things for which and about which to pray.  But sometimes a whole bunch of things to pray for come up all at one time and hit very close to home.  This last Monday was such a time.

For the last few months, I have known that there was a possibility of my father losing his job.  As time went on, that possibility became more and more likely, although it was never for sure.  However, this past Monday, possibility became actuality, and my father is now unemployed.  Graciously, the Lord worked out the circumstances of his unemployment so that my parents have a small severance package worth a month’s income, health insurance through the end of the year, and an arrangement with an employment agency (not a temp agency) that helps people find jobs.  All of this is a welcome blessing, as his former employer was not obligated to go through the trouble of arranging or securing any of these details for my father.  However, the reality is that my father is without at job at a tough economic time.  So, once again, it’s time for our family to actively put our trust in the fact that God works all things out for good for his children, and trust that God will continue to take care of my parents, even in this uncertain time.

Of course, bad news always seems to come in threes, and the second piece of bad news is that my mother is having serious dental issues.  Repairing her teeth will cost in the thousands of dollars, money which my parents certainly don’t have right now.  Again, we’re not sure how this will all play out, and we need to put this in God’s hands and trust that somehow it, too, will work out, and work out for good.

The third piece of bad news is not completely unexpected, but is certainly not the news for which we were hoping.  My aunt’s cancer has taken over her body, and she’s been given 2-3 weeks to live.  She’s currently in the hospital, and plans are for her to move into a hospice house tomorrow.  In fact, she’ll be in the same hospice house where her mother, my Grandma Violet, lived for over a year before God called her home to heaven, the same hospice house where she visited her mother every lunchtime for months, and the same hospice house where she got to know the staff much better than the average patient’s family does.  Now, she will be the patient.  She is only 57 years old, and this is not the news for which her husband, children, grandchildren, siblings, family and friends were hoping.  They knew this day would come, but they had hoped it would not be so soon.

I’m glad for my aunt, that she will soon be free from the sadness and pain and temptations of life on earth, but I’m sad for those she will leave behind, especially her husband and children.  Her eight grandchildren range in age from 6-11 years old.  She has been an integral part of their lives as their Grandma, frequently babysitting, going to and/or picking them up from activities, keeping them overnight, and being a very involved, hands-on Grandma.  I have so many wonderful memories of my own Grandma, some of which I’ve shared on this blog, and it’s sad to think that these kids won’t have the same opportunities to know their Grandma that I had.  My aunt has spent much more time with her grandchildren than I spent with either of my grandmothers at that age (it helped that all of her grandchildren live within 15 minutes of her home), but still, it’s sad that she won’t be able to continue being such an important part of their lives.

If events play out as the doctor has predicted, the timing will make it highly unlikely that I would be able to go back for her funeral.  It was horribly painful for me to not be able to attend Grandma Violet’s funeral, and it seems likely that might happen again.  I love living in California, but being away from family during tough times is probably the most difficult part of life here.

Thankfully, my husband, my daughters, and I are all doing well.  We have settled back into having JJ home again; he even finally packed away his suitcase last night.  He has one more trip next weekend, but it will be the shortest trip of them all.  Everyone is healthy again, and somehow, amazingly, I never did get sick.  I credit the homeopathy.  With more time to actually be together, JJ and I are doing better as a couple.  Our girls are happy, they enjoy playing together, and we even have the rest of this week off of school, due to Teacher’s Convention.  The weather has been warm and sunny and calm and beautiful lately, very Indian summer-like, which is normal for autumn in Northern California.  I feel quite peaceful as far as my life here in California goes.

But, my mind often turns to the stresses facing my family back in Wisconsin.  It’s frustrating to not only be unable to help, but to be unable to even be involved.  I feel very much on the fringe way out here.  Sometimes I like that, but other times, like now, it’s so difficult.

I guess that this, too, is part of God working everything out for my good.  God has his reasons for wanting me and JJ and the girls here.  So, here we are.  No matter what the situation, I’m trying to be content and seeing the blessings that are always present, just like my father and mother do:

As my father shared with me the story of his last day at work and the terms of his unexpected and generous severance package, he chuckled over the fact that his month’s worth of income might just pay for my mother’s dental bills.  “Isn’t it amazing how God just works everything out?” he said.  “Here I was wondering where the money for this would come from, and here it is!”

