Productive Sundays DO Exist! Full Moon?

This has been an exceptionally productive Sunday. Let's attribute it to the full moon. Some very good friends of ours gave us a beautiful bed set for Emma. I was able to totally make over her room and I found un-found space for stuff. Emma has much stuff. But, now her stuff seems to be a bit more manageable - with more manageability to come! She took a very active role in the re-birth of her room. Man, that kid has got opinions! Wonder where that comes from?! So, the weekend so far...

• Cheese got cut without my assistance
• Jewelry has been purchased
• Puttering has been done
• Deer has been got
• Cappuccinos have been drunk
• Bed and dresser have been delivered
• Scott's desk has been relocated (the most emotionally charged event of the weekend!)
• Bed and dresser have been assembled and Emmafied
• Kid has been showered and put to bed with a bedtime story
• Cheesy New Wave music listened to

Yup, a productive weekend indeed. Darling Hubby has just finished making "Many Bean Ham Hock Soupish," and is in the process of baking his non-risen bread, fryin' up some smoked pork chops and re-heating some mashed 'taters. It looks like we will also be joined by some sauteed zucchini and steamed peas. I like my guy. I like him a lot.

We Miss You Bailey and Who Is This Kid?!

We lost our Bailey Black Dog six months ago today. We all miss him so so much. Jazzy is pretty mopey and sticks pretty close to us. Looking at his pictures helps me, but it just upsets Scott. Emma wants to take a picture of Bailey Boy to "sharing day" tomorrow. Actually she wants to take a picture of Bailey, Jazzy and Emma Kitty. I can see the scene unfolding... "Good morning class. Emma has brought us a picture today of her 'Running Dalmatian' Jazzy, her dead dog Bailey and the dead cat that she was named after." I kinda wonder what the teacher thinks of this child... Last week the kid brought home a piece of artwork. Apparently, they're learning about body parts, and she had to draw a picture of hands. I'm really not sure out of what blue yonder this came from, but she drew a picture of herself holding on to jail cell bars! What?!

Kindergarten - Not Like We Remember It!

Emma has started in on her third week of kindergarten. The kid has taken to being a schoolgirl very well. She's very social by nature and truly enjoys learning - school, a perfect fit. On her third day she received a sticker for being the best napper. The best napper! Man, things aren't like they used to be!

The Chalk Family

Times are tight, as they say. Scott has been out of work for over a year now and we could definitely use a few extra bucks. But, we're more fortunate than some - we can almost always pay our bills - and food is never scarce. Nor is a good time! The kid is in a summer program through her soon-to-be-school. The program is from 8-Noon, totally free and they pick her up and drop her off at home on the bus and feed her breakfast and lunch! We're all very excited about it! Scott and I are, so far, pleased to have her in this school district. From what I can tell, by most respects, Emma does not have a lot of toys. And, even though cash is tight, that is not the reason she doesn't have a lot of toys. We choose to not get her much. the Grandparents are great about this too. We've never had a family meeting to discuss our self imposed toy deprivation, but we just have really cool parents that "get it." Please don't think that the kid has no toys, or never gets indulged - because that is far from it! Not to worry, the child does just fine... So, with the kid being back in a school atmosphere I figured she would be exposed to the more material side of life. Not long ago, as we were sitting quietly on the porch listening to and observing the bird, I asked her if there was anything that she wanted or needed that she didn't have. "Well, there is one thing..." she started. I was expecting her to announce her need for some plastic imported piece of junk that can only be purchased by calling an 800 number. But, my sweet, wonderful child proclaimed her need for - no, really - a massage table! I had, moments before, given her a quick little massage at her request. She was achy from having to stand for so long to make her soup. Her soup, you see, is for now made up of trillions of cut up pieces of paper. This has been an on again - off again obsession since Christmas. Her first batch of soup also contained beans (real ones that we planted), beads, buttons, pompoms and a smattering of other miscellaneous little trinkets. But, because that must not have been flavorful enough, she added ripped up pieces of paper towel. You know - the fluff. But, the fluff must have been a little tough, so before our friend Josh could convince her otherwise, she added a couple of Dixie Cups of water to her mixture. Oy! Currently, the kid is entertaining herself with a family of sidewalk chalks. the family is taking a ride in the car - a big stock pot lid. And, because the closest sidewalk is in the little village at the bottom of the mountain about two miles away, we let her color on the porch. And all the rocks are fair game. Recently she colored a big section of the porch purple - because she wanted it to look pretty. The dog likes to lay on the porch... We were left with a lovely lavender tinted polka dotted doggie. Purple dogs, chalk families, massage tables and oodles of cheap plastic toys... We could have more, but we choose to make do with less. I'm pretty sure our kid is better off because of it. Our life is slower than most. And that works for us. Life is good.

The Cat Peed in the House

This hilarious event actually happened weeks ago, but it's much more dramatic in the present tense. Allow me to take you back to the last Saturday in May... . Scott and Emma let me sleep in this morning. It was so nice. Then the dog started barking... and Scott started laughing. Of course I had to get up and see what was going on. Scatt was stalking the neighbor's pet baby rooster. I like our neighbors, and I know our neighbors like their pet baby rooster. It was obvious that Scott was going to let events unfold, so I got my shoes on and went out to retrieve the cat - the mighty hunter... As I started walking back to the gate I noticed the damn chicken was following us! Scott and Jazzy had given up on the whole scene. Apparently, this was nothing new. Scott informed me that Scatt (the cat) and the baby pet rooster had the same cat-and-chicken game yesterday and that if Scatt really wanted chicken, he would have gotten himself some chicken by now. Fine. Because I had just gotten up, as is my morning routine, I had to go potty. Lately, Scatt has been keeping me company in the bathroom so I thought nothing of him following me in there. I assumed that he was seeking asylum because our little wild child had been chasing him since I brought him back in from his early morning expedition. Did I mention that she was chasing him in hopes of capturing him in her net - and by net I mean her pretty pink fleece blanket? The cat is not her biggest fan. I was definitely not in a position to get up from the potty when I noticed Scatt pacing back and forth in front of the shower. This wasn't his normal searching for a place to stretch out pacing, but more urgent. I called for Scott to get him outside - but it was too late... In hind-site, the best thing to do would have been for Scott to put the cat in the shower. But that didn't happen. We could have even let the cat finish what he started. That would have at least been easier to clean up. But that didn't happen either. Instead, Scott grabbed Scatt by the scruff of his neck to get him outside, mid-stream, mind you. Meanwhile, I'm still planted securely on the toilet and hubby has the cat swinging like a pendulum, racing to get him outside. The cat was not thrilled to be going for a ride at that moment! It seemed like the events all unfolded in slow motion. I didn't think that Scott would ever get the cat outside! Just so you know, cleaning up a non-visible wiggly stream of cat pee is MUCH harder than concentrating on one big soaked area. There are so many ways that the morning could have gone differently. But, you live and you learn and you deal with the consequences and you move on. Dear Scatt, thank your providing me with a teachable moment. My lesson learned... if the cat is going to pee - let it be!

I'm on a pencil kick...

Ok, so I haven't been here as much as I should be - but I've rediscovered an amazing tool... the mighty pencil!

yeah, I'll get back to this soon...