Thursday Goodness: I love my kids!

Playing together:

Nicely...

And Andrew actually rolling out and cutting noodles.

I think this is the first time I let him use the knife so freely. Is ten a good age for that?

So proud of my little people.

Eight questions to while away the time

Taken from Aliceson @ Feet Off the Table.

Thanks for the fodder.  Remember when we used to tag everyone?  I think that trend has died a bit.  Thank goodness, though I don't mind when I can steal from someone else to do this.  Maybe I like that better, don't tag me, just feel free to steal and let me know if you did use it.

1. What's your favorite book? Still has to be the Little House series.  Have loved it ever since I first picked them up and am now loving it every time I read it with Willa.  And loved it that Andrew took it upon himself to read every single one.  See, they are my kids.

2. How do you get over writer's block? I need to get over it.  I am going to try the NaNoWriMo with a silly little idea I have.  I need discipline and less fear about writing crap stuff.  It doesn't have to be perfect the first time, because it never is.  I also need to get out of my creative funk.  Like not having sewn anything in nearly two years.   Oh, and when I mean sewing, I mean something that I cobble together with 2-6 different patterns, plus parts that I make up and put together and get it to look good.  Or what I think looks good.

3. What's your favorite Holiday? why? Still has to be Christmas.  The magic that happens around then, for when I was a kid and recreating that for my kids, it is just amazing.  It is also amazing how we can create the family and friend togetherness magic during then, too.

4. What's one place you would love to visit? Darn, just one?  Okay, next on my list is the Netherlands for my husband and kids.  I just want to see how he feels when he's in a country of his ancestors and how he may find he fits in well.  I loved the British Isles for that reason and I think he should get an opportunity to experience that. (also on my list are Australia, India, Ireland and a grand tour of interior Europe, plus a revisit to Hawaii, and somewhere near the Rockies.  Got a long list, need to get working on it.)

5. Do you have any pets? Two children and a husband are enough, thank you very much.

6. What's your favorite thing to bake? As insane as they make me because of the long convoluted process and extremely large batches, I still really like my springerle cookies.

7. Do you like sunsets or sunrises? Sunsets.  If I had my druthers, I would not get up until 10 am and stay up past midnight.  I do not care to ever see any sunrises and if I do, I just feel depressed because I would rather be in bed.

8. What's your favorite movie? Like one I would go back to and watch over and over again?  Maybe the original Star Wars trilogy.  The second batch is fine, but I still adore the characters in the originals.  Every three months, Spike TV obliges with a marathon weekend of them.  We just love to have it on in the background.  I can quote way too much Star Wars.

Thursday Goodness (oh me, oh my!)

I did it.  I decided to participate in NaNoWriMo.  Because I just needed to kick myself into gear with my writing and see where it takes me.  What the heck!  I'm not out any money.  I have a crazy idea for a story that I want to go with.  So, go it is!

Just a reminder about October...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Having had relatives have this disease and lose, I want to make sure other people keep it in mind, among all the other good causes out there.  This one is just very close to my heart.






I have a little clicky button in my sidebar there to the right. Go give it a click and the sponsors of the site will donate to getting women free mammograms who need them.

Random Tuesday--R2D2, Yogurt, and 40 year olds (who are probably not virgins)

Take your own strawberry freezer jam you made earlier in the summer, put it on the bottom of a reusable plastic container, dump in about a cup of plain non fat yogurt on top and you have your own made by you fruit on the bottom yogurt, minus the extra high fructose corn syrup and no need to recycle an individual-sized plastic container from the yogurt. (at least not until the large container is empty).  You're welcome, environment and body.

Who hasn't seen the R2D2 pumpkin carving? You're welcome, Star Wars fans.

Making costumes seems like it should be easy and cheaper than the stuff in the store.  Not true, but you can be sure of the quality and make it fit.  Theme this year for us Alice in Wonderland meets the White Queen.
This is the Alice and this is the idea for the White Queen (more here).  The White Queen that you could buy on-line was really bad, so I'm making my own.  Wish me luck! And daughter and the economy, you're welcome.

Son has decided that he will trick-or-treat this year.  About a month ago, he was not going to do it.  Then he got swords to go with last year's ninja outfit.  I think it's safe to say he's got a cooler costume, so he feels he can wear it in public.  He didn't want me to make him anything, though we don't mind doing it. You're welcome, son.

How is it our lives are so busy?  This week alone I have a meeting tonight, Mr. Wild has one tomorrow night, I am hanging with my girls on Friday, daughter has a birthday party on Saturday, son has a soccer game on Saturday and Sunday we have a family birthday party.  October seems to fill up fast, November even more so and December gets to be insane.  You're welcome, friends.