All I could do was shake my head through my tears and say, “Yes, Dad, it is amazing how everything works out,” even though I didn’t quite share his way of framing recent events.

But, my parents and my aunt are examples of people who trust in the Lord, and I know that I would benefit from following their example of trust.  God has always worked things out before, in their lives and in mine, and I place my trust in the fact that he will continue to work things out - for all of us – in the future, too.

how to stop a toddler temper tantrum

I may have discovered an almost fool-proof way to stop a toddler temper tantrum:

Sing.  Loudly.  With feeling, but sing a real song.

Tonight, when faced with the quickly-descending storm of Curious J’s wrath upon being forced to put on clothes after a bath, I launched into a full rendition of “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” from the musical The Sound of Music.  It distracted J so thoroughly that I had her diapered and pajama-ed before she knew it.

Just my parenting tip for y’all.

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I should mention that the girls and I are on a big Sound of Music kick right now.  I put on the DVD of the movie a few weekends ago when my husband was out of town, and Lyd fell in love with it.  She begs to be allowed to watch the wedding scene, but I make her watch the entire movie leading up to it (although I usually skip over the Captain and Elsa’s breakup and the Captain and Maria’s love scene.  By that time she’s desperate to watch the wedding scene, and those other scenes are super-boring to her.  No problem, kid. )  Lyd has taken to wearing a white slip around the house, putting tulle in her hair (for a veil), and saying, “Momma, I’m pretending to be a bride!”  And the renewed interest in SOM has gotten me pulling the book “The Story of the Trapp Family Singers” off of my shelf and reading it again.

Due to Lyd’s love of the movie, and to get her away from watching the TV, I got out my SOM soundtrack, and Lyd’s been voluntarily listening to that frequently.  She, of course, loves music from the wedding scene, and (probably because it’s the same song), loves the song, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?”  She loves the song so much that she has taught a bit of it to her fellow Kindergarteners, and in their Kindergarten-style Groupthink, they created the phrase, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Chickens?” which they were happily singing/screaming on the playground today.  I don’t get it either, but it was hilarious to the kids.

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Back to Curious J’s post-bath temper tantrum, I lustily sang the entire “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” song, with Lyd joining in a bit now and then.  But J mightily impressed both Lyd and I by joining in on the very last note with gusto — and on the correct pitch!!!  While the girl has fantastic Rhythmic Competence skills, her Tonal Competence skills are still a work in progress.  However, she’s definitely making progress, because she sang the resting tone of the “Maria” song perfectly in pitch tonight!  Her Music Together-teacher Momma was very pleased.

I’m telling ya, singing to your child works wonders.  When they’re cranky, when they’re sad, when they’re angry — sing to your kid.  Because, hey, if it doesn’t calm your kid down, at least it calms YOU down.  And that’s worth something, too.

a Luther quote

I discovered this Luther quote via another blog.  Since our church had our Reformation celebration today, I thought it was a good day to share it.  Thank you, God, for Martin Luther!

Martin Luther once said: “This life is not godliness, but growth in godliness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not now what we shall be, but we are on the way; the process is not yet finished, but it has begun; this is not the goal, but it is road; at present all does not gleam and glitter, but everything is being purified.” [A Defense and Explanation of All Articles (AE 32:24).]

I like that, especially as a description of the Christian life.  Plus, it fits in well with my “not finished yet” blog theme, doesn’t it?

thoughts on Halloween

This morning, I talked to my Mom on the phone for a short time, and I mentioned that both girls were wearing their Halloween costumes today.  Our school is doing dress-up day today, plus all week in my music classes, parents have been bringing their children in their costumes.  I even created a Halloween-themed class for the week.*

After hearing this, my mom asked me, “Do you mind that I didn’t do Halloween with you kids when you were growing up?”

