Growing Pains

We have been in this little apartment for nearly 4 months now. Usually I surprise myself when I say that...it doesn't seem that it has been that long. This morning I was sobered a bit by the reminder that we still have nearly that long to be here! It hasn't been a bad experience by any means, even with the excitement of last week.

It has been an interesting phase of our lives. The last time I lived in town, within walking distance of things was when we briefly house-sat in Carnation, WA for about 4-6 months when I was in 7th grade. We lived right in town in Boise, ID, when I was aged 1 to 4. Apart from those 2 times, I have been a country girl. We have enjoyed living close enough this winter to walk to the park and to visit friends. We have enjoyed exploring Waynesburg and shopping at the little shops that we never stopped at when driving. J has been so upset about all of the litter, that I have promised her a "Trash Walk" some day soon, when we take a trash bag with us and pick up all we see.

And yet, there are down sides too. We are in closer proximity to each other 24/7, than is comfortable all the time. The girls miss their toys. I miss my kitchen stuff, and space to work. I am still not used to all the road noise. I have to keep reminding myself that this is a minor discomfort compared to what some of my friends are facing in their lives right now. J broke down in tears yesterday afternoon, saying that she missed her house and her journal (which was inadvertently packed). Daddy is concerned that L won't remember the first house on the hill.

These gray days, cold weather, and mud are beginning to make me feel like a trapped animal. I am almost desperate enough to gnaw off my paw in order to escape.

Only 15 more days until SPRING!

T

Soup's On

Happy National Soup Day everyone! In honor of the occasion, we tried out the recipe for Lasagna Soup. It smelled delicious simmering on the stove, but wasn't actually a big hit with the girls. They found it a bit spicy, I think. If I make it again, I will substitute half the Italian sausage with ground turkey and omit the red pepper flakes.

In fact, the girls and I decided to make Wednesday night, "Soup Night" this winter. It is something easy the girls and I can make together while Daddy works late, and it is easy to heat up for his dinner later.

Last week we made Wedding Soup, which has been one of our favorites for over a year. L doesn't like touching the meat to make meatball, but prefers stirring. J enjoys peeling carrots and making meatballs.

Next week we might try Alphabet Soup. It looks fun.

So much for our culinary adventures. If you peeked at the links, you can see that we didn't venture further than Family Fun Magazine...good kid-friendly recipes.

T

February Lies Ahead

This is it. This is the month that I dread each winter. I believe that February is the greyest, coldest, longest, worst month of the entire year. And guess what? That good-for-nothing rodent "Phil" saw his shadow on this: another non-descript, grey February day.

But truly, 2 days in, February has been marvelous! Lovely blue skies and SUN appeared on the 1st. (And I should mention the Steeler's amazing victory on the same day!) Today this amazing sunset was visible out the girls' bedroom window.

It can't be all bad, right?

T

Running

I used to be a runner. I'm pretty much of a wimp, so none of that "running through the pain" for me. I'd stop and walk if it hurt, and bad weather kept me in. I discovered Track & Field in High School after I made the realization that I was too uncoordinated to play team sports. In Track, I was usually the only one I could hurt. I ran 100m, 200m, 400m and relays, short stuff in other words. My senior year, my friends convinced me to come out for Cross Country, they needed another body on the team. Thus I discovered long distance running (see "wimp" above.) I also discovered the silence, the solitude, and my breathing. I continued the 200m and 400m in college, but dropped out of Cross Country after the first week of practice, including 5 mile runs at 6 AM.

A friend convinced me to run a 5K race with her when I turned 30. "It's for a good cause." she pleaded, "and it's only about 2 miles."

A 5K is 2.2 miles, to be exact. But why quibble? I ran it. I beat my friend. I won a medal. I wasn't hooked, but...well...intrigued. I ran 3 or 4 5Ks a year for the next 2 years until I got pregnant with J. Most of the time, I got a medal too. Not because I was good, but because there were surprisingly few people in my age category: Female, 30-35. I trained on my treadmill at home, because we lived on top of a hill: 30 minutes at 50% incline and 3 miles per hour, plus a warm up and cool down.

Come to think of it, I've lived on top of a hill for the past 10 years. Living in town this winter, with the remarkably flat, remarkably wide sidewalks, the girls and I have been doing a lot of walking. It's been fun and educational. Yesterday we re-examined the tank at the VFW, peeked through the gate at the WU football field, counted 107 cars on the train going by, looked at the Middle School, inspected the old log Court House, and discussed the various forms of architecture around town.

