OK, I'M AWAKE NOW!

I awake to the sound of soft splashing. “Who the heck is up at this time of night playing in water?!” I glance at the clock through bleary eyes. 1:34 am. Ugh. It’s probably my four year-old. The older two are too fond of sleep to play in the sink washing stuffed animals, action figures or rocks in the middle of the night….one of their favorite pastimes by day. 

I reluctantly drag myself out of bed knowing that if I don’t, I’ll wake up to some sort of pre-schooler induced flood like on our anniversary a couple of months ago.  (but that’s another story.)  I head down the hall and can already see in the soft glow of the nightlight that no one is at the sink. “Must be in the bathtub.“ Double ugh.  I get into the bathroom and glance into the tub. Hmmm. No one in there either. But there is no splashing sound now. I must have been dreaming it, or maybe it’s the dishwasher running.

At this point I need to pee. I get to the toilet and see out of the corner of my sleepy eyelids something dark in there. SOMEONE HAS POOPED AND NOT FLUSHED AGAIN!  (For some strange reason, not one of my three children ever flushes the toilet….EVER!) Being the good Girl Scout that I am, I take the environmentally friendly approach and decide to pee without flushing the offending deposit first. One flush vs. two flushes. No brainer….plus I won’t have to wait for the toilet to stop running before I can flush again.

I sit down and start to urinate. (This is all very fascinating isn’t it?)  A few seconds later…..get ready…. I FEEL SOMETHING POKING ME ON THE BUTT!! 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I’m flying off the toilet seat, I whirl around and spot SOMETHING JUMPING UP AND DOWN IN THE TOILET!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……….

I am screaming like the stereotypical girl who’s seen a mouse. (I am NOT a girly girl….I can handle seeing and taking care of dead rodents, snake nests, all manners of gross bodily functions, etc.)  Yet I can’t stop screaming!!  I am so in shock!  In the meantime, I am still peeing, mind you, all over the floor….while screaming.  

I finally get a grip, realize I’m making a mess, and stop my stream and my scream. (Strangely, no one has appeared yet to see what’s going on.)  While standing in a puddle with my pants down, I decide I need to turn the light on and see what the h@ll just molested me!  A frog is my first thought. You know, water and stuff. I bravely reach over, flick the light on and look into the toilet….right into the pleading eyes of something that has soaking wet FUR?!!! 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I slam the light off again so I can’t see it and the screaming starts all over.  “WHAT THE F@#K IS THAT?!”

FINALLY, my husband comes running in as I continue to scream with my pants down.  Little did I know, and I found out later, that he had worn socks to bed. When he woke up to my ‘blood curdling screams’, he jumped out of bed and tried running, but was slipping, Three Stooges style, all over the hardwood floor. When he finally did get his feet under him to come to my rescue from the murderer he says he surely thought was doing me in, he was able to sprint the rest of the way down the hall into the bathroom.

“What the h@ll is going…..”  and he promptly slips in my pee. 

“What is that, all over the floor?!!!” 

 “It’s pee…I peed on the floor. But more importantly, there is something, WITH FUR, in the toilet….and it’s BIG!”  I screech.  (Now by big I mean bigger than say, a gerbil, of which we have two. It’s definitely bigger than them, but it IS smaller than our 40 pound dog.  He wouldn’t fit in our toilet. That’s just silly.) 

“AND IT JUMPED AT MY BUTT!”  I continue.  “WHAT IS IT?!!!”

After he rights himself, he approaches the toilet, turns on the light, and looks in.  “Oh my God…..it’s a chipmunk!”

Now how a chipmunk landed in our toilet in the middle of the night up on the third level of our house, I could not fathom. “Did it come through the pipes?”

My husband looks at me like I’m just plain simple. “No. Impossible.” 

Yeah, that’d be a pretty long climb, through water for a mammal.  I mean really, what was I thinking?  I look over again, this time a bit more over my shock, and see what looks like, literally, a drowned rat.  Poor little guy.  He’s freezing looking, soaking wet, trapped in a toilet and has just been peed on.

My husband closes the lid and disappears, presumably to get together a plan. As I’m cleaning up my mess my seven year old son, Peter appears in the doorway.   “What’s going on?” he casually asks in his sleepy eyed stupor.