Because she didn’t.  We did NOT do Halloween.  Mom said that we weren’t going to celebrate the devil’s holiday.  We did not dress up, we did not get or give out candy.  If we were home during our neighborhood’s trick-or-treating time, we kept our lights off, our shades closed, and we did not answer the doorbell (if it even rang).  Some years, we went to see a movie - a special treat, rather than sitting at home not being part of trick-or-treating.  But, no matter what we did do, we most certainly did not celebrate Halloween.

Except for one year.

One year, we happened to be visiting my mother’s parents on a Sunday afternoon.  Also visiting Grandma and Grandpa were my mother’s brother, his wife, and their two daughters who were between me and my younger brother in age.  That Sunday afternoon happened to be the designated trick-or-treating time in that area.  Grandma (my other Grandma, not Grandma Violet) had candy sitting by the door in a big bowl and was giving it out to the trick or treaters who came by, so my aunt suggested that she and my mother dress us kids up and take us trick-or-treating.

I don’t know what my mother’s thoughts were, but all I know is that for whatever reason … she agreed!  She and my aunt rummaged through my grandparents’ basement and created costumes for us.  I think all of us kids were some variation on “farmers,” as my grandparents had been farmers all their lives until moving to the house where they lived at that time.  So, armed in makeshift costumes (I believe my aunt took makeup and drew beards on some of us to make us look more like farmers), and armed with some kind of bag (probably a plastic bag), we kids went trick-or-treating for the first time in our lives.

I don’t know how old I was, but I was probably around 10 years old.  It didn’t take me too long to figure out that it was fun getting candy!  Grandpa and Grandma lived in a subdivision that probably had about 100 homes in it.  As we went trick-or-treating, I remember wanting to hit all the homes we could in the amount of time we had left, as trick-or-treating ended at a certain time.  I don’t remember much beyond that, except for the fact that that was the ONLY time I ever went trick-or-treating in my childhood.

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When I had my first child, JJ and I had to make our own decision about whether or not to celebrate Halloween in some way.  When Lyd was one and then two years old, we just ignored Halloween completely.  But when she was three, friends on our street who have children close to Lyd in age invited us to go trick-or-treating on our quiet street with them.  JJ and I decided to do it.

So, it was only a day or two before Halloween when JJ and I took Lyd out to buy her a costume.  We went at night to our local Kmart, and walked into a well-picked-over and in-vast-disarray costume section.  I knew that I wanted a girly costume; nothing ghoulish or scary for blonde-haired, blue-eyed princess.  When we saw a pink butterfly costume in Lyd’s size, we knew we had a winner.  We brought it home, put it on her, and she was entranced.  She LOVED it, especially the wings.

When Halloween night arrived (here in CA, trick-or-treating is always done on Halloween night, no matter what day of the week it is), we grabbed a bucket from the sandbox for holding candy, and we went trick-or-treating with our friends and some flashlights.  JJ and I went with Lyd, and the friends who had invited us along came with parents and dogs in tow.  We were quite a group, and armed with flashlights, cameras, and high spirits, it turned out to be quite a good time.  Trick-or-treating offered us the chance to meet neighbors we hadn’t met before, and we adults often chatted with the residents of each house long after the kids were ready to move on.  It was neighborly and fun, and although we were the only trick-or-treaters who came through on our street, we had a very good time.

We’ve done that same thing every year, although the last two years, after doing our quiet street with our friends, I’ve taken Lyd and driven a mile over to our good friend from church’s house to take her trick-or-treating on that street.  There’s always been lots of kids with their parents out trick-or-treating, and it always given us a good haul of candy.    This year, Lyd’s good friend who lives on our street is going to go with us over to that street, so Lyd will have a friend to trick-or-treat with.

And, this year, Curious J is coming along.  We were given a few hand-me-down costumes from a friend, and they fit J perfectly.  She wore her kitty costume to class today, and was entranced by the fact that the costume had a tail.  She looks darling in it.  I’ll be sure to bring along her stroller for trick-or-treating, as I don’t think she’ll be able to do all that walking on her own.  But I’m looking forward to giving her her first trick-or-treating experience this year.  Lyd is dressed up as a princess, of course.  She has a pink Sleeping Beauty gown that she accessorized out with the pink tiara, clip-on earrings, necklace, and ring that I gave her for her birthday.  She is truly a pink princess.