Yesterday, I thought "I think maybe I'd like to start running again." Think of it! Running on flat, wide sidewalks, finding silence and solitude and time to myself and my own breathing. It sounds lovely until I look at the thermometer this morning. It's 28* outside, and still a bit dark-ish at 7 AM.

Maybe tomorrow I'll run.

T

Christmas Cookies Going to Waist

Well, the season of complete gluttony is now past, and I am left with a barely dwindling pile of Christmas goodies. Chocolates, nuts, cookies, candies are piled on the counter to attract my eye at inappropriate times, especially at 10 PM when I'm watching Northern Exposure (I feel like I need the extra calories to protect me against the cold Alaskan winters). They call out to me too during the day. Although I really, REALLY love them, I am sort of anxious for them to be gone. Honestly, I have clothes warm enough to get me through the winter, I don't need the extra layer of fat. Thankfully we also have 26 steps up to the apartment, and I usually go up and down several times daily. We are also continuing our walks around town. Yesterday we walked to the dry cleaners, the Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shop, and ventured down to the VFW to inspect the tank in their front yard. I also discovered Chocolate Mint Tea at Giant Eagle, which has plenty of caffeine from the Assam and Congou black tea leaves in it for that late afternoon crash, and also spearmint to perk me up and chocolate to calm the cravings. Mmmmm...lo-cal chocolate, who would have thought?

Warm thoughts...T

Little Black Dress

Well, we are headed to Indiana tomorrow. The wedding that J has been waiting for since March is now upon us. J is to be the flower girl (a.k.a. Princess), which has been her heart's desire for a couple of years now. She wondered yesterday if she should practice, but I assured her we would have a practice tomorrow evening. All of our finery is hanging in the hallway, ready to be loaded into the van late tonight. I was thrilled to get a new "little black dress" which doesn't make me look like a frumpy, nearly 40-ish Mom, but actually like someone of the female persuasion. L was pleased to find a velvet dress in the hand-me-down box, and J has been eager to wear the blue silk flower girl dress for several months.

I remembered this morning that I hadn't done anything about a wedding present yet, so I went to the bank for plenty of $1's and some $5's and whipped up our standard wedding gift: cash presented in a unique way. The label says "M Medical Associates, JPM D.O. TCKM MPAS,PA-C, Rx: J & R, Take as needed when feeling stressed, overworked or underprivileged. Use only for fun and fulfilling activities. LIVE-IT-UP capsules, 1/1/09, No refills, No expiration"


Apparently our computer was feeling left out since this nasty GI virus has been going around, so it contracted one of its own yesterday. Hubby spent all evening clearing it off and fixing everything up. What a pain. We are still having problems with Google...it gives us links that don't go with our searches. Any one else with this problem?

I have decided to go along with Mo Rocca and make resolutions for other people this year, instead of for myself. For L, she will resolve to be potty trained. J will resolve to stop whining cold turkey. There's more...I just have to think of them.

Happy New Year!

T

Merry Christmas!

I have some really, truly free time this afternoon, so I thought I'd post a quick note to wish every one a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

For lack of any thing really amazing to blog about, I can offer a few movie reviews. We have found ourselves these past few weekends with no home repairs, no packing or unpacking, and no yard work to do, so with bad weather and luxurious laziness to revel in, we have been crashing on the couch!

PRINCE CASPIAN

Without ruining it for those of you who may not have seen it, I'm not sure that the screen writers read the same book that I did. The movie was quite interesting and well done, but they took MANY liberties in the story, including a long fight scene which never occurred in the book and the return of the White Witch.

X-FILES, the movie

One of my "bad habits" back in the day, was faithfully watching X-Files every Sunday night...Hubby and I were quite hooked! If you aren't familiar with X-Files, you can still watch this movie and it will make as much sense to you as it did to me. I was excited to hear about another movie, and disappointed after watching it. It felt contrived...they tried too hard to make a sequel.

HANCOCK

Usually I don't care for Super Hero movies, but this one was interesting (short too...just 1 1/2 hours). Will Smith plays superbly a Super Hero struggling with depression and alcohol abuse. It was a bit dark, but with a good and satisfying ending. It's worth checking out.

KUNG FU PANDA

I went into this one without high expectations, but all 4 of us were rolling with laughter. It is a fun take on being comfortable with who you are, but at an unsophisticated level.

