A breezy Sunday walk

 

 

Sunday's fast becoming my favorite day of the week, as work has us all whirling by each other in various formations like demented tops during most of the week. Between to-dos, schedules, chores and naps, we have been doing a good job managing to get it all done in a more or less organized fashion - though my floors could be clearner and the pantry stocked better, but by this Saturday we hadn't spent very many consecutive hours as three in one room in a while.

Anyways this morning we awoke to a beautiful, freshly-scrubbed sunny Sunday morning (after it stormed all night) and decided to go for a leisurely walk through our sleepy town (which observes Sunday morning with closed shops) and let Gus give his walk-bike its fartest ride yet.

He fared well, riding most of the way and occasionally getting the hang of it - the concept of sitting while walking puzzles him at times. The cool breeze blew petals around us like a ticker tape parade and the sun kept us cozy while we sauntered on empty sidewalks through lovely Brevard.

A blessed Sunday.

So big!

 

 

Gus is inching up...almost 35 inches last time I got a chance with the measuring tape. Huge feet (Kensch die Schue, Mami?) and all legs and arms. I carried him into the library in my Ergo carrier this morning, the first time in several months, and I noticed that his feet are hitting me in the back of the knees now...not much longer before he looks me straight in the eye.

A simple delight

 

It's 1 p.m. and I haven't showered yet...

..but I've emptied out Gus' piggy bank, rolled a gazillion (well, no it wasn't a gazillion but it sure felt like one)pennies and dimes and a few quarters into tubes, brought them to the bank and deposited them into my son's savings account. He is rich by my standards. He was very happy to take back possession of his beloved piggy with a few Swiss coins rattling around in it.
...and I've also bought out the grocery store (again, not really, but viscerally so) and battled the old cranky bagger man who doesn't like my very-Swiss, very-stylish reusable shopping bags and victoriously schlepped my loot back to the car with Gus somewhere in the tangle of it all...
...not to mention, I managed not to forget to get gas. I only fill this car up every six weeks or so, so remembering it is a chore.
...and finally I fed a cranky child and had a one-sided lunch conversation with my preoccupied husband (fire studies are filling his head to capacity) then tucked my very sleepy, yet very uncooperative son into bed for a nice mid-day nap...

Then I remembered that in all of it I forgot to eat.
So I'm seizing the chance to eat what I really want to eat.
A Tomato-mayo sandwich. Simple, savory and delicious. Bread, mayo, tomato slices and salt...with a side of sweet peppermint ice tea (no ice for me) and the newspaper.

Bliss. Baby. Bliss

40

 

Today I'm 40 for the third day and this is my favorite moment of the day. A small bucket, a large, gangly and grimy toddler in it with some soap and suds - clean up from "yard work" before nap time.

My actual birthday was quite underwhelmingly dull. Woke up with a cold, worked, had a quiet evening with Gus while Jacob was at school. A few phone calls, a couple of cards, I lacked the energy to even fake enthusiasm.
I'm not sad or grumpy, and I can't claim to be surprised...it's been a long time coming. Still the finality of the arrival of a new decade - one that traditionally marks middle-age - has me grasping for words and thoughts.
Sure, 40 is the new 30, and I'm one fit 40-year-old, and bla bla bla...still it's a milestone to be reckoned with and even a short pause in the greeting card aisle a few weeks ago (to buy other - younger - people birthday cards - left me depressed because 40 is where the greeting card industry begins to leave off the exclamation marks (Finally! You're 25!!!) and replaces it with lame-cheery jokes about bowel movements and exaggerations about volume of birthday candles.

Here are my thoughts on being 40.
- Even my most recent, slow trail half-marathon (1:57:36) still beats my first half-marathon run at the tender age of 32 by about 12 minutes (of course, I could still smoke 10 cigarettes in a single sitting back then, too).
- Yes, my highlights are natural, shiny, shimmery even...and I don't intend to ever have someone charge me an arm and a leg to put a hundred little foil pieces in my hair and make me look like a deranged astronaut before rinsing it all out and declaring it - over distincly toxic smelling fumes - "very natural".
- I got longer, deeper lines on my face and freckles that are banding together to form blotches, but I have all my teeth and I no longer worry about what eyeshadow could possibly turn me into a supermodel.
- I am way smarter than I was at 30. Way, way, way.
- I'm married to a better man than I was at 30. The best man for me.
- I have a style. It's my own. And I stand by it.
- I'm wittier than I was at 20 or 30 and I intend to be wittier even when I'm 50. By 60 I hope to sprinkle some wisdom in there with all the wittiness.
- I'm a mother now. A Christian and a wife to a good man. I didn't squander my 30s.
- I take all the compliments I can get. I don't fish for them. I like to think I work for them and I accept them as a job well done.
- I will make my 40s my change-is-good-for-me years, as a creature of habit, it takes effort for me to accept changes (as in aging) so I might as well celebrate how intentional changes can bring about new contentment.
- I'm certain my 40s will hold many new discoveries and lessons for me. I vow to be open to all of them - on most days.

