Closed for Nesting

I have just spent the night alone IN MY OWN HOME!!!  The family had been farmed out to various locations and I was the one who got to stay put!! Hee Hee...I'm so giddy I'm frozen to the spot.  I know that this time is precious but also fleeting.  The clocks are spinning way too quickly around here...I'm running out of time!!  I am trying to "relax" and enjoy the solitude but at the same time I'm wanting to be productive.  I'm trying to cram in a lifetime of wants in a short amount of time.  Yesterday I had a dear friend over and we were able to catch up, laugh, and visit uninterrupted....I know! WEIRD!!!! It was amazing!  After she left I could immediately feel the heaviness of the blanket of quiet that fell upon me.  Should I watch a movie of my choice? Nah...don't want to "waste my time" sitting and staring for 2 hours.  Maybe I could write a little...nope...have nothing to say since my day went without chaos.  I know...I'll read....nope....that'll only make me tired.  Bath?  Wine?  Organize?  Exercise?  Okay...delirium was obviously starting to seep in (organize?!...exercise?!) So I ended up doing what any busy mom with time to herself would do...I went to bed early...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BED with my hands and feet touching all four corners....and I slept all night long!  It was glorious!!

Tired

Spent some time outdoors watching a flat tire being changed...ugh!  It scared me to think that the last time that I actually loosened a lug nut was back when I was forced to during a driver's ed class in high school.  Sure, I know that I could if I absolutely had to....but...ugh!  Especially on a day like today when just standing outside and not even moving resulted in sweat actually beading and dripping down my body...it was like a sauna...the stifling kind...the "you are going to suffocate and die if you don't rush out of here and into an air conditioned building" kind of stifling...ugh!  Just the thought of having to lie down ON THE GROUND even if it were on a blanket, and exert oneself FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGING A TIRE!!!! UGH!  You see, I hate to be the "typical woman" and expect a guy to change my tire...but....well.....they are just so good at it!

Squawk Box

Me: (in sweet voice) “Don’t forget to pick up all of your things around the house and take them to your room.”

Them: “---“

Me: (in whiney voice) “You need to get all of your stuff out of here.”

Them: “---“

Me: (in sharp tone) “I’ve already asked you several times to clean up…I want this mess picked up!”

Them: “we will.”(as they exit premises)

Me: (noting the entire contents of my bedroom drawers stacked in towering and teetering piles up the staircase) "AAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" (then I exit the premises)

For me summer is all about the opportunity to slow things down...to work on all of the projects I fantasize about completing "when I have time."  Project #1 is usually always the purging of junk in an effort to streamline and simplify life when I'm back at work.  The hard part about all of this is the fact that I don't necessarily want to spend my time off cleaning.  But then again I don't want to spend my time on cleaning either.  Truth be told: I don't want to clean-period!  Nevertheless I spent a couple of days taking all of the things I have squirreled away in my bedroom and have decided to squirrel them away in the loft (I never truly get rid of anything...I just move it from one room to another).  The method here is to stuff as much schtuff as you can in the one room most people are never likely to visit.  So, after this afternoon I should at least have a cleaner bedroom.  The loft will be cleaned next summer when I bring everything back down and cram it into my bedroom.

...and sat down beside her...

Just in case you've never been "fortunate" enough to see a black widow spider up close and personal I thought I'd show you a picture of the one that fell from grace onto my glass top patio table out on the porch yesterday.  The spider is on its back so you can see the tell-tale red hourglass marking on its abdomen.....creepy!  But having lived in the country all of my life I don't know what bothers me more...the spider or the dusty smears on the glass? 

Ta-Dah!

"Thank You....Thank You Very Much!  I'm so glad you have been enjoying my crowing practice every single crack of dawn morning of your summer vacation!" 

