Category: mumbling

As vacation looms in the distance, I have begun to think that I had a major lapse in judgment when I convinced Tom that a 12 hour drive to the beach would be totally doable. 12 hours. In a car. With three children under ten. And then we have to drive back.

Seriously, what was I thinking?

In order to continue sleeping at night, I needed to begin formulating a plan.

My first step will be to go to the library and check out 20 DVDs the kids have never seen before. Then I will check out some audio books of the Magic Treehouse series, which kind of get under my skin, but the kids find fascinating.

I will load the phones with free apps of every kind.

But, inevitably, all this media will become boring.

So part two of my plan is to bring out one new entertaining thing every hour of the drive. Each hour I will unveil some thing they can fiddle with for at least fifteen minutes.

This seemed like a really great plan until I did a quick calculation of everything in my cart at Target, and I had a small heart attack. So part 2B of my plan was a challenge myself to find one thing to entertain three children for a twelve hour drive, both ways, for under $100. (That’s 24 things, if you’re counting.)

I am proud to announce my victory.

As I was flipping through some old entries the other day, it occurred to me that this blog was becoming one of those blogs I used to loathe because it’s all happy and sunny and I never talk about anything going wrong.

Which, good golly, couldn’t be any further from the truth. We’re still having tantrums and morning marathons attempting to get to school on time. And, the laundry—oy! It will just never be all the way done. The dogs won’t stop barking and the chicks won’t stop pooping. The roof still leaks when it rains too hard, and no one can tell us why. And then there’s the incessant beeping from the construction vehicles that are building a school in our back yard.

But, for some reason, it’s just not bugging me as much lately.

Maybe it’s the sunshine and all the new that is peeking out after a long winter. Maybe I’ve reached my limit (albeit likely temporary) of how much I can fret over things I can do nothing about. Or maybe I’ve realized I do have power to affect change, and I’m less afraid to use it. Maybe I’ve taken the time to peek forward at what life is like with children the next bit older, and I’ve realized that these are, in fact, the simple years, so I’d better enjoy them.

Whatever it is, I just have this feeling that things are going to sort themselves out. Or maybe they are sorted out. I’m beginning to think the kitchen is clean enough. That B+ effort on most things is still above average, but is far better for my health than A+. That incremental changes still count, even if I didn’t make it all the way to the finish line.

Here I sit, in a quiet house. After dinner, my kids biked and walked through the fields and played
with chickens in glorious weather. The sun has gone down, and they’re all tucked into their beds. My amazing husband who puts up with all my weird stuff is rocking out in the shop. (See the lights on above?) Most of our immediate family is just a stone’s throw away, just in case we need them—an anomaly in this day and age. We are surrounded by amazing friends. Although there is a massive pile of laundry by the dryer, I have the ability to close a door between it and me.

I’m not religious in the traditional sense, but I am spiritual. And the best way I can think to describe things is that I am blessed. So very blessed.

Because every little thing? It’s gonna be alright.

It’s always fun to see what shows up on my computer when I download photos. In case you’re wondering, this is the center of a sunflower from the bunch currently sitting on our counter and making me smile.

Does no one in this world proofread anymore?