Accountability

Everyone seems to make resolutions for the new year.  And I kind of do, too.  But I don't write them down or even tell anyone.  Well, I've just read that that is just the wrong way to do it!  That is, if you want to stick to them.

So you get to be my auditors.  Too many Y chromosomes for this to work around here without you.

My to-do list:

• Get exercise (notice that I did not say "more")
• Get more sleep
• Clean up clutter
• Finish projects (craft, home, work)

So today I am proud to show you my clean kitchen counter!

(Don't you love my cobalt blue wine bottle plastic bag drying racks?!!!)

I promise not to bore you with daily or even weekly updates.  And I might even choose to do one of the above resolutions instead of blogging since my time is limited.

But I must admit that I do love the clutter-free look.  And usually things are not clutter-free.  Why?  Because I am a multi-tasking, part-time working, mom.  And that means that I don't usually get to finish what I start.  And I don't have dedicated spaces for anything.  And that means that my multi-tasking spaces mean "get out project", "clear project out of the way", "get out project", "move project to a different room".  (Yeah, that sounds like a lot of excuses to me, too, but it is true!)  So I am trying a new tack.

Papers are my biggest enemy.  I just do not have time deal with them.  I am getting better and finding systems that work for me, but the backlog (more than 14 years worth!) is daunting.

So...I need to

• keep up with what comes in
• deal with each item completely instead of sorting first (perhaps inefficient but at least it will be done
• deal with one project at a time

I also want to report that I have met seven, count them, 7! deadlines for the week.       Ahead of time.       No procrastinating (no, that did not make the list of resolutions, as that is not realistic; at least, not yet).

While I am still falling short on the sleep front (remember those 7 deadlines?), I have been getting exercise.  Moving more.....like walking up and down the stairs while chatting on the phone, jogging in place at school pick-up, wearing ankle weights while working in the house, doing jumping jacks while I cook dinner.  I've even gone on 2 walks since the first of the year.  Now, that may not seem like progress to you.  No health club is involved and it is not sustained exercise.  But I need to start small and let my body get reacquainted with more formal exercise.  Too many weeks of being sick have taken a toll on this aging body and I just do not bounce back as quickly or as easily.  Now if I can just find a way to move more while on the computer....

With the decks cleared of immediate deadlines and the kitchen clutter (not including the table!) tamed temporarily, I get to reward myself with working on a sewing project!  I need to get as many things completed before I start teaching again, so start counting!

Epiphany

On this feast of the Epiphany, I am glad that I am like my French cousins and enjoy Christmas until now.  I have never been one of those people that chucks the Christmas tree out the day after Christmas.  That's probably why I do not start decorating immediately after Thanksgiving...the tree does not dry out quite so much.

At this time of year, I also always think back to being very pregnant at Christmas time and wonder how a woman could travel on a donkey when about to give birth!  And labor to give birth in the cold!

So what wise men (or women) have visited you today?  What gift(s) did he/she bring?  And what gifts have you brought to this day?  As I try to answer that myself, I wonder if I underestimate my own gifts.  What do I have to offer the baby in the manger?  How many moms undervalue "feeding the hungry" when they cook dinner or "comforting the sorrowing" as their children lament the last day of Christmas vacation?  To all the moms who quietly take care of the tasks of daily life, value your contributions.  Just think of what life would be like for your family without all those little things and know that you do far more in the big scheme of things than the most overpaid CEO.  Your children and significant other are proof of that.



New Beginnings

Happy New Year!

 Year 2010 is behind us now.  I would have to say that the year was all about family.  As this drawing depicts the ties between family members are special and unique to each pairing. 

 
For us it is always about family, but 2010 was unique because of.....

• A true family vacation to Yellowstone.
• Rescuing family photos, but only thanks to other family members who respected my genealogical addiction enough to wade through over 37 large bags of garbage to find photos over 100 years old. 
• Spending Father's Day with my father-in-law
• Celebrating my mom's birthday with her for the first time in many years
• Christmas with more than just one other family member.

Family.

Now is a time for new beginnings.  Yes, this year's resolutions are the same as last year's.  But at least I am starting out the year with a clean house, less clutter, a new roof, and the laundry all caught up.  And while we didn't get snow this holiday (the drawing above is about as close as we came....the snow having arrived just after we left the biggest little city in the world) and the birdbath is currently a solid block of ice, we have something some of you might not have.