Ahh...livin' the country life!  Some people actually leave the convenience of the city to spend the weekend in the "peace and quiet."  Oh sure, it's quiet here...relatively speaking.  I sleep with earplugs every night and I can still hear the roosters' crows, the cicadas' songs, and the peeping of the peepers.  But these "noises" are very soothing and remind me that nature is "alive" all around me...even when things appear to be still.  It is nice to sit outside and hear the whir and zip of a hummingbird...the skitter and scratch of a tree lizard...the whistle and snort of a doe who saw you before you saw her.  There is truly something magical about living out in the country...about not seeing another human for days on end.  My country home affords me the luxury of solitude and reflection.  At home I am able to watch and learn from the animals who teach me something new every day.  Sure, the crowing contests outside can be a bit annoying (especially when they take place around 4 a.m.) but they can also be comforting as well.  In fact...they remind me of my own brood...the ones who scratch and peck...strut and crow...sleep and eat.  The ones who are starting to venture out a little farther from their coop with each passing day....but who, at least for now, return to their home nest every night.

Bullet List

A bullet list my day:


• Got allergy shots

• Reacted to allergy shots

• Played “I Spy” with police cars (kind of like "Slug Bug"...but without the slugging)

• Got pulled over by a police car (he just wanted to "give me some 'advice')

• Dropped off junk @the thrift store

• Bought more junk @the thrift store

• Took son to the cardiologist

• Took daughter to look at paint samples

• Paid a bill @a department store

• Bought more stuff @the same department store

• Tried to return a broken product

• Was told product worked “just fine” (when tested in the back room)

• Was welcomed at Cici’s Pizza

• Was thanked for visiting Cici’s Pizza

• Debated having a glass of wine after allergist gave me prednisone

• Decided if I was going to have another reaction I’d rather it be to wine

Yes, all of these things happened to me in one single day. Sorry to leave out the interesting parts.

Anybody Home?

Now this sounds like my kind of place!!  I couldn't help but to visualize a wrought-iron staircase spiralling down beneath the street's surface.  A kind of "cobwebby" kind of place....complete with an oddly quiet front desk manager.  The kind of place where all sounds of the "outside world" are completely muffled and you get the intense feeling that, even though you are the only one in the whole place....you are not as alone as you think.  A place where keys are unneccessary because the walls can't contain the spirits who serve you.  But if you are brave enough to stay...you eventually discover the lever to the hidden staircase in the wine cellar....and that's where you find a colorful and lively party of nobody's living it up!

"I Cry For Happy!"

This one's for all "my girls" out there!  (You know who you are!)  I miss the laughter...the "you had to be there" moments.  Being off work for the summer has its perks, don't get me wrong....but the women I work with...share my day to days with....well I miss them....terribly!  There is something to be said about comaradarie...especially among women.  Now that I am a part of the community of women who wet their pants everytime they sneeze I fell in love with this sign I saw in a shop window on the main street in Ruidoso, New Mexico during a recent road trip.  Even though the store was closed for the night that didn't stop me from taking a quick picture with my cell phone and sending it to all of my partners in crime.  It's moments like these that make me realize that life is all about our relationships with others.  It is about building memories out of moments that, at the time, don't seem that funny.....but.....later on down the road bring tears to your legs.

Too Small and Too Big at the Same Time

I knew my daughter had grown out of the majority of her clothes....but I had forgotten about the growing out of herself part of it all.  Yesterday, while purging her closet I discovered that she did, indeed, have carpeting in there after all!  Like most of us girls, my daughter gravitated toward the same few articles of clothing that were her favorites and basically ignored everything else taking up space and convincing her that she had "tons" of things to wear.  As it turns out she had good reason to neglect certain articles of clothing....especially the ones that were either four sizes too small or else resembled something a nine or ten year old would be more interested in.  Existing in the ambivalent and fuzzy area of "too big for the 'kid' section and too small for the 'adult' section, my teen daughter now has "nothing to wear."  Boy don't we all know that feeling...even with a closet full of clothes.  Like any responisble and frugal mother, I refuse to buy her anything for school until the day before it starts because she is more than likely to a)grow out of it the following week, and b)drastically change her opinion of what's "cool" based upon all of the look-alikes who flit about campus.  This "wait until August" approach does not sit well with my daughter but I am holding my ground.  As I held up each piece of clothing for her to say "yay" or "nay" to I had to admit that I, too, could instantly see most of it was a "nay."  Especially when I came to the oh so tiny denim mini skirt and little white shoes.....wait a minute!! She never wore that?!  This little "outfit" belonged to one of her stuffed animals....a beloved rabbit who was way better dressed than she ever was!  It was at this point when I realized that not only was my daughter outgrowing all of the clothes I just bought for her less than six months ago, but that she was also outgrowing all of the things that little girls play with as well.  No, I don't wish she would stay little forever...and, no, I don't reserve any tears for the years of following a toddler around....but I do realize that time is beginning to whiz by a little faster than it ever did before....which is weird in the sense that when life is crazy insane it seems like you are stuck in a time warp with no end in sight (such as when babies keep you up all night....such as when they only want to be held while you're attempting to eat dinner....such as when you have to pack, prepare, buckle up, unbuckle, carry inside--just to pump gas--and then repeat the whole process backward just to drive back home).  And yet, when your kids are finally old enough to bathe themselves, afford you the luxury of eating an entire bowl of cereal in one sitting, and actually teach you things....well time just whips right past you before you even have a chance to glance down at your watch.  On the bright side....I don't have to buy clothes for inanimate objects anymore.....unless you consider a teenager an inanimate object!