“There’s a chipmunk in the toilet and it just jumped on my butt.”

He cracks a huge, braces laden grin.  “Really?  Cool!”

Then nine year old Isabella enters. Same question. Peter answers, and snorts a laugh.  She smiles too. Then goes back to bed.

Four year old Clara just starts crying in her room. She doesn’t do well with being woken up in the middle of the night, although it’s perfectly ok for her to wake us up whenever she pleases.

In the meantime I clean myself up, get new underwear, mop up the floor and wonder where Don went. Just then he appears with enormous fireproof gloves on and a bucket.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. Put it in the bucket somehow….do you think it’ll bite?”

“I think the gloves will protect you. Good choice.”  These gloves are about five times bigger than the chipmunk itself…no contest!  So I watch with interest as he takes the screen off the window, replaces his gloves, readies the bucket and slowly lifts the lid.

“Awww. Poor thing.”  He really does look pathetic. What a night this guy has had! I think he maybe has a hidden camera and is doing some kind of chipmunk dare reality show. He’ll be famous in Chipmunkville for sure.

Don gets the bucket close, and after some maneuvering the chipmunk is IN the bucket.

“Got him!” he shouts.

Then the chipmunk starts to jump OUT of the bucket. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, we both scream, and in slow motion it seems, Don deftly flings the poor, wet, scared and ‘for life’ traumatized chipmunk out the window. We hear a dull thud on the porch roof (he did not fall far down…just a bit far out)  I can see the wet mark where he landed, but he is gone already.

Freedom.

As we close up the screen, the absurdity of it all breaks me. I just start laughing, and laughing, and laughing. After a while, it’s just plain maniacal. Yet I can’t stop laughing! Maybe I’m overtired, still in shock, in need of a good laugh, but whatever it is, it keeps me up for hours. And I’m still laughing today.

Yee-haw, we have a fun life here in the country!


Thought of the day:

Always look closely (and in bright light) into the toilet before sitting down!

I just found out my friend has cancer.

Blunt? yes. Terrifying? yes. Her news was simple...kidney cancer. Encapsulated (good). Surgery in a couple of weeks to remove her kidney. That's about all the info I have at the moment. I looked it up, then I burst into tears.

Kidney cancer is not good. It's very, very bad it seems. But since this is a brand new diagnosis and I haven't even spoken to her about it yet, I am not going to over-react. I am used to thinking with my head. I am used to being strong. So why can't I stop crying?

It's like when my great-uncle Jim died. I had spent a week with him and my grandparents in Florida when I was a kid. He was sweet and fun and funny. He played music on his record player for my sister, Kim and I. He gave me my first communion and was on the alter at my confirmation (he was a catholic deacon) I don't remember alot about him. I didn't see him often. But when he died, I cried. Then I went to the funeral. And there I not only cried, I bawled! I couldn't seem to contain it or stop it. It seemed like a reaction that was out of proportion.

So, I had the same reaction to this news. One of my core friends; a sister-friend; someone I've known since 9th grade, has cancer. She is also 40, and although 40 has been a good year for me so far, this makes me realize that I AM 40! And some fundamental things in my life may start to change.

40 is fabulous! Truly it is. But it is also sobering. My wish is to take the sobering stuff and learn from it. Turn it into something positive. Give it up to the powers above and just let what is supposed to be, do just that. Be. More on all this later. For now, just pray for my friend and send positive energy out to her. That's what I'm planning on doing, and in the process I hope to achieve some peace from it.

Thought of the Day:
Expect the unexpected. Then you won't be so surprised!

I'm not dead (yet)...just working!

WOW! It's been waaaaaaaay too long since I wrote anything. If anyone is still bothering to check this thing, sorry about that (and thanks for being interested enough to wait it out! ;-). I'll try to be better. My sister got married (yay for Jenny & Kevin!), and I started working full time with my hubby. I won't go into all of my excuses because who cares!! But I've missed writing so here I go. So many subjects come to mind I don't know which to choose. I'll just grab the first one that comes to mind. Ready? Set. GO!

You didn't go.

You didn't go either.

Ok, on the count of 3 we'll both go. ok?

Ok. Ready? 1.......2......THREE!

You didn't go.

Neither did you!

Remember doing that? ha-ha. Total sidetrack. Sorry.

