You Don't See That Every Day

I think I have a sickness. On my counter there are lists. Lists of lists. There's the good old grocery list, which sometimes grows into more lists. (It's on the refrigerator.) The list for the Roth's store, the list for Safeway, the list for the Winco store, the list for Costco. Then there's the To Do lists. The All the Things in the House to Fix list, and the daily chores list. The list for what I am making for dinner. (At least this is in calendar form and not list form). The weekly list of what I need to accomplish. The reminders of whom I need to call. There's the list of schoolbooks I need to order, and the ones I have used in the past (to help me know what to order). There's the list for camping. The list of recipes I use regularly. The list of what the baby should or should not eat (-- guess it's time to toss that one!!) I'm sure there are more in there - I just can't finish THIS list without looking and making a list! And then the lists morph...

Last night was The Boy's first flag football game of the season. Yes, most football fans get going in the fall. But we have to be true to our strange selves and get excited about football in the summer. The city league plays for 6 weeks starting last night, running through the month of July. It makes for a crazy schedule, but it doesn't last too long. Anyway, the first play of the game, the ball sails into our boy's hands, and he takes off running; he thought he had been "tackled" - ie, his flag taken off, but he wasn't, so he kept on running. It was a beautiful thing to see. I tried very hard to control myself, stay in my seat and just cheer wildly, instead of jumping up and dancing on the field. Of course, in the excitement, I didn't take a picture. And the last play of the game - the one where I was running the Princess to the bathroom - the boy made a beautiful interception catch. It was such a fun night! These 3 ya-hoos decided to have their own fun. ...

It's time for swim lessons! This week the fun has begun! We started the kids in swim lessons many years ago, when the oldest was about 4 or 5. I never learned to swim, the Farmer never had lessons as a child either, so it has become a priority for us to have the kids learn. Not only for safety, but so when they go to a pool or lake or 'water world', they can actually have fun and not have to slide off the slide holding their nose, like I did! So the older two are now in level 6 (out of 10), my lil' chef is (still!) in level 2, hoping to move up today. And the Princess just began! She was so excited to finally join her older siblings in swim lessons. She practiced in the tub, she practiced on the couch. She was ready to jump right in on the first day! We have a deal, that whenever a child moves up a level, they will get a Jamba Juice of their choice on the way home from lessons. So far this week, i have not had to buy any. Last year, I bought 2 in one week for my Swimmer...

"souther" --[adverb] a direction, as in "We need to go souther from here." Ok, I will admit, this one came from me. And my husband won't let me forget it. In my defense, it was spoken in the heat of the moment, during our first ever family vacation. Our oldest was 9 months old, so I was still in the throes of raging baby-hormones and my brain wasn't properly functioning. But we still use it, 10 years later.

This is my dad. He collects tractors. Not collectible size tractors, but life size, as shown in the picture. I think he is getting one for every child of his. Or maybe every grandchild. (And that's a lot!) My dad has farmin' in his blood. He now farms the land he was born and raised on. When I was a child, we had a teeny tiny farm, plus acreage down the road that was a forest - literally. Looking back, it was a great place to grow up. At the time I didn't see it. As a parent myself, I can see it. My dad has worked hard all of his life, even after retiring, he never really did 'retire'. He keeps busy and I think this keeps him going. He taught us to work, every day except Sunday. And that work ethic is something I can't shake! Sleeping in - even on a Saturday morning - seems slothful! I knew - really knew - my Farmer was The One I had to marry, when he came home to visit and got along really well with my dad. Their first conversation was about fava beans. It was ...

We spent another afternoon at the farm. This time I weeded pumpkins, rows and rows of them, while my husband took care of stringing up the beans and planting some more carrots. As I raked that hoe continually I began to feel the ache in my arms, my back, my stomach. I thought, this must be a great addition to my workout! Now instead of lifting hand weights, I can hoe and weed and build up my arm-strength. How come those fitness gurus never caught onto that?! And the stomach - oh, I had my abs in tightly, working on that flab those 4 sweet little leprechauns left me. I even tried different ways of holding the hoe and ways of moving to see which side worked best, which side worked those arms more. No conclusive data there. Just a little blister on my hand.

We took the little mutt into the groomer yesterday. I figured she needed some kind of hair cut for summertime. She was starting to look pretty ragged and mangy. Here's the "Before" photo. (Ok, I tried to get an "after" photo and the dog just wouldn't sit still enough to capture her new look. You'll just have to trust me that she is a shorn sheep now)