KIT KITRIDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL

This one is my favorite of all the American Girl movies, about Kit, a 10 year old girl in 1934. It features Joan Cusak as a zany mobile librarian (one of the best characters in the movie). Kit and her friends learn that people can be much different than they appear on the surface.

and finally a TV movie: HEIDI 4PAWS

This one was on PBS this afternoon, featuring dogs dressed up as the characters from Heidi, including the goats. The girls loved it, I was mildly amused. I have never before seen dog yodeling.

T

BRRRRR.....

The thermometer is registering 8 degrees outside at the moment, and the wind has been howling all day. We thought something was scratching at our front door half the day until we realized that is was our Christmas wreath blowing in the wind and finally brought it in. The sky was so blue and clear today that I was hoping we could get out and stretch our legs a bit (the girls weren't interested yesterday), but the wind nipped that idea in the bud.

I'm finding myself feeling restless already...and it isn't even January yet. Restless and anxious. Why aren't the builders out there DOING something? We drove past our old house today and I felt some jealously bubbling up. They have room to MOVE, room to get out the Christmas decorations, the freedom to go in a room and be by themselves! Oh lordy, it's going to be a long winter!

We are making do with our tippy-top of a tree, donated to us by the Lions Club Christmas tree lot. I discovered recently that J is highly allergic to trees, so perhaps we shouldn't have one at all! The girls are SO excited, and J has been counting down the days for a couple of weeks. We are done with school for the next 2 weeks, so now we can put more time and effort into celebrating! We are planning to bake cookies tomorrow, and perhaps I can get the girls to work on the Christmas gifts we have been planning.

J's allergies, particularly to dust mites, gives me license to fulfill my obsessive-compulsive desires to clean, although Hubby has mentioned that it could be the reason she has issues in the first place. I think it's more likely inherited, as my brother has terrible allergies and asthma, but that's neither here nor there. Unfortunately the cleaning takes me 30 minutes at the most, so at some point I'm going to have to face the piles of photos that need to be put into scrapbooks.

Well, the noise level next door is escalating at 11:45 PM, so I guess I should retire to my bedroom, where I can't hear them, but hear the Greene Street traffic and the train very well. Ah...for a house in the country!

T

And the other good thing about living in town...

Now that the family seems to have come through the tunnel of illness and we can see sunshine on the other side again, "normal" life must resume. I try to think of one thing about this housing situation every day that is positive. It is really not bad here, truly. We are comfortable, warm and have the things we need literally right at our fingertips. A strange thing happens most afternoons, however. Around 4:00 the walls start closing in and we need to get OUT, OUT, OUT! It is really nice that everything is in walking distance.

For some reason, J did not want to walk to the playground today, so I enticed the girls out by telling them they could take some money out of their piggy banks and buy a snack at the gas station up the street. Once they had chips in hand, we strolled along the sidewalks toward down town, looking at Christmas displays and finding the entire alphabet on signs. We enjoyed looking around in Honey Bees and the 10,000 Villages shop. The girls were amazed by the giant Christmas tree at the Courthouse with "candies" on it as big as their heads.

Our 30 minute outing stretched into nearly an hour. We came home happy and refreshed. Don't be surprise if one day we show up at your doorstep around 4:15!

T

Don't Pass Out....

but I'm posting. Yippee. It's been so long I'd almost forgotten how to do it! Pathetic I know.

Anyhew, pregnancy funk has once again been lifted due in part to Cockroft company. Thank you. :)

Other news....At the library open house, Ethan asked Santa for a Rainbow Bus.....Ben asked for a pink fire engine. When questioned by parents about whether Santa had access to such toys, reply was "He can make them." Egads. What to do??? Any pointers.

Both boys sleeping upstairs now. Awake at....6:20 am every day. Ben's comments "I woke up by myself." Good for you little man, now knock it off.

Already bored with being inside this winter and it's only December 5th.
Anyone braving the weather for the parade tomorrow?

Will try to post again, but will allow you to recover from the initial shock of this one first.

S.

THANK YOU!

Sigh...just cleared out the last box today, and have sent John over to the garage with the empties. It has been a crazy 10 days since I last posted, but smooth sailing lies just ahead!

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who helped us out...couldn't have managed without every one's help!

We are having some trouble adjusting to the traffic noise after living in the country or a dead end street for the past 11 years. I figure that we will get accustomed to it after awhile, and then it will seem TOO quiet out on Poplar Ridge in a few months! Apartment living otherwise does seem to be a manageable, tiny version of life on the hill. L was snuggled up next to me this week and stated "I like this house!" I'm so glad to hear it!

J's birthday party went very well this weekend. I think it made up for totally ignoring her Birthday on the actual day last week. She is very happily playing with all her new things while L snoozes.