I'm going to write about 'The Biggest Loser' because I just watched the finale last night and it's the first thing that popped in my head. I also watched the 'Lost' finale the night before that, but I won't debate that here. (I liked it, Don didn't so much. That's all I'll say.) Believe it or not I really don't watch much tv (no time), but I do love those 2 shows. I love the Biggest Loser because it is so inspirational to me to watch people turn their lives around. They are so lost and sad and feeling out of control of their lives, but most of them get to that place where they realize, or begin to realize anyway, that THEY are in control if they want to be. All they have to do is take the reins AND DO IT. Once you do, it is so completely possible to do absolutely anything that you set your mind to doing. It's so simple, yet so many of us never realize this. I do realize this, and know it to be true, but I forget it often throughout my life. Or, I procrastinate, or even more likely I overthink it. Trying to play out all scenerios to the end to see what would be the best option to take. Often by this point the opportunity has passed or I'm too sick of thinking about it to care anymore. I will give a rather banal example from my life. Going out to eat.

I hear some of you who know me groaning right now. Yes, the simple act of choosing an entree can raise my heart rate. With many of the big decisions in my life, I barely bat an eyelash.

Live in England for a while?...Cheers, mate!

Travel across the country on a camp counselor's salary, an old car and a tent?...Gas 'er up!

Get married?...Call the minister.

Have children?...well maybe I should have given this one a little more thought ;-) JUST KIDDING KIDS!!! (no I'm not)

Anyway, most of the life altering decisions that come my way are easy. But to choose between a burger and a chicken sandwich? Torture. I need complete and total concentration to make this kind of decision, and after I order, and the waitperson walks away, I always lament what could have been. I picture it in my mind. What it may have tasted like. Would it have satisfied better than what I actually ordered? Now I'll never know.

It's stupid. I don't know why I have such trouble with the silly little decisions in life. My poor friends, sisters, and mother have to endure endless emails with pictures when I'm trying to pick out something like a rug or a door knob. Yes, I said door knob. (I went with the oil rubbed bronze, but often I wish I went with the aged bronze. sigh.) See what I mean?

Well, I think part of the reason I love the Biggest Loser so much is that they have one goal in mind, one purpose while they're there on the ranch, and they go for it. No at-home distractions, just themselves and their goal of getting healthy and losing weight. It's when they get home and are pulled in all different directions where the trouble can happen.

I often feel like I have just too many goals, and too many distractions. I wish I could have laser focus on just one goal and go for it. The problem is deciding what goal to go for first and for how long and at what (or who's) expense? It's like the menu choices. Too many!!! Do I tackle my fitness, the kids, my husband, the finances, my career, the landscaping, the house interior, etc, etc. Everyone has distractions like this. But as I look at that list, it's more about priorities and balance I guess. I WANT to be able to go at things with that laser focus...I think I function better that way. One thing at a time. But family life, like I have chosen, really doesn't give me that kind of luxury. So what to do?

Thought of the day:
Just do the best I can today. Then do it again tomorrow. And then again the next day, too.

Try to prioritize and put out the big fires first, then maybe, just maybe I'll get a chance to focus on one thing.

Well, this subject went in a different direction than I expected, but I sometimes really don't know where I'll end up. I thought I was going to talk about inspiration, and turning your life around, believing in yourself and stuff like that. But oh well. It's ok. After all, I'm just doing the best I can.

What will be MY lupine seed?

Yesterday I was sitting on the playground watching my kids play in the little town of Housatonic. It's an artsy little spot, but not the highfalutin kind of artsy. It's the down-to-earth, kind of rough around the edges artsy which I like. There is this one building that you can see from the playground that looks like it used to be a storefront, but is now someone's home. It's been painted red with huge, bright yellow sunflowers painted all along the side. The trim is a mix of bright green and yellow, and the curtains that hang in the floor-to-ceiling-store-display type of windows are fuscia. The shed in the back is painted in a brilliant turquois with pink and yellow trim (I think...the trim details I can't quite remember), with big pink flowers painted like they're growing up the side. I'm guessing it's a woman who lives here, not because of the flowers painted on every inch, but because I saw a woman run up the steps and in the front door like she owned it. (I'm a detective in my spare time you know.) This house makes me smile. Not just because it's fun to look at, but because it's brave, and it's what I want when I grow up.