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So, what are my thoughts on celebrating Halloween, and how do they differ from how I grew up?

Well, I don’t think Halloween means what it used to.  Just like Christmas has (sadly) lost much of its original meaning through secularization, I think the same has happened to Halloween.  It’s more of a secular, non-religious holiday than it used to be.  For little kids, Halloween is simply about dressing up and getting candy.  That’s it.  There are no undertones of anything spiritual.  Yes, there’s people who like to celebrate the “dark side” of Halloween, but I’m not comfortable doing that.  I doubt I will ever be one to decorate my door with skeletons or skulls or fake blood or tombstones or scary creatures.  That’s not me, I don’t want to focus on the dark side of Halloween.  However, pumpkins and candy and dressing up in fun costumes — I’m okay with that.

So, we’re doing just a little bit of Halloween at our house.  I still feel strange “celebrating” Halloween, but with each successive year, it feels less strange.  I felt decidedly wicked the first year we went trick-or-treating with Lyd, and I remember avoiding telling my parents what we had done.  But, my parents eventually found out, probably because we sent them a picture of their granddaughter in her pink butterfly costume.    In fact, two years ago when Curious J was just a month old, Mom was here in California for trick-or-treating night.  She babysat J while we went out.  She seemed surprised when we informed her of our plans, but she didn’t argue or try to talk us out of it.

And, today, as I said at the beginning of this post, she asked me what my thoughts were on my childhood.  Do I mind that we didn’t celebrate Halloween when I was growing up?

I think that my mom did what she believed was best and most God-pleasing for her children.  It would have bothered her conscience to let us go trick-or-treating, so she did the right thing.  Times change, though, and holidays and customs evolve with every generation, and I am now quite comfortable with what JJ and I do with our girls on Halloween.

My only concern with how my family avoided Halloween when I was growing up is that I implicitly learned to judge people who did celebrate Halloween.  I felt that I was better than them because I wasn’t participating in celebrating the “devil’s holiday,” and I saw them as worse Christians than me.  Even when I was a grown-up going trick-or-treating with my child for the first time, I really did feel wicked.  I felt like I wasn’t being a very good Christian.  But, it helps to be married to a pastor, especially a pastor who doesn’t share the same view of trick-or-treating on Halloween that you do. 

So, around Halloween time, we do trick-or-treating, we do candy corn, we decorate pumpkins, and tomorrow we’re even (hopefully!) going to carve a jack-o-lantern pumpkin on our kitchen table.  We hope to put a candle in it, and put it outside our front door.  I’ve never done that before, so hopefully it actually works.  This kind of a Halloween celebration, I can feel comfortable with.

And I do like all the candy.

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Question: Did any of you have similar experiences regarding Halloween as I did growing up?  If so, how have your views on Halloween changed as an adult and/or a parent?  I’d love to hear your comments.  Thanks!

on a TTC break

JJ and I are currently not trying to conceive a third baby.  I’m okay with that.

This is remarkable because when I was TTC (trying to conceive) baby #2, I was obsessed with getting pregnant.  Really, really obsessed.  Even when we were on TTC breaks for various good reasons, I never mentally took a break.  I was always hoping against hope, that despite our efforts not to TTC, a baby would happen anyway.  I hated not TTC.  During every month that we tried to avoid getting pregnant, I mentally calculated what the time span between Lyd and the theoretical baby #2 would increase by.  Having two children four years apart was not my ideal plan (although it has worked out better then I ever imagined it would.)

Between the time I stopped breastfeeding Lyd and finally got pregnant with Curious J, I never mentally stopped TTC.  It was always on my mind, I was always wondering about it, and frankly, I was always stressing out about it.  I believed Romans 8:28, and intellectually I knew everything would be okay in the end, but I kept seeing Lyd getting older, and seeing myself get older, and I couldn’t see any good end to it.

It was a difficult time, but I learned some good lessons from it.  I learned that events in life really do happen at the right time, even when they don’t feel right when they happen.  I learned that Romans 8:28 applies to pregnancy as well as everything else in life.  I learned to trust God more; after seeing how beautifully everything has worked out so far in my life, how can I NOT trust God?  Everything is working out just fine.