One day, I'll have the Elaine's over for tea...

T

Signing Off

Well, it's time for the BIG MOVE! We are picking up our U-Haul today and planning on making several trips to both the apartment and the garage for storage starting tomorrow. Unfortunately, the garage is not yet ready for storing anything yet...floor is still wet and there are no doors or windows. SIGH....I hope everything works out!

We did find a nice apartment to live in for the next 6 months or so...right in town, brand new...very nice. It will be close quarters, but we will manage! Tomorrow we close on our house, and cede ownership to the W family on the 20th. Whew!

I just wanted to post this picture of the girls' magic beans. The opened pod is over 13 inches long. We have saved some of the beans, and hope to plant more next year. Maybe by then I'll know what they are!

We won't be assured of internet access for awhile, so I'm signing off for now...

T

Home is where the heart is.

I'm tired...physically and emotionally drained, plus a little high from magic marker fumes I think. I lost count of the boxes of books after 14, it's probably closer to 20 now, plus a few in the basement that we didn't have room on the bookshelves for. Can you believe that I took 3 big bag fulls to the Library for their sale? All this stuff just makes me want to start handing things out on the street corners to people. I've found Freecycle quite liberating lately.

Ah, but life goes on despite my mental state. We should know this weekend if we get to winter on Porter Street or in an apartment. Just knowing where we are heading in a few weeks would ease some of the anxiety. I always tend to make mountains out of mole hills, but I've built this one up to rival Mt. Everest. I have peaked in my stressed-out abilities.

I was contemplating tonight about leaving this house, and honestly, I feel nothing. I'm not sure if I am numb because of stress or I have really matured to the level of not having an overwhelming attachment to another thing. I brought both of my babies to this house, watched them crawl, then run and climb. I have gardened more than I have since I was a child, growing up in Idaho. I have painted nearly every square inch of these walls, and cleaned it all over and over (and over) again. There were a lot of memories made inside these walls, and out in the fresh country air too. But the really important things are those 2 beautiful little girls snuggled up in their beds, and my big teddy bear of a husband...those are the things I need to feel content and at home.

Even if we have to end up living in a van...down by the river.

T

Out of the mouth of babes...

At the dinner table last night, J asked if we could plant trees all around our new house. I explained that our house will be in the woods, so it really already has trees around it.

"No," she said, "I mean trees right up next to the house!"

I explained that having trees too close to the house could cause problems, and suddenly she became wistful. "I like the trees!" she announced, then excused herself from the table. "I need to go draw some pictures of the trees!" She gathered together her small pad of paper and big box of crayons, and went outside.

When I returned home from the homeschooling meeting, she had her finished products on the table. One picture was very obviously the row of pine trees that line our driveway. One I think was meant to be our small maple tree, complete with a few red leaves. The last seems to be an unfinished likeness of the pumpkins on the porch railing.

Just seeing those small drawings lined up on the table brought tears to my eyes. The sentiment, the 5 year old significance behind them was enormous and felt so poignant at that moment. This is the home, the trees, the nature that J has known for her entire lifetime. I am able to see the big picture and look ahead to a new home in a beautiful location, but she is merely seeing change and uncertainty.

This moment served to reinforce to me the most obvious of observations: she is just a child! I realized today that we have already completed one semester of work in Phonics and Math after 37 days of classes. I have been pushing 2 lessons a day once we took a bazillion assessments to find an area that wasn't only review. J is doing wonderfully, and it takes her about 30 minutes to do the work. It flashed through my mind again: she is just a child! Why push her?

So, I continue to learn, and thankfully, I have this sweet, innocent child to guide me.

T

To Every Thing (turn, turn, turn)...

There is a season...

I went out to the garden yesterday morning after ignoring it completely for almost a week. It appears that we've reached that dismal time of year when the garden stops producing. The dreary weather did much to reinforce how sad the whole thing looked. The Tomato Hornworms have wreaked havoc on my remaining tomato plants, although I was able to bring in a basket full of lovely red ones. I pulled out the fluffy purple flowers before they could seed the whole garden in. The girls' magic beans are still going strong. All my neglected basil is woody and bitter, but there are some lacy green shoots of dill coming up where the dill went to seed.

I found two mice in two days in the mouse trap.

My Bodum french press carafe broke last night.

I packed one bookshelf of books and already have 4 boxes full.

