5.24.2012

half full / half empty :: in which I catch up on everything

Inspired by Amanda at The Habit of Being and her half full / half empty posts (if you haven't read her blog, I'll bet you'll love it!)

Warning: I'm feeling kind of rambly.

Half full:
- warm sunny evenings that bring us outside after supper until bath time

- the same evenings that have the windows open and let in that summer
night smell

- listening to the Deconstructing Dinner podcast while driving for work - I can't say enough about how much I have learned / how much it inspires me. (They aren't currently producing new episodes, but all of their archives are available. Episode 20 made me feel a little bit like a new person - Joel Salatin and Judy Rebick are featured. Swoon!)

- Speerville Flour Mill - I'm picking up part of a group order tomorrow with some seeds to sprout and other goodies. Yum! I love, love, love their foods and philosophy. (There's a Deconstructing Dinner podcast about them, actually!)

- feeling good about work this week and getting lots of good things done

- the word 'ought'. I love it.

- handfuls of woodland hyacinths on the table

- an explosion of herbs in the garden - anyone need some oregano? Parsley? Lemon balm?

- feeling inspired and excited about the terrific local food options we have at this time of year, and excited for the market on Saturday.

- feeling rested and relaxed after our little bit of time away



Half empty:
- losing patience with a boy so tuckered out that he's wound up at bedtime and pushes all of my buttons

- trying to plan a fun, relaxed birthday party without thinking about how other people will think about it, which is something I don't usually have a hard time with at all but seem to be this time around. We've invited a bunch of people we don't know too well, so maybe that's it. Also, I don't want P to be focused on the gifts (and I secretly hope he doesn't get a pile of 'stuff'), but I also want him to have his special day without me insisting on people bringing donations for the food bank and no regular gifts, because I don't want that, either. Sigh.

- having a measuring cup explode in the microwave (full of ingredients for my new deodorant recipe which didn't seem to work super well today)

- I think the birds ate a bunch of my peas, and I need to plant more.

- The second hand lawnmower wheels need to be adjusted so the lawn doesn't need mowing every six minutes. (Which is something Adam will look after, so I don't even need to be thinking about it.) The dehumidifier in the basement died. There are a bunch of spots in and on the house that need paint touch ups. Etc. Some hired help would be nice to have around. Something like Downton, maybe? A driver, gardener, cooks... that sounds nice right now.

On another note entirely, the boys had their first beach afternoon today with Adam. School and the beach in one day! I read a post last week about a term new to me - 'afterschooling'. In theory, I think I like the idea. Well, wait - maybe I don't. Or maybe I do, but not the classical variety. It seems too structured and planned, especially done in addition to 'school school'. I like unplanned learning. Maybe when kids are older and if there are specific areas they're interested in / lacking in school. Thoughts?

There - thanks for letting me empty my brain. So glad that tomorrow is Friday!

1 comment:

  1. Hopefully neither you nor your microwave was hurt in the explosion! That's scary...and a pain to clean.

    No thank on the lemon balm, as I mentioned in a reply to someone, ours is on the verge of mutiny and if weren't for the crazy garlic chives we have, the LB would take over in a heartbeat.

    As for after-schooling, I'm with you on unplanned learning. In fact, even though we're not unschoolers, we do a lot of unstructured homeschooling. The boys do have workbooks and textbooks and science labs now that they're older, but mostly I want them to learn by serendipity and because something totally captured their interest. So that's my 2 cents. ;)

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