Now, we are on a TTC break, and I am mentally committed to this break.  It’s actually rather relaxing.  After experiencing what it’s like to have children four years apart, I have learned that a larger break between siblings isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, in many ways it works out really well.  Most importantly, I’ve learned that a friendship between siblings is not dependent on being close in age.  (Plus, like I mentioned once before, my Grandma Violet had 4 babies in 11 years, so I’m well within that time table if I hope to have 4 kids of my own.)

Yes, some of my friends are done having babies, but there are plenty of other friends my age who are still having babies or hope to be having babies.  So, I’m not alone in my future baby hopes, and I’m not the last woman my age whos is thinking about having a baby while it seems every other woman around her is done.  Not by a long shot.

Truth be told, I kind of like this “break” thing.  It’s nice to not be stressing out every month, thinking “Am I pregnant?”  I’m not pregnant, I’m not trying, and I’m totally okay with that.

Ahhh.

homeopathy update

So, I took a homeopathic constitutional remedy about two months ago.  These remedies work slowly, meaning a month is the earliest a person could start seeing results.  Have I seen any results?

Yes.  I’ve noticed changes in the following areas:

• my propensity to catching every cold that comes my way seems to be gone
• overall, my emotions seem more even
• my dreams have changed
• my girly parts are different (no more explanation will be given)
• my perspective has changed about certain things in my life
• I’ve almost completely off the Ashwagandha, and my anxiety levels seem to still be dramatically lower.  (Strangely, I’m actually feeling a little better now that I’m almost off the Ashwagandha.  This is quite a surprise.  We’ll see if this lasts.)

Over the next few days, my homeopath will be deciding what remedy to give me next.  While I’m hoping it doesn’t provoke the strong reaction that I had last time, it will be interesting to see what happens.

I’ll keep you posted.

this ‘n that

I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet this week.  I am here, and I’m okay.  It’s just that Monday and Tuesday ended up being super-busy days.  I even fell asleep for a bit Tuesday afternoon; I hardly ever sleep when I lie down in the afternoon, so I must have been tired.  This weekend is going to be tiring, too, so I’m mentally trying to gear up for it.  I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow morning — I hope I can get myself organized enough to buy everything I’m going to need for the weekend in one fell swoop.  Not that the grocery store is that far away, but you moms know that a quick trip to the grocery store isn’t ever truly “quick.”

Our furnace has been temperamental lately, although it’s been doing this for at least a year.  It’s happening more and more frequently that when it should be turning on, it doesn’t.  Tonight during supper, it turned on twice for five minutes each time, but 15 minutes apart.  The house never got as warm as it should have.  Very frustrating.  I’m going to call out a repair guy tomorrow.

We found out yesterday that my aunt’s terminal cancer is getting worse.  For a while, the doctors thought they had it held at bay, but a recent scan revealed that it’s spreading into her lymph nodes and pelvic region.  Not good.  Sigh.  My father’s job is also extremely tenuous; any extra prayers directed heavenward for those situations would be much appreciated.

The Bay Bridge is shut down for a while, after a piece snapped off during rush hour last night.  Imagine: a 5000 pound chunck of steel falling 100 feet onto your car!  Amazingly, only one person was slightly injured, and apparently it’s barely an injury.  But the bridge is closed, I’m guessing until at least the weekend.  I’m so glad I don’t have to commute – what a nightmare!  Hopefully the work crews fix the bridge correctly – the piece that popped off was part of a “bandaid” repair job done last Labor Day.  Oops.  Way to put taxpayer dollars to good use, Caltrans.

I like to end my blogs on a positive note, so I’ll shift the focus back to my family and say how much I enjoy teaching Curious J new things.  When she’s receptive to learning, (meaning in a happy, amiable mood), it’s so much fun!  I was teaching her parts of her face earlier in the week, so now she says “eee — teeth!” to me.  I also taught her “cheeks,” and we have fun pinching each other’s cheeks (gently, of course!)  It’s so cute.    And, I’m amazed at how well she remembers things!

