Musings

I couldn't get any of my early attempts at a post to be just right. So I mushed a bunch of thoughts all together here on one. I've got many things running through my head, and many events running through my life. Running being one of them - which is where I do some of my best thinking. I haven't been on a run in 3 days, so you can get the brunt of how my mind works if you're so inclined to read on:

• I'm reading the classic book, Little Women. We watched the 1994 movie this week, and I was struck by how odd it seemed in relation to my memory. Not that my memory is very good, but I do recall the book being different than the movie ... go figure. And as I read I have concluded that yes my memory is intact. On this issue anyway. The book is so so so much better than the movie. Which is often (but not always) the case when Hollywood tries to capture a book in a movie. 
• Summer around here seems busier that the school year! What? Why? I'm suppose to be relaxing in the summertime right? Don't moms get a 3 month break also? Don't teachers get a summer vacation? Yeah .. about that... it's not happening so much. Maybe it has something to do with 5 kids, swim lessons, camping, 5 kids who eat a lot of food, shopping, cleaning, prepping for remodeling the house, and other fun summer activities that we want to do. But I love summer! 
• I'm pondering my littlest one's eating habits. I am sure I worry too much. I have that problem. But she doesn't always eat what I want her to eat. Hmm .. just writing that sentence I see where the problem may lie. 
• We're suppose to be going camping soon. A big blowout shin-ding with the extended family. It's an annual tradition (expect photos next week). And I still have to find a caretaker for the dog. My go-to person for this in the past ... has gone-to. Not dead! No! I mean, I don't think they are available for dog watching as they once were. Which means I need to find someone else. Or ask my neighbor. Which is probably what I will end up doing. But it means I have to use the phone. I really don't like calling people on the phone. (I had a job once for the State Treasury, where I had to just sit and answer phones all day. I hated it. Hated, hated, hated it. So glad it was temporary. My stomachache went away the day I left that job.)
• Remodeling the house - we thought we would be up and destroying the garage by now. But our waffling and waggling about how we wanted the plans has put us behind "our" schedule. Maybe not behind God's schedule, hmm.... We have 3 girls crammed into one room. The 10 yr old has been so patient about her younger sisters messes. Oh, how that 5 yr old can make a mess! I am finally getting what my mother went through with me. Yes, I was the child who's bedroom floor was rarely seen. I had piles and I knew where things were. (I still have piles, but mainly in the paper or book form now.) And the 8 yr old, well she's not quite as bad as the younger sister, but still has her moments of "I forgot to put that away." I've tried various forms of correction to help them keep their room clean. I've given them boxes for toys; drawers for clothes; hangers for dresses; a special hanging container for shoes. And yet things just get dropped and left there, until Mom gets frustrated and shouts says "Put these away!" I have worked at being specific with the younger girls, as in "Put the clothes in their drawer." Tonight I went in their room, and the day's laundry, which I specifically told them to put in their clothes drawers, was on the bed. In a nice neat pile of course. Now it is in my closet. In a not so neat pile. I wonder when she will miss those clothes enough to ask for them. I wonder if I will give them back to her.
• I have been running a bit more consistently in the past 2 weeks. It feels good! A brother of mine suggested a 5k that is coming up in 3 weeks. I think I can be ready for it. It won't be any kind of personal record breaker, but it will be fun to run. And my sweet husband has encouraged me over and over to get out and run. He has suggested a 5 miler in August, and then there is our becoming-annual-event in September. (One of us has run in it the past 3 years.) So maybe I am back on track. I think I just needed these sunny days to help me get back in the groove. No, actually now that I think about it - it was the friend at church who said she is training for a duathalon (not sure on that spelling). For some reason knowing this has been a huge motivator for me, even though I am not even thinking of doing that kind of a race.
• And finally I think this post is long enough. My brain is still racing around, but I think perhaps I may have spewed enough thoughts our for one night. Oh, that weird dream I had last night - being chased around a town, and climbing in bell towers, all while holding on to a rattling bottle of Zyrtec. And on that note I am ending! I can't imagine you wanting to know even that much.