What does one get for her husband's 40th birthday?  I was going to go with boudoir photos, but I can't get my act together to get to a photographer.  Where would you put those anyway?  In the boudoir?  The back up plan was blacksmithing lessons.  I think I still made it work.  You're welcome, Mr. Wild.

Speaking of 40, I have decided, for some reason, that I'm really excited to turn that in a little over six months.  I was thinking this morning, the 20s are for discovering yourself, the 30s are all about raising your kids from babies to more mature, able to take care of and entertain themselves children, so the 40s must be when I can have some time to be me, who I discovered in my 20s, but hadn't had a chance to really explore that me.  Or be a couple, without the kids, sometimes, again.  Or spend more time with my adult friends.  It may just be a perception and totally bogus.  But you're welcome all you nearly turned 40 year olds.  Enjoy the ride!

I still get the "you're so young."  I know, I know, it is awesome to be almost 40 and be considered young, but professionally it actually sucks.  I'm sorry, there really has been 20 years since I was in high school.  I should get some credit for experience and maturity.  I still get so tired of being treated like the 20 year old.  You're welcome bosses whom I have worked my butt off for and you don't give me a shred of credit.

On Facebook, I decided to like NPR and it was an awesome decision.  I get news in my news feed that I actually want to read and learn more about.  If you are on Facebook, you might want to check it out.  It's pretty cool.  That's how I found out about R2D2.  You're welcome, Facebook and NPR lovers.

Nuff random, I need to eat my lunch.  Visit Keely and the gang, just click through on the button above.  You're welcome, visiting randomizer.

Community

Nothing like a night out with friends to recharge your batteries.  Me and some gal pals went down to the local pub, obstensibly for book club, but really to socialize because book club seems to be fading fast.  We're not into the books as much anymore, and it is getting hard for all of us, of which there are only eight, to get together and have a night as being us.  Not so much moms, doctors, vets, lawyers, nurses, historians, teachers, office managers or writers.  We do talk about our kids, but we also talk about community, a little gossip about our work lives and spend the time learning about each other as we tell stories of our past.  I enjoy this little group of friends, and though book club may not be what we need, I think we do need time together, separate from our kids, husbands and work obligations.

So I woke up this morning, thinking about how I got the opinions from one friend on the youth sports programs in our town.  She's probably more knowledgeable about that stuff.  I wouldn't know if the high school was winning or losing.  I'm not one to care about winners and losers in sports, just how they play the game.  Yes, it is great to win, but I'd rather they focus on team work and skill building, especially at a young age.  I was also thinking about how we compared notes on sending daughters to dance, and our thoughts on local Cub Scouts.  Most of us walked, but some drove to the local pub to meet.  It's so cozy to be just blocks from your downtown businesses.  I walked in the warm fall air to meet up with one friend on the way to walk the rest of the way to the pub.

This is the community that you wonder about when you move away from home.  It's not very big, but it's part of the larger town landscape.  It's the friends and neighbors that give you their advice and opinions, invite you over for backyard parties and pumpkin carvings, take pictures of your kids in Halloween costumes, debate with you and accept your differences, share cookies and holiday recipes, invite you over in the winter storms for coffee cake and hot beverages while your children play and argue together.  It can be found.  But it does take work.

I now understand how hard it is to move.  It's not just hard on your children, it's hard on the grown ups leaving their social groups behind.  That next job somewhere else needs to be pretty spectacular to make you want to uproot your whole sense of being as self, as a couple, as a family.  We did move once before as a whole family and we were pretty strong in our convictions that we wanted a smaller town life for our children.  The uprooting was deemed worthy of the goal we were looking for.  We had our very good friends in our city suburban life and we miss them dearly, but it was a much smaller group of people we knew compared to how we've branched out.  The only thing that would make living here better is if we could have brought them with us.  But each family has to weigh that decision.  For us, the move to the small town was a mystery that we couldn't be sure it would be totally right, but turned into a great thing.  It could have turned out different, but for that fateful day my then stay-at-home husband took our then two year old to the library and the librarian said, "Oh, are you here for the playgroup?"  He wasn't, but it seemed like a good idea and somehow a group of similar minded parents met each other, let their little children play, and eventually grew to bond in different ways.

The "new" job maybe has faded in its previous expectations, but we have something we value so much more, the community that we live in is something that makes our lives full, balancing any of the difficult challenges that we face.

Thursday Badness (really, but it's a good one)

I think the CSA folks were chuckling when they put this in our box for this week:

My husband was laughing at the images as I uploaded them.

Doesn't hurt being sophomoric every once in a while.

Mr. Wild says, "They were very productive carrots."

There were two "legs" on each, but it looks like there's more.

Let's hear it for vegetables with sex appeal!