She really is incredibly smart: Recently, she pointed at the tag on her blankie and spelled “Y-B-A-B” to me.  Very good!  Although, technically, she said “H” instead of “A.”  However, it was written in block letters, and it looked as much like an H as it did an A.  The letter had a square top, rather than the pointed top of a capital letter A.  So, I am giving it to her anyway.   She’s been noticing other letters, too.  She gets them right about 2/3 of the time.  Lowercase letters trip her up a bit, but thanks to the book “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom,” she’s learning those letters, too.

Lydia came home from school today, and told me about some experiences she had where she didn’t get what she wanted, and she told me, “Momma, I didn’t fuss or cry or pout or anything.  I just said, ‘Oh, well.’”  I was appropriately proud of her, and it makes me feel like my lessons in emotional good manners weren’t for naught after all.  It’s another good reminder that she always is listening, even when she doesn’t seem like she is.

We’re doing okay.  It’s a quiet week on the blog, but a busy one at home, and the vast majority of it is all good.

goals for the week

Goals for the week:

1. Start weaning off the Ashwagandha.  I’ve been taking full doses of it for the past month, and it was absolutely the right decision under the circumstances.  But, the girls are healthy again, JJ is back home for a few weeks, and it’s time for me to see how I am really doing, without the Ashwagandha masking any symptoms.
2. Also, possibly start weaning off Valerian at bedtime.  This one I’m not quite as concerned about, because it’s more than just a sleep aid.  Yet, for the same reasons as above, I’d like to start seeing how I’m really doing without being “on” anything.  But if it happens that I’m lying awake at night and can’t fall asleep, I will definitely take it, because it works with zero side effects.
3. Get to bed by 10:30 or before every night.  Getting to bed on time has gone down the tubes this past month, and thanks to all the Ashwagandha, I haven’t had a problem.  But, I do need sleep, and if I start going to bed earlier on a regular basis, I probably won’t need the Valerian as much anyway.
4. Stock up on my homemade chicken broth.  This stupid swine flu virus is probably going to hit our little corner of the world sooner or later.  We’re not getting the vaccine in our household, so I want to be ready to get the flu.  Also I plan to stock up on other comfort foods for when people are sick.
5. Pray for people who need prayers.  There are many.  Sigh.
6. Work on my financial papers.  The Pear Budget thing is a great idea, as long as I actually DO it.  When I don’t do it, it is worthless.  Right now the dining room table is cleared, so it’s an ideal time for me to spread out for the week and knock this project out.  If I can just get started, it won’t be so bad.
7. Wait for the spider bite on my foot to heal.  Seriously, that must be what this is; there are two small red dots on the outside arch of my left foot, and they hurt.  The area is hot and hard and a bit throbbing.  I don’t know how or when a spider would have bit me (or why! Why, spider, why did you bite me?  Did you not see me walking around your compadres giant webs and not breaking them?  Did you not see me bringing the schoolchildren over at recess time to witness your compadre wrap up and eat a wasp in an impromptu science lesson moment?  Did you not witness how I instruct my daughter not to wreck spider’s webs or kill spiders that are outside?  I do all of this for you and your buddies, and I don’t even like spiders!  So WHY did you bite me?) but that must be what this is.  We do get some pretty big spiders around here, definitely bigger than ones in Wisconsin.  The kids call the big black and orange ones Pumpkin Spiders.  And the webs these creatures build!  They are some amazing feats of architecture!  They’re actually quite beautiful, especially when the fog leaves droplets all over them.  I’ve seen some as big as three feet across.  Anyway, I digress.  But this spider bite is a real pain in the foot, let me tell you.  I sure hope it’s gone by the end of the week.
8. Practice organ BEFORE Saturday.  Saturday is Halloween, which means trick or treating.  I would like to be able to focus on Halloween without having to practice organ as well.  Plus, the next day is our big Reformation Service in the afternoon, and I’m helping coordinate the food, as well as making some food.  So, I’ll have plenty to do on Saturday without needing to add organ practicing on top of that as well.