I've always had this vision of myself of when I'm old. Who knows what the heck my actual future will be (probably me in diapers in a nursing home), but the vision that I have of me is, alone, in a small, simple house by the sea. In this small house I read, I take walks on the beach, I listen to music, I entertain friends, and I make art. I used to think of this house as being on a quiet road, but lately I picture it in a town like Provincetown on Cape Cod. Provincetown is artistic and full of life and characters of all kinds. It's nutty in the summer and desolate in the winter. But if it's too lonely in the winter I could always escape to one of my children's houses, wherever they may be. Oh, that reminds me, the house will have a small guest room... just one cozy guest room. No big family reunions here. Just a child or two at a time. Maybe one grandchild at a time for a special week with me; Nana, Nonnie, Grammy, Grandma, or whatever I'm called. My time for hosting big reunions will be over at this point. I'll have already done all that in years prior, in this house that I live in now.

My current house will be perfect for that. For having ALL the children and grandchildren at once. Some sleeping in the house, some camping in the yard. Staying up late by the fire singing and playing instruments (since Don & I will have paid dearly for instrumental lessons of all kinds at that point I'm sure, so SOMEONE better know how to play SOMETHING!)

That will be a grand time, but the house by the sea is for a later time. For the twilight of my life. A time just for me, to reflect and to just be. To savor the stillness and quiet at times. To observe the bustle and frivolity of summer tourists at other times. I hope that I will be able to look back at this time and know that I did my best. That I worked hard, and lived hard, and loved hard. I hope that I will be able to say that I did all that I wanted to do in this life, and that I did at least one thing to make this world a little better, a little more beautiful than it was before I came along.

There is a wonderful book that I love to read to the kids called Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney. It was actually one of my sister's books when they were young, and I loved it so much I got it for my kids. It's about an old woman who lives by the sea. (Sound familiar?) It's the story of her life and her adventures, but the one thing that she had promised her father (or was it her aunt? I think she was the aunt to another girl. Hmm. I haven't read it in a while. Doesn't matter. Continue on.) when she was a little girl was that she would do one thing to make the world a more beautiful place. She gets towards the end of her life and realizes she has done pretty much everything that she set out to do in life, but she hasn't done that yet. As she lies ailing in bed she sees some lupine growing outside her window and gets her idea. When she gets well enough, she goes out and sows lupine seed everywhere she goes. Soon the lupine is growing everywhere and is beautiful of course. Don't you love it?! I want to do that too, but I need to think of my own idea. Let's see... apple trees? Done. Maybe goldenrod? 'Spreading allergies to people everywhere!' Oh that reminds me of my bee allergy story. I'll have to write about that one sometime! Kinda funny in an E.R. visit/playing with death kind of way!

Anyway, let's get to the thought/fact of the day.
What will YOU do to leave the world a better place?

Doesn't have to big, or Nobel Peace prize winning (but that would be way cool! I could say "Hey, I know that guy/girl" assuming I do know you, which maybe I don't so, then I can't say that). Something as simple as sowing some seeds will do. But I like the idea. I think we should all aspire to do this. It's fun to think about. And make sure it's fun to do too (otherwise you won't do it!) It's also fun to think about being old and wrinkled and done with the hard work. (Yes, I'm choosing to ignore the incontinence and arthritis and dementia and stuff. That's not fun and this is MY daydream and that stuff isn't allowed ok!?) So think about it. And if you have a great idea, let me know. Maybe I'll steal it! Until then I think I'll plant some lupine, because they really are beautiful! Happy planting to you!

Remember this?

Hola. I don't know why I just wrote that, but I have a suspicion it's because I just finished reading the same Dora the Explorer book five times. They almost always start out "Hola, I'm Dora." Just like Curious George almost always starts out "This is George. He is a good little monkey and always very curious." Reading books to kids is such a fun way to relive your favorite childhood books. Now, of course, Dora wasn't around when I was a kid. But I did know the word "agua" and could maybe count to five in Spanish thanks to Sesame Street. Now with the influence of Dora the 'super-mega-latino-backpack-totin'-star' to the 4 and under crowd, my kids are bilingual. Ok, not really. But my 2 year old daughter does count to ten in Spanish and astonishes the older ladies at the grocery store. It's one of her more impressive tricks.

