Clean Slate Sunday: 11.10.13 Pre-hunting-opener-and-Thanksgiving Edition

Pre-hunting edition because firearm deer season begins later this week and that means our house is abuzz and the excitement spills out into the surrounding neighborhood, down the street to the 100-yr-old schoolhouse-turned-family deer camp.

Pre-Thanksgiving edition because ... hello. I've got the annual Iron Chef America Thanksgiving episode on TV and it just makes me more excited for the upcoming holiday. I love Thanksgiving. Every year we spend Thanksgiving day with my in-laws (and various extended family and friends), then we go to my uncle's house for another dinner and more visiting on Saturday. Family, food, football, relaxing, leftovers, maybe a little Christmas shopping. What's not to love?

The most exciting event for me, though, is that Steve will be coming home for a couple days of hunting next weekend, then after one more week of work he'll be laid off and home for several weeks.

OK, the layoff isn't exciting, but dang it's been a long year of (basically) living apart, we've had a lot of tragedy and unexpected deaths in our community these past few months which makes me miss him even more, and I welcome the opportunity for our family to have some time together to just ... be. I miss living the day-to-day with the love of my life by my side. Sure, we are both a little concerned about finances as anyone would be, but we've been here before and never starved - plus there are prospects for the future and I have a feeling that after just a few days off Steve will start to get a little twitchy and will be making some phone calls.

The man cannot sit still for very long. It's one of the things I love about him.

I have a busy week ahead, but I'll be watching the clock and counting down until it's time for me to head to the airport to pick Steve up. Thursday morning. Three days!

Just some pictures.

Lack of inspiration on the blog-front lately.

Well. Life is always full of material. Maybe just lack of inspiration to write it all down.

I have been taking pictures, though. Here are a few.

 Caught some robins bathing in a puddle in the driveway.

 Fall colors.

 Leaves on the deck.

 A holy seagull? *groan*

Pink skies.

Pumpkin carving with the neighbors.

My own little reminder of what a beautiful fall it's been.

I went here today ...

 I went to town to have lunch with a friend and I couldn't possibly go straight home without saying hello to the water.

Hello, Lake Michigan.

Soon the skies above will be grey and dreary and the sand will be cold underfoot and will sting our faces on the breeze. But not today. 

No, today was beautiful.

Hello, October. Woof.

Today was one of those perfect fall days ... sunny and breezy one moment, the next moment overcast and a harbinger of what's to come.

I've had a lot on my mind. Some things I just need to put onto paper and sit someplace quiet and sort out myself. Others I can do nothing about but pray. For intervention. Guidance. Grace.

I also just finished with a pretty extensive DIY project - installing about 600sf of laminate flooring - and in the week it took me to finish it I let some other things slide. So of course now certain areas are in chaos until I find time to pick up the pieces.

This afternoon I needed to get away from all the crap about the government shutdown - on TV, online - and away from the phone and e-mail and just breathe for a few minutes. So I grabbed my camera (which was dusty! For shame.) and took my sweet, silly Gunnar for a walk down the driveway to grab the mail and say hi to my brother-in-law's dog, Baby.

It felt so good to just watch them play and smell the leaves and feel the breeze on my face. I got down on my belly and rolled around with them and got some great photos. It's amazing what a little time outside with our four-legged friends can do for the soul.

How can this not make a person smile?

My handsome boy.

I just love those expressive eyes.

 Giving Baby a little love.

 Rollin' around. We should all do this now and then, no?

 Hmm. Ball or apple?

Ball?

Apple?

 Oh, that tongue. Gunnar's just about worn out by this point.

Sweet Baby. There's a lot of energy in that little dog.

"Hey, that's MY ball!"

 Pure joy.

Dogs are so intelligent. We sure could learn a lesson or two from them. Like, need a pick-me-up? Go outside, meet a friend and toss a ball around. Voila!

And then the wheels came off.

We sailed right into the first week of school, all sunshine and roses and good attitudes and willingness to learn and try new things.

Wait. No. That wasn't us.

We stumbled into a new school year, still bleary-eyed from summer travels, bundles of nerves over each kid moving up to new buildings, a little attitude a la teen boy and preteen girly thrown in the mix.

By Day 3 we all overslept and when Rachel woke me up at the precise time we should've been heading out the door to the bus stop I said "screw it" and set my alarm for 45 minutes later so I could snooze a little more and still have at least enough time to make myself a piece of toast to eat while I drove them to school.

Some days I feel like I really suck at this parenting thing. I want to tell my kids when I was your age my mom left for work before daylight and I had to get myself up and ready and to the school bus. Every day. All by myself. Oh, and I had to share space with one of my brothers (by the time I was Rachel's age my oldest brother was off to college). Missing the bus was not an option. So why do they think it is? Who gave them the idea that asking mom to make a 40-minute round trip to drop them off at school just because they're tired so they want to sleep for another hour was ok? Me?? The one who would take another hour of sleep over almost anything? Surely not. *ahem*

I admit I have, at times, probably given my children mixed messages. I've been inconsistent. I have called in the troops (daddy) (grandmas and grandpas) when these children have worn me down so far my sanity is hanging by a thread. Other times my resolve is probably a little stronger than it needs to be and I refuse to budge on something that, in the long run, doesn't really matter.

That phrase "choose your battles" comes to mind.

Yeah, I'm not always good at that. But these kids? Oooh, they will make things up to fight about.

There are times - last night was one of them - when the wheels just come right off this buggy and we, the kids and I, careen down into a mess of overtiredness and ugly words and anger and frustration and slammed doors and lots of tears. My survival strategy is to ... well, for the most part I just hold on for dear life. But then I also remember this, too, shall pass, and I think about the good times, the times when there were no angry words, there was no sarcasm, and nobody felt like the world was out to get them.