 Yes, my primroses are starting to bloom.  The hope of spring.  And a reminder that it is time to weed as soon as the weather cooperates (it is kind of hard to pull roots out of frozen soil).

More than anything I want to wish all of you good health.  Because if the last year taught me nothing else, it is that good health allows you to make the most of all the other wonderful gifts that surround us.  And there are so many wonderful gifts if we but open our eyes.  So take a moment and look in the eyes of a family member at the first opportunity.  See only the good, only the gift, only the beauty, and realize that Christmas comes 24/7/365.  We are gifts for one another which means we have to give and receive.

Back in action

Oh, what a Sunday!  It has been weeks since I had any real ambition, thanks to the nasty bug(s) inhabiting my body.  But I finally vanquished enough of the pain in cough-racked ribs to tackle some real physical activity.  Raking leaves.  It has been driving me nuts to look out the window and see the grass and soil hidden beneath leaves inches deep.  So I tentatively went to work, carefully gauging my tender torso.  I will admit to almost wimping out at one point, but I pushed on.  I raked, mowed the lawn, and raked some more, until the compost heap was overflowing and the yard bin full.  So I still have a few piles of leaves, but I feel I really accomplished something.  And while the exercise was long overdue, somehow I didn't break out in a sweat.

So did I relax then?  No.  I made a huge pot of soup.  Minestrone.

Want to know my secret ingredients?  V8 juice, refried beans, and Spicy Mrs. Dash.  And I add precooked pasta towards the end and the peas and stewed tomatoes last.

I was finished then.  Right?  Right?  Nope.  I baked black-bottomed cupcakes (an old Sunset magazine recipe) to thank the wonderful group of students I supervise.  Have I mentioned I teach?  No?  Well, I do.  And instead of writing an exam (the one thing I detest more than grading), I found myself doing kinds of other things.

Today they came running in to get them.  They have me well trained to make them near the end of every semester.  After all they do to make my life easier, how could I not?!

Have you remembered to thank someone who makes your life easier?
(And, yes, I am avoiding writing my exam by blogging!)

She's Alive!

I know, I know.  I feel like I am hearing Molly Weasley say, "Where have you been?!"  I am back among the living after weeks of struggling with a particularly nasty respiratory infection.  Not that it is totally gone, mind you.  But I can function once again without wondering "how I am going to do it?", whatever "it" is.

So for my first posting after forever, should I share what my house looked like for Halloween?

Or about the delightful young college women who graced our Thanksgiving table (let me clarify, they were not on the table)?  Young women who brought beautiful flowers, played games with the Offspring, and clearly did not want to leave after dinner?

I certainly do not have photos of our Christmas decorations since we haven't done any.  Yes, I refuse to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We simply have a moratorium on Christmas until December 1.  What can I say?!  Since so much time has past, I thought I would share that not only did we get some glorious sun, the first in weeks, I had something else to brighten my day.

I have never tried to force spring bulbs of any kind and certainly not paperwhites.  But between the autumn bouquet and the promise of spring, my outlook is brightening.

Passing skills to another generation

It has been a very busy three weeks here at Chez Pooh with the start of school for all inhabitants.  The summer flew by and I did not get around to many of my plans.  But then the lack of a real schedule is one of the joys of the summer!

One of my goals during the summer was to start teaching Offspring some basic life skills.  Like sewing.  Now, some people would argue that males will not use sewing skills, but as we all know, a lack of basic knowledge can limit the possibilities before they even begin.  Pants may need hemming, buttons always fall off.  If you can sew, home decorating becomes a whole lot cheaper and oh, the possible Halloween costumes (and I have had to be very creative to meet the imagination of Offspring)!  Okay, so, it didn't happen this summer.  Well, it sort of did.  One August afternoon I drew a pattern on a sheet of cardstock, removed the thread from the sewing machine, put in an old needle, and introduced terms like "pressure foot" and "seam allowances".  I remember doing this when I started in 4-H in the fourth grade.  I made my pattern a little more interesting by including a favorite toy logo.  There were lots of corners and curves, long lines and short.  And he did great!  Didn't stray off the lines hardly at all!  Not that that was any surprise-the kid has a phenomenally long attention span (which made kindergarten very difficult) and the attention to detail that plagues his parents and saturates his genes.