That Sesame Street reference though made me want to write about nostalgic stuff. FUN nostalgic stuff. So I'm just gonna start spewing some things that will bring me, and perhaps you, on a little trip down memory lane. Just like those emails you get, right? But these are MY memories, so some of them may be weird. I don't know yet...I'll be thinking them up as I go.

From Sesame Street:
The little girl cruising down the street repeating the list her mother gave her of things to buy at the store: "Loaf 'a bread. Quart 'a milk. Stick 'a butter." I wish I could send my kids to the store like that, but their list would be different: "Loaf 'a multigrain. Quart 'a organic, no hormone added skim milk. Tub 'a Smart Balance."

The guy dying for some water pleading for "Agua!" I can't remember the whole scene, just the voice sounding like he was dying in the desert or something. Is that ok for 3 year olds to watch?

The parrot exasperating the plumber. This one still cracks me up when I think of it. Maybe I can get a video clip of it...I'll try when I'm done writing this.
scene: A plumber is knocking at the door. Inside is a parrot.
parrot: "Whoooo is it?"
plumber: "It's the plumber. I've come to fix the sink."
repeat a bunch of times.
The old woman comes home and sees the passed out plumber on the floor. (or maybe he's dead. Remember the dying desert guy??).
woman: "Who is it?"
parrot: "It's the plumber. He's come to fix the sink."
See...I just laughed. Still funny! Ok I'm going to look for the clip now. I can't wait.....(time passing as I look)...........Ok, just looked. It was Electric Company I guess. And it's been removed from youtube because of copyright stuff. But you know it. Why is that so damn funny?

Schoolhouse Rock:
"Conjunction junction, what's your function?" (sing it!)
The bill sitting on the steps of Capitol Hill, depressed, until he gets passed.

Commercials:
"I'm Kukoo for Cocoa Puffs!"
"Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids!"
Boo Berry, Frankenpuffs & Count Chocula
Toucan Sam & Fruit Loops
Wow...didn't they advertise anything healthy? These are the ones that I remember most. Advertising doesn't work on kids at all. Nah.

The Indian crying at the polluted world. Well, that's not really funny or fun I guess. Made an impression though!

Toys:
Slinky. Play-doh. (love the smell still) Cabbage Patch Dolls. (U-G-L-Y. except the babies weren't too bad I guess) Strawberry Shortcake. The big Barbie head. I never had one, but wanted it so much! Now I can't do my daughter's hair because I never learned to braid or do anything on the big Barbie head! Maybe THAT'S why I never wore make-up all these years. It's YOUR own fault mom! (just kidding mommy. love you anyway.) Smurfs! (Smurfette was my fav of course) The Barbie Dreamhouse & Corvette. Of course I didn't have those either. But I really, really wanted them! However the big boxes with windows and doors cut out, hand decorated by moi, did well enough. It probably sparked my interest in interior design, so thanks mom on that one.

Events:
The advent of cable, microwaves, home computers, MTV (I remember rushing home from school to see the first music video...whatever it was. I can't remember! ;-), watching the premier of the Thriller video like it was a movie, cordless phones (remember PRE-cordless phones when you had to pull the cord really far until it was all stretched out so you could talk in privacy in the bathroom?), and the first space shuttle launch.

Oh there are probably so many more things I could reminisce about, but it's late and my memory is bad now that I'm a 'grown-up'. Hope that was fun for you too. (that sounded a little sleazy. Don't take it that way...you and your filthy mind!)

Oh I almost forgot. The thought/fact of the day is:
It's fun to reminisce!

It makes you feel young again. But then it makes you feel old because you realize these things happened MORE THAN 30 YEARS AGO!!! Hello?! Whaat? Well, what the hell. Kids these days don't know what they missed.

Check this out and have fun poking around. I know you will! Which reminds me, we didn't have these fancy things like the internet & blogs either. We had to go to the library, and write with pens, and open a dictionary to spell things like 'reminisce'! And we didn't have snow days unless there was 20 feet of snow. And another thing......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3q-zwvqBq8&feature=related

Hey, You Never Know!

I didn't want to write about my kids all the time, but it looks like it may be hard to avoid sometimes. After all, I spend pretty much 14 or more hours a day with at least one of them at all times. Besides, they provide good material and are 'mucho funny' sometimes.