Yeah, Happy Birthday to me.

I need a sandbox!

 

 

Wanted a wood-frame sandbox with lid (Daddy is out fighting fires too much to make one)..or to a good home: Nearly 3-year-old ash-covered and -smudged boy with lots of wood particles matted into his hair. Comes with old chimenia that he can't stay out of.

My poor dish pan can barely keep Gus in, but I couldn't bring myself to bring him in the house. I did use lukewarm water though...

Changing it up

 

 

 

I'm so excited and full of high hopes for my two guys to have more time to spend together. And though I'm a bit sad about going back to work and somewhat anxious about handing over - at least partially - the reigns over House and Gus, I know in my heart that it is a step in the right direction as we move through the two's and into the three's.

I pray for an exciting summer for them, full of mutual discoveries of each other and their suroundings and many moments of simple delights in each other - it is a time like no other and special in every way. I'm so grateful I have had all this stress-free time to play and be active with Gus and I want nothing less than that for Jacob to share with his son.

Next stop: preschool. Wow!

Happy Easter!

 

 

 

He's risen, it's true and under the blazing blue Alabama sky we felt blessed in every way to spend the day with family and three little happy boys, so wiggly no camera can capture them in all their funny ways.

But we tried anyway. What with matching outfits and all.

Happy Easter!

The Hunt is On!

 

 

 

Saturday morning, Gus got to hunt eggs at a great Easter Egg hunt hosted by his Granna's friend, Gloria. He had little interest in money-eggs (yes, there were eggs with Quarters in them...I was fond of those) or others with little toys in them. His strategy was to hunker down with each egg and inspect it for candy/chocolate potential - foil and all. He had to ride out a nasty sugar high for the rest of the day, but he didn't mind it one bit in the moment.

Makes me think that I need to observe lent next year to bring balance to the equation.

A Royal Friend

 

 

She's a man-weary donkey, who keeps her cow comrades safe from coyotes and generally keeps a low profile. But Princess has a soft spot - literally - for Gus and he adores her. The apples we bring her don't hurt the mutual affection either, but I think it's the kiss she allows Gus to plant on her neck that seals their friendship once and for all.

She won't allow any adults near her, but she lets Gus get close enough for cuddles - so cute!

Back to Work

 

 

Back to work, back to reality...I'm ready and eager to get back into a life with a paycheck and I'm also excited for Gus to get to spend more time with his Daddy (and vice versa) so here I go!
Mayberry's Soups & Sandwiches will open officially for business Tuesday, but we'll be prepping and testing and training all of Monday and hopefully work the bugs out to a point where patrons will forgive us if we aren't the fastest but hopefully the tastiest entertainment in town.
I met the entire crew I'll be overseeing today and I'm pretty impressed with the people I'll be working with. Some sweet and funny high-schoolers, a young mother and another middle-ager like moi-self, we laughed hard today and had a lot of fun tasting things and bonding a bit.

Jonathan & Kelli McLeod are the proud owners of this brandnew eatery in downtown Brevard and I pray that all their high hopes and hard work will be rewarded with a lifely, profitable business - oh, and a steady paycheck for me in a fun environment.

Monday, here I come.

Earthshine Lodge

 

 

 

Our loyal friends, Heather & Rion, invited us to come along and tool around at Earthshine, where Heather walked down the aisle into matrimony with her husband, Richard, not so long ago. We loved the feisty ducks, who loved the saltine crackers we had brought for snack, and Gus and Rion - being the boys that they are - loved "riding" the tractor that was parked behind the donkey's shed.

One last (f)unemployed outing for me with Gus. I'm a bit heavy in the heart thinking of this.

Shelves for me

 

This past weekend was a good one for my spirits in more than one way. With my ever-helpful (and funny) father-in-law visiting, I punched through some to-dos on my longterm-to-do list (I keep one of those in the back of my daily planner) and I even pestered the father-son team into finishing up these two beautiful shelves that will put the finishing touches on my kitchen/home office...I realize that I may take organizing to a worrisome level, but shelves or closets or any mention thereofs is as exciting to me as a pair of Manolo slingbacks on sale are to a fashionista.

I can't wait til they go up - hopefully quicker than another six months.

One more week until I return to full-time work. Every check mark makes me feel better about handing in the full-time mom/homemaker reigns...whatever I said at times. I'm very grateful for that year of (f)unemployment and full-time mothering.