He was so excited that he was immediately asking to sew on real fabric.  So I dug out a long skinny strip and let him learn to hold two edges together while feeding the fabric.  But the straight stitch was not good enough so it was on to the zigzag.  His fascination with the only two buttons for fancy stitches were next on his agenda.  While the interest was there, I wanted to run with it.  So what to do next?

His Aunt Pogonip at Meadowsweet Cottage had made a pillowcase for him not too long ago and I thought that would be a good place to start.  Straight lines, no gathering, not too much fabric.  So, just before school started, we headed off to the land of fabric and he picked out three prints that fit his requirements for the beginnings of a new bedroom theme.  With help from Robin's pillowcase tutorial, it was so very easy.  So here is the finished project, complete with french seams, I will have you know.  I will admit that I cut the fabric, pinned everything in place, did the ironing, and helped with the stitiching over the points where there were ten layers (or more) of fabric.  So he didn't totally fly solo.  If I was a judge at a county fair, he would definitely earn a blue ribbon!  I'd go so far as to say he did an out-of-this-world job!

Back to school

Yesterday morning Offspring stood on the stairs for those "first day of school" photos that we take every year.  But instead of a little boy, it was a young man standing there.  These days when I turn to look at him, his eyes are almost (but not quite) level with my own and I don't have to bend over to hug him.  His feet are now officially longer.  He has long since surpassed eating the same amount that I do.  The voice is starting to deepen and I have to caution him that he is much stronger now and must be more gentle with his mother.  The strongest indication of the little boy disappearing was the total lack of hesitation walking into school.

Some moms would lament that their "baby" is gone.  While I may comment that he is not a baby any more in conversation, I am quite pleased to see him more grown up and to see how he is growing up.  All that time and love invested in him when he was little is paying off.  I personally think he is a great kid.  He certainly is not a "typical" teenager (well, rousting him out of bed was a tad more difficult than usual!).  You can hold conversations with him.  He looks you in the eye.  He will act excited, rather than bored or sullen.  And he is nice!  Death knell, I know, when said about boys. But I am raising someone's future husband here and I think that matters!

Back to school always means that I am less "Mom" and more "adult".  I get back to work, have time to do chores uninterrupted (well, mostly), and have more contact with other parents and adults.  And every fall I feel an urgency to tackle as many projects that didn't get done during the summer as possible, before the weather turns uncooperative.  Hey, it has been uncooperative practically all summer, what am I saying!  So maybe the painting I had hoped to do won't get done.  Maybe there are still piles of papers to sort.  If I can just finish the old paint jobs I will be satisfied.  The ones where just one or two things that didn't get finished finally get completed (the bathroom moulding, the garage ceiling, the house numbers). If I can sort through one more box of old paperwork or finish a sewing project here and there, I will feel a sense of accomplishment.  And maybe, just maybe, saying no to one particular volunteer project will make that happen.

Addendum:  I had prepared this post yesterday and just wanted to add a photo later in the day (when the backpack was here). But my feeble memory finally kicked in and I remembered that after school on the first day back is not necessarily a pretty picture. So instead of taking a photo and blogging (please forgive me!), I planned and prepared for making the rude awakening of back to school a little less shocking. After a trip to the grocery store that meant a special issue of National Geographic waiting on the table with fruit quickly washed and ready for a snack.  With the first course of the snacking (there were 3!), I focused on heartier fare with a second course of fruit ready when the first was inhaled. Dinner included green bean casserole and other favorite comfort foods.  I commiserated over the numerous algebra problems and the first current event assignment, while providing lots of hugs and as much positive energy as I could muster.  I didn't try to accomplish anything else during this time except helping my teenager adjust to the loss of personal time.  To his credit, he spent more time on his homework than complaining (a first, I think), staying focused and even enjoying the mental exercises.  It helped that he was motivated to finish in time to watch White Collar (thanks to the joys of the DVR).  And, you know, it worked.  All those little things boosted the spirits of my introvert and made for a much more pleasant first day of school.  I even got to hear what went on during the day!  I wish I could remember that I need to be more "present" and less "productive" in order to be a good parent!  So I tweaked this entry for "after the fact" and have to just accept that if this blogging is to work for me, I have to do what I have to.  And for me, family come first.  Always has, always will.