Hopefully I can keep on top of things this week, despite beginning to wean off the anti-anxiety herbal medicines.  We’ll  see what happens…

a birthday party for Lyd

Wednesday was Lyd’s birthday, and today [Friday] was her party.  I spent a busy day today getting everything ready.  I wasn’t as prepared ahead of time as I could have been with some things, such as getting the house cleaned (I really procrastinated on that, so some things just didn’t get done), but it went off well enough. 

We invited the entire school — all 18 students — over for one hour after school for a birthday party for Lyd.  The invitation stated “no present, please” which Lyd knew about and was okay with.  Not only did this take away from the “stuff” aspect of a birthday party, but it also meant that I didn’t have to come up with a big goody bag for the kids to take home.  Their take home gift was a simple helium balloon.  Earlier this week while in Walgreen’s, I noticed they sold bags of 15 balloons for about $3, and the balloons could be inflated with either regular air or helium.  So, today I took the 2 bags of balloons to my local grocery store, asked them if they could inflate them for me, they said yes, and less than an hour later they were ready to go.  It cost me $10.   I was very pleased with that, plus the balloons said “Happy Birthday” on them, so it was just the right touch.

I also ordered a bouncy/jumpy house for the party, and the Pink Princess Castle arrived at 10:30 this morning.  I was delighted to find that the pink castle was in the cheapest category for a bouncy house, so that worked out well.  All of the kids loved it; bouncy houses are very popular out here.

The school kids stayed from 3:30 to 4:30, at which time most of the kids went home.  However, a few of Lyd’s good friends were invited to stay for supper, along with their parents.  Lyd’s non-school friends also came over at this time.  I made a simple meal: hotdogs on the grill, Best in the West beans, salad greens w/cherry tomatoes and avocado, raspberry jello, carrots, watermelon, potato chips, pickles, and stuff to drink.  A friend brought some chips and hummus, too.  I’ve been in a big hummus mood lately, and I just used up my container, so I was glad to see her bring that.

For the cake, Lyd had requested a chocolate cake, so I found a great chocolate sheet cake recipe in my FVL cookbook that worked out great and was delicious.  I decorated her cake with candy corns (as I do every year), and it really turned out well.  We had some more of the decorated cookies for dessert, too.

(And, just as I am typing this, I realized that I bought 3 containers of ice cream to eat with the cake, and I completely forgot about them.  Ack!  Oh, well.  We’re well stocked with ice cream for a while now!)

It was fun, and I am typing this with mounds of dirty dishes in my sink (and we used paper plates, cups and silverware!) that I will deal with a bit tonight and the rest tomorrow.  It was a fun day.

In some ways, the best part was in the evening after the sun went down and the food was put away.  The parents were all busy talking, the kids were running around with the girls dressed up in Lyd’s princess dress-up clothes and the boys were being boys, but still playing well with the girls.  It was just a beautiful night tonight — no wind, clear skies, no fog, warm temperatures.  It felt like a lovely late summer evening.  At some point, the dads took the kids down to the playground, and the kids were so excited to be playing on the playground at night in the dark!  It reminded me of my childhood, of summer nights on the farm while the adults were visiting and playing cards inside the house while we kids were outside playing Ghost in the Graveyard and Kick the Can and other such nighttime games.  It was fun.

Except for the year Curious J was born (she was baptized on Lyd’s 4th birthday), my girls have never had family around for their birthdays.  So, every year I’ve done a birthday party with our friends, some of whom are almost like family, here in California.  It’s not like being with family, of course, but it’s still nice and these parties have always made it possible to have a good celebration for the Birthday Girl.  I’m glad I put forth all the effort and energy to make this party happen.

Now, both of my girls’ birthdays are over.  Time to return to our ordinary hum-drum life.    JJ is home from trip #3 (for those of you wondering, his Adiaphora paper went over quite well – yay JJ!), and he doesn’t leave for trip #4 until mid-November.  This will be his longest stretch of time home all fall!  So, that’s something to look forward to.  And there’s only one more month of teaching until my fall session of Music Together is done.  How can ten weeks fly by so quickly?  Lyd has a full week of school next week, but the week after that she only has school on Mon and Tues; I am VERY much looking forward to three days off from school!

Life is good.  We are all very blessed.