He turned four. I cried a little.
He Turned Four
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To Remember
I took A with me to Pilates a few weeks back. When I got in the car I sighed, “She really kicked my booty.”
A few days later we were in the car. Just chatting about things the way you do.
“Hey Mom. Remember when we went to that girl’s house and she kicked you?” He asked.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
“When we were at Ms. Sadie’s? Did one of her daughters kick me?”
“NO, Mom. That girl’s house.”
“When we are the cabin?”
“NO!! That girl. She kicked you.”
This went on for about five minutes. I couldn’t figure out what girl had kicked me. He was getting so annoyed with me.
“You know, Mom, that girl. Where she had the lifty thing and the back and forth thing, and that other thing.”
The lightbulb went off.
“You mean Sheri’s?”
“YES! She kicked you in the booty.” Pause. “Was it because you like to shake it?”
I love that kid.
A Gold Star Day
It may not ever turn into summer here, but life is full of goodness anyway.
I had some friends over for bagels and coffee. Our kids played and we caught up.
I got to hold and rock a baby-baby which I absolutely love – particularly when I know I’m not the one who has to get up at 3am to feed him.
I played Legos and had snuggle time with A which turned in to nap time.
V came home pukey-sick from school so we are all snuggled together sipping ginger ale, nipping at saltines, and watching movies.
Besides V feeling better, I really don’t think life could get much better.
A Clock
This clock got taken down about the time I bought my treasured card catalog. In our little house we only had so much wall space and while I always intended to get it back up, I think my husband was just as happy leaving it on a shelf in the basement. Then we moved and it sat on another shelf in another basement. Dusty. Batteries dead. A few water spots on the wood.
The clock was my grandparent’s. And it’s loud. You hear the mechanism with every back and forth of the pendulum. You hear the chime set at three minutes to the hour. And then the hour strikes. Jesse misses the first few moments of dialogue on his show and sighs, “Every single time.” he says. Every single time, I smile.
I remember lying on the floor, curled up in pillows and a cotton cool tie blanket made from old sheets. I remember my grandpa in scratchy wool flannel smelling of cigarettes and cut wood, how his pencils were always roughly sharpened with his pocket knife. I remember my Grandma with her housecoat aprons rinsing my hair with apple cider vinegar, doing her daily scramble, and watching Wheel of Fortune. I’d tickle my grandpa’s feet and steal my grandma’s Danielle Steele.
I miss my grandparents. My grandpa’s stern but kind heart and the way he called me “kid”. My grandma who cried any time she saw someone else cry and added ice to her coffee. I wish I could bring them back. But I can’t. I have however, returned their clock to it’s former glory.
I took it off the shelf. Dusted it. Put in new batteries. Repaired the water stains with a little olive oil and baking soda. Set the pendulum to swinging. And every single hour I hear it chime, I smile.
Who’s The Boss
I quit knitting for awhile. Every time I sat down to work on Jesse’s sweater, I was miserable. It wasn’t coming along well and I couldn’t just set it aside. I’m a checklist knitter. I start a project, finish it, start another. And because I didn’t want to finish my project, and I couldn’t start another until I finished it, I just couldn’t knit. Until I decided two things 1) I’m just going to frog the thing anyway so it’s not really a knitting project anymore and even if I wasn’t going to rip it out, 2) I’m the boss of me. If I want to have two knitting projects going at a time, I certainly can quickly followed by a “So there, knitting police in my head!!” (I’m mature like that.)
Here’s what I learned during my interlude from knitting:
1 – I have too many hobbies. Once my main hobby (knitting) wasn’t appealing, I had to choose between scrapbooking, blogging, embroidering, sewing, and reading all as back ups. Not to mention the hobby of just gazing lovingly at pinterest. Most of the time I just watched TV.
2 – Even when I’m not knitting, I really like thinking about knitting. I spend hours browsing yarns at purl, finding patterns on ravelry, and adding to my knitting pins.
3 – Knitting is a beautiful companion to Prozac. My mood since I’ve started working on this afghan is unbelievably better than it’s been in weeks. Knitting is restful but it’s also productive. Pretty awesome.
4 – And of course, that I’m the boss of me. I’m probably pretty late to the game on this lesson. Maybe not. Maybe a lot of us are arbitrary rule followers. While I know it sounds like a toddler throwing a tantrum, I’m really not. I’m not advocating going out and breaking societal norms willy-nilly or even saying that rules are a bad thing. I’m saying I’ve imposed a lot of ridiculous little rules (like I can’t be working on two knitting projects at the same time) that are just ridiculous little rules. I’ve spent a whole chunk of my life worrying about what I should be doing and what people would think if I did (insert some innocuous activity here) and if so-and-so thought I was “good”. I need to stop that.
Being the boss of me means I get to live a life aligned with my own values, filled with the people who matter most to me, and saved by grace.
Doesn’t that sound fun?
P.S.
I’m reading Stiff by Mary Roach right now and while some of the discussion has me a little squeamish, a good portion has me laughing out loud. And it’s fascinating – even if it is a little macabre. Highly recommend.
I {Heart} Happy Mail
You know when you get one – the envelope is notecard sized, your address handwritten – and you can’t wait to get inside and open it up. If you’re like me, you curl up on the sofa, papercut your finger trying to open the envelope (just being real), and savor the words of a friend.
You know what I {maybe} love more than getting a nice long letter from a friend? Writing one. Picking the stationary, selecting the pen, chosing the words and sharing the small snippets of my life all help me slow down and connect to people and moments that matter.
Handwritten letters received are a blessing. Handwritten letters sent are even more so.
Loving the handwritten letter like I do, I tend to stockpile letter writing supplies – even stamps that I order from usps.com so I don’t just get what my office has on hand. These are my current favorites.
But I’m a fan of these as well.
Here are a couple of other supplies in my drawer:
I love this stamp from Yellow Heart Art. I’m just going to have to use it on all my outgoing letters from here on out.
And then I stumbled on Julie Ann Art, this woman’s shop could empty my bank account. It’s sassy and funny and I absolutely love it. I picked up a just because card for the mister (I’m not saying which one), a few for my pen pals and this one for my Gram.
And because birthday season is coming up and that means thank yous I found these at Paper Mill Designs for the littles. They also have some amazing letterpress that I have on my wishlist.
So now that I’ve shared a little of my paper love with you, I’m going to sit down and share it with my pen pal friends. Do you have any favorite stationary places on the webs? Please share, I’m always looking for more!