So today was a half day of school, AGAIN (the third day in a row!), and on the agenda for the afternoon was art. Paint, gems, glue, stickers...the works. My son, Peter went to town and churned out a prolific amount of art. He was really in a frenzy, for hours, and even when dinnertime rolled around and my husband was scraping sequins off the table to make room for the kid-friendly (aka fried) fish fillets, he still didn't want to stop.

"I can't stop. I just want to do one more (which really means 5-10). I HAVE to. They're for Aida!"

I looked at the huge pile of artwork beside him. I'm not kidding. It was 10-15 paintings and some projects he created for her to have fun assembling herself. One of them was a lacing project...he had two cutouts of hands, each hand painted very decoratively and holes punched all around the edges. He found a piece of string to go with it so she can have fun lacing them together.

Now, I have to explain who Aida is. She is my good friend's daughter, she is his muse, and she is his 'wife'. Did I mention that my son is 5 and Aida is 4?

Peter has always been in love with Aida since they were old enough to talk, and one day he finally asked her to marry him. My friend Carolyn and I witnessed the proposal. We were in the locker room at the gym after swimming.

"Aida, will you marry me?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. "Ok."

He was over the moon, and he and his sister spent the whole night planning the wedding. He even made a top hat for himself out of black construction paper. Then he told me the plan for their future.

"When Aida and I get married, can she live with us?"

"Well, she is only four you know. Don't you think her parents will miss her?" He thought about that for a minute.

"I know. I'm going to build a house for us, right next to this house. We'll have a tunnel that connects the two houses and inside the tunnel will be the swingset. Then I'm going to buy all our furniture at the furniture store, except for the bunk beds. I'm going to build those for our kids. Because when Aida's a grown up she'll have babies."

"Well I'm happy to hear that someday I'm going to have grandchildren!"

"Yeah, and Isabella and Clara and Katherine (their combined sisters) will live in our house, and her parents will live with you and dad in your house. That way they'll still be near Aida."

"Sounds like an interesting plan. Are you going to work?"

"Oh definitely. On Saturdays I'm going to be a scientist who works in a lab, and on Sundays I'm going to be a meterologist, and at night I'll be an astronomer" (I think he forgot about his ambitions to be an astronaut too at that moment)

"What will you do the rest of the time?"

"I'm going to stay home the rest of the week to be with Aida! Then when we have kids I can help her with the kids." (Yep, that's my boy! Can a mom be any prouder?)

A couple of weeks later we finally had the big wedding during our regular pizza night get together. He was so excited and respectably nervous, as any good groom should be. The happy couple walked down the hall, Aida in a fancy dress borrowed from my daughter Isabella, and Aida's mom and I presided over the wedding. Afterwards, the traditional kiss. Then the cake cutting. It was great fun for all. Now Peter calls her his wife. He gives her gifts, makes her things, writes her letters, and after he won a trophy at the science fair a couple of weeks ago, ran through the crowd, looking for Aida to show her. I think he'll be a great catch someday for some lucky girl. I wonder if it will be Aida for real? (Is it weird that I have changed Aida's diapers?) And I know I like the in-laws already so that would be good by me!

So tonight after I read to Peter, we were lying in bed talking for a few minutes. I said something about how he'll always be my little boy and I asked if he'd come visit us in this house when he was a famous astronaut/scientist/meteorologist with his wife and kids if he had them.

"With Aida!" He insisted. He was kind of mad at me for even suggesting it might be otherwise.

Hmmm. I may need to start prepping him for reality at some point. But maybe not. After all, when was the last time I laid out big dreams and didn't even give it a second thought that they may not turn out the way I planned? That kind of naive certainty is wonderful. I still think of big plans, but now I have that pesky reality thing that gets in the way. Maybe I need to take a lesson from a five year old who has no doubts about what and who he will be when he grows up.

The thought/fact of the day is:
Forget reality once in a while and go ahead and dream big. Why not?!

Geez, I have to get off these happy, sappy themes. But I can't help it right now...maybe you'll luck out soon and I'll write some pessimistic, depressing stuff. Don't hold your breath though ;-) (Note the little happy face thing...I couldn't resist!)

