First Person Overload

I was tagged to do a 25 Things About Me thing on Facebook. I thought I'd put it here and kill two birds...so to speak. I can't actually figure out how to get it onto Facebook, so it might only be here. I don't know.

1. I love my new laptop, but it's a little more difficult for me to type on than the desktop.

2. I am extremely disorganized, but people keep putting me in charge of things. This causes stress and bad dreams about being asked to do things that I haven't the foggiest clue about. Really.

3. I love languages. I only speak two, but I would love the opportunity to learn more.

4. Almost all team sports bore me to tears. What is so exciting about watching a bunch of sweaty people running around with some kind of ball?

5. My novel is now a little more than 27 pages long. WooHoo!

6. Sarcasm tends to come naturally to me, despite my attempts to stifle it. I blame it on my genetics.

7. I married the best all-around man I have ever seen anywhere. Seriously. I find it hard to believe, sometimes, that I got him and it's not all just a dream.

8. I am looking forward to nice weather so I can get back on my unicycle. I'm going to have that thing figured out by the end of this summer.

9. I used to make fun of people that scrapbook, but once I had kids (and a jillion pictures of same) I started scrapbooking. (Hides head in shame.)

10. I have all these dreams and aspirations of things I want to know or do, but when it comes right down to it, I'm too lazy to learn/practice them.

11. My hands and feet are almost always cold. Whenever I shake hands in church, people tell me about it. (And so does my spouse when I use him as a foot warmer at night.)

12. I love to look through cookbooks (especially those with pictures) and pretend that I'm going to bake, but I secretly know better. (And so does my family)

13. It just kills me when I find out someone doesn't like me, but I tend to be a loud-mouthed know-it-all, which means quite a few people fit into the first category. This causes stress.

14. I play the drums, and I'm excited that we're getting a new set at church.

15. I would like to contribute to our family income, but the thought of going to work in some office just gives me the willies.

16. My spouse and I were dorm parents for three years at the boys dorm. It was a lot of fun, but I have to say it's nice to live in our own home now.

17. Next year Mim will be in Pre-K and Zaya will be in Kindergarten. Can we say, "Sweet Freedom"?

18. That being said, I'm still not entirely sure whether or not I should put them both in full or both in half day.

19. I love hot tea. I can't have caffeine (it causes vicious heartburn) so I buy a great variety of de-cafs and drink them year round.

20. I have no natural sense of style. None. My house and my person are both all but completely undecorated because I just don't know how.

21. Like every mother the world over, I find that my children give me both great joy and great frustration in almost the same instant. Frequently.

22. I'm obsessed with studying about WWII. Particularly the 6 or 7 years preceding it and the early years of the war itself. I cannot explain this.

23. I have a blog (at http://stilltakingbabysteps.blogspot.com) so I don't spend much time on Facebook.

24. I don't watch much TV, but when I do it's usually something like Jeopardy or Antiques Roadshow. I also like House, but only when I can watch a whole season at a time. I don't like cliff-hangers.

25. I read a lot. This often interferes with my motherly and wifely duties. Oops.

Ought, Should...but Probably Won't

I'm eager to get my computer out of my three-year-old's room and into the family den; for obvious reasons, I think. It will be a bit easier to keep up with my internet addiction when the main source is more accessible.

There are so very many things I should be doing right now. If I were organized and motivated I'd make a list and start working my way through it, but...I'm not. Let's face it.

It's supposed to be icy today and tonight... and tomorrow. So far, nothing has happened out here, but they're expecting something. We actually need the precipitation, because we're in a drought right now, but we'd prefer it come in rain or snow form instead of that dangerous intermediary we usually get in the winter.

In other news, I recently discovered one of my cryptogram books sitting on the shelf and innocently picked it up, thinking I'd do a puzzle or two while I sat and watched the news. Bad idea. I'm now on puzzle 105, and not even half-way through the book. (In my defense, 30 of those had been previously solved.)

Here's a picture of Mim. I wish I could just wave a royal scepter and send minions to do my housework for me, but I suspect that's never going to happen. I guess it's up to me.