I remember the small moments. When he squeezed my shoulders on the way out the door for a weekend with the guys. When she helped me bring in everything from the garden, in the dark, the night it was forecast to freeze. When they worked on something - anything - together or listened to music from the same iPod or he taught her something new or she pretended to be interested in what he was telling her about his latest project. Without bickering.

I am so. tired. of the bickering.

So I went to bed last night praying for forgiveness and mercy, and begging God to help me get through another day without further scarring my children. And guess what? The sun came up this morning. We made it to the bus stop with a minute or two to spare, though no one had showered or brushed their teeth and I don't care who knows. Life goes on in all its imperfect glory. Halleluiah.

I'm going to take a nap.

Back to the grind.

You'll all be happy to know we have survived two full days of school and we are no worse for wear.

At least I don't think so.

The weather has been nice - perfectly fall-like - and I have been busy tackling stuff I put off all summer while we were gallivanting all over God's creation pretending like the laundry would do itself and summer would last forever.

Summer's over, people. OH. VUR. (I'm saying this to myself and my children as much as anyone else.)

And sadly, there is no laundry fairy. Hmph.

So while we all adjust to earlier mornings again and the kids settle into their school day routines, I get back on task here at home. There is much to do. It's no wonder I always felt frantic when I was working full time and the house was chaos. Now I'm here all the time and trying to do all those extra little home maintenance things that got put off because we never had time. Oh, and some fun stuff too. And raise a coupla' kids and a few animals and some fresh tomatoes along the way. And write. Because writing = breathing for me, and breathing is important.

Also important: daddy! Steve is going to be home for the weekend and I can hardly wait. If I could keep him locked up at home and all to myself I would, but the likelihood of that it pretty slim. And that would be pretty selfish of me anyway.

I have a bunch of pictures from summer that I had intended to share, but in the interest of ... well, keeping things interesting ... I'll just post a couple of my favorites.

 Checkin' out Endless Caverns in New Market, Virginia.

Cool cavern pic.

Seriously, it was amazing.

 Pretty farm view. Just because.

This is what I picture in my mind when I think of Virginia.

 The kids taking in the view at one of the stops along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.

Butterflies and bumblebees. They were everywhere at this particular overlook.

My loves.

 

The story of my life. Blurriness and all.

I don't know why, this picture just cracks me up.

So there you have it - a glimpse at how we spent much of August. I have missed blogging and I'm happy to have a little more time to get back to it regularly now. Lots of little things I've been wanting to share just so I can remember them myself in a year or twelve. Onward!

Memories from Mackinaw. And "Mackinac." (Love those Brits.)

My house resembles a war zone. My dogs need some focused attention. The kids start school in a month and we're not even close to ready. I have half a dozen half-baked projects scattered all over the place. And I am just beginning to tame the laundry. Oh, and there may be things growing in the refrigerator that could be considered uncivilized.

But I wouldn't change any of it if I had to give up the weekend I just spent with my girl.

Rachel and I camped for two nights with her Girl Scout troop in Mackinaw City, and spent all day Saturday on Mackinac Island. It was Rachel's first time seeing the Mackinac Bridge and visiting the island, and I am so glad I got to experience that with her.

 

On a shopping excursion Rachel had her fortune read by the creepy-looking gypsy lady in the box. Part of her fortune said, "Your cool thinking sees you through a mishap with a Taurus or Leo ..."

I'm a Leo. Ha!

Fortunately we didn't have any mishaps over the weekend. Except that Saturday was my birthday, and I did get pooped on by a bird. At least it wasn't in my hair. Happy birthday to me!

Getting ready to board the ferry to Mackinac Island. Rach was a little nervous. She got over it.

One of the horses that pulled our carriage on the first leg of our tour. The tour company uses each team for only four hours at a time, and we were lucky enough to be able to watch the handlers switch our team for fresh horses. They are all very good - and quick - at what they do!

 This was the 3-horse team for the final leg of our tour. That's Wade on the right. He was moving a little slow that day, so the tour guide was fussing at him (good-naturedly). Look at that face ...

One of our stops was at the Butterfly House.

It was awesome. The girls loved it. And I had a new camera to play with.

Beautiful butterfly pictures!

Rachel pointed out that this butterfly looks like a fish. And there was a little pond just to the right ... so he looks like he's about to jump in! Can you see the fish?

 One of my favorites landed on Rachel's finger.

 

 And she had a couple land on her hoodie.

 I think this is my favorite photo. I love the blue of the butterfly against those huge, green leaves.

 The carriage tour also took us by the cemeteries. If I had a little more time I would have loved to walk around and take more pictures there.

 Military cemetery.

Another stop on the tour:

 The view from Arch Rock down the shoreline.

 After our tour, Rach and I rented bikes and just rode around for a while. It was SO busy on the island that day! We even got in a little traffic jam involving bicycles, horse-drawn wagons and carriages ... we decided to get off our bikes and walk them through that.

 We took a little loop that goes right along the shoreline and stopped for a few minutes to take in the view.

 Me and my girl.

 A view of the Mackinac Bridge on our way back to the mainland. It had been overcast all day and it was a chilly ride back in the evening.

We had a fantastic time. I always feel so blessed (and exhausted!) after we spend time with Rachel's GS troop. The girls all get along so well and I love spending time with the moms, too - several of us go way back, but I consider each of them friends - and we're a good mix of cooks, nurturers, planners, outdoorsy-types. And thankfully, everyone has a great sense of humor. Because when your dinner burns and the craft project doesn't work out as planned and the campfire is mostly billowing smoke, a sense of humor comes in pretty handy.