Summertime… and the livin’ is… well, it’s never quite easy is it? June 2, 2009
Posted by Karen Joy in Arizona, Blogging, Budget, Family, Homeschooling, Parenting, Summer Plans, The Dear Hubby, The Kids, Travelling, birding, gluten-free.9 comments
- My Dad called yesterday and inquired about everyone’s well-being. I stuttered a bit, not knowing how to answer. An easy question, in a way, but especially since it’s my Dad, I wanted to be honest. I answered something like, “Well, is everything perfect with unicorns and rainbows? No. But, even though there are things going on that are less than ideal, it’s not unexpected. It’s kind of par for the course of parenting. It’s all workable, even if there are some troublesome spots.” He said that the same could be said for his job situation, which has been a real roller coaster. He is a computer engineer, hardware and software. His job, and those he employs, are currently funded by investors, which has a ton of accompanying pressure. His work is in artificial intelligence which can, among other things, be used for cyber-security. What with Obama’s focus on that, it would be so ironic if a president, for whom he didn’t vote, ended up being the source, indirectly, of some major contracts for him.
- Yesterday was our first day of summer. Mostly. The boys are still doing math, as we got behind.
- I’ve been thinking about how to plan our time for the summer. A lot of my thoughts hinge around, “Well, I could get a lot more done if I didn’t have a computer.” It can be such a great help at times, and such a time-suck at others. I’d also get more done if, specifically, I didn’t blog. But… I think I’d go mad (maybe literally) if I never wrote. Ever since 7th grade, when my English teacher introduced journal-writing, I’ve been hooked. I was talking with my verbose son Grant, trying to get him to understand that why, during quiet time, it’s MY quiet time, too, and he needs to not talk to me. I told him, “You know how you process things with speaking? I process them in writing.” I’ve been thinking about that concept, and it’s true. I can get a grip of things with much greater clarity and understanding if I write them. So, blogging is a form of therapy. I have to find the balance, between getting enough done — fulfilling my responsibilities — and keeping myself sane and healthy.
- Speaking of healthy, I also started working out yesterday. One day down… thousands more to go! Ugh. It feels good to have my muscles ache this morning, though. It feels healthy. I pulled out a DVD that I thought was 20 minutes. It turned out to be 51 minutes. I quit after 42, and even that was done in two installments.
- My son Ethan, who will be 12 later this month, offered this to me, ostensibly as encouragement, “Mom, if you kept that up for six or seven hours every day, you’d probably lose one whole pound by the end of a week!”
- Speaking of losing weight, I keep getting ads sent to me by Lane Bryant, a women’s clothing retailer that sells stuff larger than size 12. I am much heavier than I’d like to be, but, gosh darn it, I am not a size 14! The ads started arriving round about the time I had Fiala. I think it might be Lane Bryant’s marketing scheme to target new mothers. Devious, but likely effective!
- Like mother, like son: The boys were watching a movie yesterday (Meet the Robinsons, which I think is one of the best kids’ movies created, ever), and two of them called out in near-unison, “Mom! A cactus wren in the back yard!” I went over to look, and sure enough, they’d made a correct identification. I was very proud of them. The cactus wren is Arizona’s state bird, and though they’re not rare, they are uncommon, at least around our house. Cactus wrens are happy birds, friendly and not skittish, yet without being annoying, like grackles, which are surely the scum of the bird-earth. I even like pigeons more than grackles, because at least pigeons don’t scare away other birds.
Lastly, my husband has brought my summertime dreams down to a budgetary reality. After listening to his concerns, I seriously altered my dreaming/ planning. It looks like we’ll be camping in Oak Creek Canyon, north of Sedona, likely in early September. I love, love, love that area, and millions of people come from all around the world to soak up the red rock beauty. But to me, it doesn’t seem quite like a real vacation, if one takes it practically in one’s back yard. Plans aren’t set in stone, but it’s looking likely that that’s what we’ll do. Really, it will be nice, camping alongside Oak Creek.- One of my mini-projects going on right now is to find a recipe — an EASY one — that works well in the breadmaker that was Freecycled to me. So far, two abject bread-failures down, and one loaf baking in the machine right now. Here’s hopin’ it turns out!! On my first attempt, I pretty much just threw all the ingredients in together. Second attempt, I pre-mixed the dry ingredients, and placed the mixed wet ones on top. Third try, mixed all ingredients together in a bowl beforehand, which is pretty much what you do when not using a breadmaker, and makes the breadmaker worthless, unless you consider that I don’t have to heat up the house via the oven, here in the middle of summer. I dreamed of just being able to throw everything in there in the morning, and by lunch time have a fresh loaf of bread for lunch, and it appears that successful bread needs a bit more effort on my part.