Update: It's very slick now on the roads, even though there has been no actually precipitation. It's a freezing mist. Zaya's school was canceled for the rest of today and for tomorrow also. Between Daddy and Uncle C, I think we'll get him home soon.

Look Out Below

Every baby needs to be safe. Some essentials include a booster seat...and a hardhat; at least according to Mim.

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. I can think of at least one ER trip that would've been avoided if Baby Zaya had been wearing a hardhat.

Artistic Interpretation

Mim drew a picture with her markers this afternoon. She was telling me about it, and this was roughly how it went.

Mim - This is a beautiful colored tornado, but it doesn't have any tomatoes in it. This red right here is fire, and this yellow is sun, and here's a Christmas tree up here.

Me - Oh, did the tree get swept up in the tornado?

Mim - No, the house is far, far away from the tornado.

I don't really see the connection between cyclones and tomatoes, but apparently the two frequently go together.

I actually think she does what I suspect most modern artists of doing, which is interpreting the piece on the fly after they've done it and had a good look at how it came out.


On another note, the kids are in the bathtub right now, and Zaya asks, "How does water transform into blood?"

To which Art responded with an explanation including the words white blood cell, platelet, assimilate, and transfer. OK, actually it was Zaya who added platelet, so maybe he's listening to all the jargon after all.

Life is strange here.

Stitch in Time

All three of these things were handmade by my Aunt J, and I just thought I'd show them to the net. The sheep is Zaya's, the doll is Mim's and the pig is mine. The pig was made some 20+ years ago, actually, and used to have a brood of piglets too. They still exist, I think, but I'm not sure where exactly. The sow appears to have lost her eyes over the years too, but I've kept her all this time.

There were other gifts that Aunt J made when I was young: two dolls, and some doll paraphernalia; a ceramic rabbit that is now sitting on Mim's dresser; and other things that are lost in the mists of childhood.

How can you ever repay someone for a gift that took such an incredible amount of time, talent and patience? I haven't figured out a way yet, but I'll keep thinking. If I just had some kind of marketable skill...

Anyway, in case I haven't said it in a while - thanks Aunt J. We really appreciate what you've done. If you ever need anything from me, let me know.

I don't know how you working mothers (including my own) do it. The house is a disaster, and will be for the foreseeable future.

Art asked me what he could do to help me this week, and I told him he could try not to care what the house looked like for the week. He said he thought he could manage. I've got a few overflowing baskets of laundry, but those will just have to wait for...well, not Saturday, maybe next week sometime. At least we all have underwear and blue jeans clean.

Actually, I gripe but I'm having a lot of fun teaching this week. I only have two classes each day, but they've been very good and I like all the students. I don't know if we're accompishing as much as their teacher wanted us to accomplish, but we're in there trying anyway.

My kids have been staying with their Grandma T every afternoon from noon to 3. They've had a blast, and I hope Grandma is not too tired. We've only got one day to go, so I think we'll survive.

They found this hat in Grandma C's classroom today after school, so I had to get some pictures. I wore this sometimes in high school when I walked over from the dorm in the rain. Crazy times. Zaya appears to have the elastic band a little crooked. I like the goofy expression, though.

Happy New Year

Today is the last day of Christmas break, and I'm sorry to see it go. I've enjoyed having both kids around and not having to drive to W'ville every day. (They're wearing their duck and frog towels from G-ma T, with which they're currently obsessed.)

Back to the grind, though, starting Monday. And how.

Zaya will be going back to school; Art will work all week (he had four days off last week and three this week) and I'll be substituting all next week for my aunt-in-law at my alma mater. (Spanish I)

I'm not sure if that's a more frightening prospect for me or the students, as my actual teaching experience is very limited. It will be two classes a day, and I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to do with them, although I have a lot of things to choose from. I think it will depend on the students themselves. We'll just have to see on Monday, I guess.

In other news, I haven't learned to ride my unicycle yet, but I'm getting better (and more bruised). The kids are doing artwork right now, which means, this time, cutting and painting. In combination, I guess, although I've asked them not to cut any piece of paper with wet paint on it. We'll see how that turns out.

I'm off to tame the laundry monster. Wish me luck. Here are a couple more of my favorite pictures from the last two weeks.