There is a time for planting, a time for harvesting, and a time to rest. There is a time for good coffee, and a time to drink tea. There is a time that the mice like to visit, and a time they leave us well enough alone. There is a time to pack, and a time to unpack (and then a time to pack and unpack again). I just need to remember that although one thing may end, something bigger and better may be just around the corner.

And now, it's time for a weekend. Have a lovely one!

T

There's a Hole on My Hill!

The girls and I went to see the "diggers" working out at our property today! Whoopie! They are finally starting our house! I am doing a blog about it so folks can watch progress along with us. If you are interested, click here for a link.

T

Remembering Zaccheus

Zach Martin

August 1994 - October 2008

We are sorely missing our little dog who passed away this morning.

T

Calming Presence

We broke out the flannel sheets this week...ah...the comfort of snuggling into bed where the sheets are soft and warm. It softens the blow of the coming winter cold somewhat. The soft flannel sheets, comfy bed: relax and hibernate for the winter.

If only we could apply the flannel sheets principle to life. I know I could use a buffer against some of the stuff life throws at me. Just this week, my husband and I were discussing my near melt-down with the girls, and how I could possibly have handled the situation better. "They just need a calming presence." he said.

I've been thinking about that for the last few days: a calming presence. I think most of the craziness that goes on in our house is really coming from ME! If I could wrap us all up in a flannel sheet of comfort when things are not going the way I would like, instead of going off the deep end, we would all be happier. My husband is definitely the calming presence in our home, and now, I am trying to follow his example for a more relaxed home.

T

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Do the rest of you feel extremely uncomfortable and uneasy at the hair salon? Perhaps part of my problem is that I end up getting a hair cut about twice a year, but I always feel really awkward. I also find it very disconcerting to stare at myself in a giant mirror for 15 minutes straight. This morning, while having my hair cut, I noticed a lot of facial wrinkles and loose skin down under my chin. Not a pleasant discovery to make while in the presence of young, taut skinned blondes. Of course, the fact that my hairdresser had pink highlights only added to my unease. So, I'm out of my element, true, but why do I feel that I must sit silently and stare at the hair on the floor during my cuts? I was out without children...I should have been celebrating! Instead, I sat mute and resigned, trying to avoid noticing the signs of my own aging. SIGH...perhaps the more pertinent question to ask is why am I still having self-esteem issues when I've been in this skin nearly 4 decades now?

I felt out a bit uncomfortable showing my house to prospective buyers as well. That is probably normal...you want to put the best face possible on a 60 year old house! The W family stopped by today to drop off some papers, and said that their financing was approved, so we are moving forward with closing on this sale. They also mentioned that they are planning to sell their current home themselves as well and will run the full color Sunday ads and make a web page as well: "just what you did"!

And yes, the flattery canceled out the whole hair salon experience.

T

TGIF

Oh thank goodness for an upcoming weekend. With the house (I hope) off the market, we shouldn't have as much work to do this weekend. Hopefully we can move before the leaf clean-up begins in earnest!

We worked hard this week to make today an easy one, and since it was a dreary day, I suggested a trip to the video store for some viewing material to watch this afternoon (in between house showings). J decided that she wanted to go to Recreation Station in Washington. She reminded me that I told the girls that we could go there some rainy day...trust her to remember THAT, but not to wear underwear on a regular basis. It's a pretty nice indoor play area in Washington. We have gone twice...both times free weekends. I called this AM to check prices: $7.00/each for kids and $3.00 for adults...BUT children MUST be accompanied by an adult! J went off the deep end when I told her we couldn't afford to pay that much for an hour's worth of play time, no matter how nice the play area. She was grumpy the rest of the AM and I had to prod her to finish her school work.

Luckily Daddy called after lunch to see how my noon time showing went, and suggested taking the girls to Burger King for lunch and to play. Although I really dislike taking them to "Fomite Land", it did the trick - both girls were happy. That is, until L, who was kid watching, fell off her chair and landed on her head on the tiles. She was perfectly fine, and some very nice gentleman bought her a new hamburger since it went flying and landed on the tiles too.

J is now happily playing phonics games on Starfall...great site for pre-readers and beginners. We have started reading some phonics books my Mom gave me and doing Starfall on Fridays...breaks up the tedium. She also wrote a poem today, inspired by Theme In Yellow by Carl Sandburg.

Theme In Green

-JM

I am sweet and children eat me.

I am called sugar snap peas.

I grow in a pod

Like a Luna moth in a cocoon.

I hang from a vine

People pick me.

I'm a delicious dish for dinner.

That's it from the hill...happy weekend to all!
T