Probing for Time

Sometimes I feel like the only way I will be able to accomplish a task without interruption is if I were  abducted by aliens and whisked away...I'm not even scared of being probed....whatever it takes!  It seems that every time I sneak up the stairs to peck on the keyboard I am summoned for one thing or another....something usually urgent and important like retrieving a bath towel for someone in the shower...or to be shown the latest hair style on the latest Disney tween.  Silly me thought that during my time off in the summer I'd write during THE DAY instead of at midnight, five a.m., or...gasp...while commuting...but...there I went again....dreaming my crazy dreams...again!  Some habits are hard to break darnit!  Nevertheless I know deep down inside that I will write my entire life...and sometimes the actual writing part of it has to take second seat to the actual living of it (or else what would I have to write about?!).  So that is why I'm spending the day helping my daughter clean out her closet....(which, in itself is something definitely worth writing about!...stay tuned!)

The Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings....unbelievable.  Yeah....and do you know how you get to be able to view them?  You hike!  You climb!  You pant!  Yup....another day on "vacation" I was tricked into exercising!

You had me at STOP

  

 

Recently, while on "vacation," I came across 3 signs...the first one said "STOP," the second one said "CAUTION," and the third one said, "BE PREPARED."  Where were the "RELAX", "ENJOY", and "POOL THIS WAY" signs??? The words of Goldie Hawn's character in "Overboard" kept ringing in my ears: "I'm not supposed to be here!" Like Alice in Wonderland, I was beginning to wonder just what I was getting myself into. (How I wish the signs had been "EAT ME" or "DRINK ME!")  I was begining to ascend down down down into the rabbit hole...er...Carlsbad Caverns.  A huge hole in the ground...the dank, dark, cold, no one will be able to find you kind of hole.  And I was doing this because I was on VACATION.  Huh?  Wait just a second....did I just get tricked into exercising?! 

Compact Car

I drive a VW Jetta TDI.  I love my car.  I truly do.  I love it for multiple reasons.  One of the top reasons is that it gets, on average, 47-48 mpg! This comes in handy during family roadtrip vacations such as the one we just returned from.  The four of us, two adults and two teenagers, rode in our compact car from the Texas Hill Country, through New Mexico, up into Colorado, and back again over the past week.  And we brought all our stuff with us.  I don't know what it is, but I absolutely have to have my stuff with me--as in surrounding me and touching me at all times...kind of like my very own jackdaw nest.  Only....I totally need my space!  This poses quite the problem for me because, although I finally packed "light" (instead of a gigantic suitcase on wheels I brought a small suitcase on wheels...and a duffel...and a "bathroom/cosmetic pouch"...and a tote for all of my reading material...and a small backpack for all of the charger cords for our electronics......)
Luckily my son has been immersing himself in all things Bear Grylls so he packed like a true survivor and basically left home with the clothes he had on his back, and binoculars.  My daughter, thank goodness, does not have the pack rat/girl scout mentality of her mother and could carry her "luggage" in both hands.  Since my kids' legs are now longer than their torsos there was no way I would be able to scoot or lay my seat back.  Even when sitting in the back seat with my daughter for a while I had to convince my spine that it was comfortable in a twisted position.  But, with the help of my eyemask, my earplugs, and a couple Advil too many I lived to tell the tale.  We had a great time and were able to see some pretty amazing things.  Like the time my daughter got to stare at the soles of my feet for a couple hundred miles.