So chances are that Peter and Aida will NOT grow up and get married and live next to us with a tunnel connecting our houses, but who am I to say it couldn't happen? Chances are I will NOT write the next Harry Potter, or become a famous artist, or host a decorating show on HGTV, or win Dancing with the Stars. (Actually, you can pretty safely bet on that one not happening, as many will attest to.) But what's the harm in thinking about it? Or, what's the harm in believing it? I think when I figure out what my ultimate dream is, I'll try to be like Peter. I'll forget reality and just forge ahead, knowing it's going to happen. Because, hey, really, you never know!

This picture was taken from the fire tower at the top of a mountain. My 7 & 5 year old had no doubts that they wanted to and could get to the top of that mountain on a rugged trail. And you know what...they did it!

Heaven In My Own Backyard

Last night I was able to sleep with the windows open for the first time this year, and I just love this! I wake up earlier than normal when I have them open because the cool air and the sound of birds singing pulls me from sleep. It's one of my favorite parts about camping in fact. The warm sun and the shadows of the leaves waving on the canvas of the pop-up, that cool air biting my nose, and that early morning orchestra of birds just singing their hearts out. It's the best. However, I always have a debate with myself before actually getting up.

"You could sleep for another hour, you know." says bad me.

"Yeh, but you'll probably just lie here and think about how you should get up and do something. Then you'll be mad that you wasted that hour." says good me.

"True. But it's nice and warm in bed here, and a whole hour of doing nothing. Think of it!"

Today good me won out and I got up and took a walk/jog. I knew I wouldn't regret it because I never do. As I was walking down our driveway one of our numerous rabbits in residence scuttered into the woods in front of me. At the end of our driveway my neighbor and her dog were looking intently into the woods.

"See something?" I asked.

"I heard a grouse. Do you know what they sound like?" she asked. I did not know what they sound like and she made a sort of quick thumping sound. Cool. I'll have to keep my eyes open for grouse I guess.

Then as I was walking up the road, still listening to the birds, I gazed at the mist sitting in the mountains. Further up the road two turkeys came running into the road ahead of me. They saw me and kept running ahead of me, in the road. All I could think of was the road race in my hometown every Thanksgiving called the 'Turkey Trot'. It made me laugh. Finally the worried looking turkeys figured out that they could just go back into the woods to escape me. "Whew. That was close!" they seemed to be thinking. That also makes me think of the other morning when I looked out my window and saw a flock of wild turkeys strutting around my car. They made their way through my yard, and what must have been the big kahoona (he was a huge bird for being a wild turkey), spread his tail feathers out just like you see pictures of on paper napkins at Thanksgiving. I've never seen that in person and it was pretty neat. I showed my 2-year old daughter and she squealed with delight. "Look at the chickens!" Well, close enough.

After that I came to the river and the birds in the marshes there were just going crazy. It was almost deafening! They were singing with a verve that made me think of Julie Andrews twirling on the mountaintop singing "The hills are alive with the sound of muuuuuusic!..." I almost broke out into song myself. That's the kind of morning it was today. Just me and nature communing. It was so much more uplifting than a cup of coffee. It was fuel for my soul. (Stop rolling your eyes...especially you, Annette!) Yes, I'm corny. Yes, I'm a nature freak. Yes, I love 'The Sound of Music'. And yes, I LOVE SPRING! Doesn't it just make YOU want to break out in song?! Well, you should try it. Go ahead, I dare you!

So, the thought/fact of the day is:
Go outside! Whenever you can.

In my humble opinion, there is no better cure for what ails you than being in nature. That is why I feel like the luckiest person in the world right now. I have a house in the country where I see rabbits, birds, woodchucks, turkeys and even bear. I was folding laundry on the screened in porch last night listening to the peepers, breathing in the dewy air, and I even heard a wild cat, probably a bobcat, screech. (That, I admit is a bit disconcerting since it was probably attacking something, but still. I like it better than the sound of sirens.)

We haven't been able to go any big vacations for years, but it's all worth it to have this house. I feel like I'm vacation 365 days a year! Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I truly always try to keep in mind how fortunate I am. I'm living my dream, and loving every moment of it! I'm definitely a country mouse, through and through! So, feeling blue? Take a walk down a country road or in the woods. You'll feel better in no time! I do.

These pictures were taken on a family walk last weekend. I wish I had some of our turkey visitors, but I wasn't quick enough.