Quote of the Day

Drew after a nice breakfast on Sunday,

"I feel like we are in a chapter book." He thinks, "You know, I always feel like that."

Not quite sure what this means but the sincerity is palpable!

To be or not to be...

Nora at our garage sale, we sold the baby stuff! So much work but it paid well. We have since cleaned and organized pretty much the entire house and painted the bathroom and kitchen, painted all the hardware, new curtains and decorations. All we have left to do is put in new light fixtures and the bathroom floor. That is unless we decide to paint all the wood white (which we both agree would be nice). But this has taken many weekends and we are definitely needing one off!

Tomorrow is Nora's first day of preschool and Drew will be in kindergarten until two. What does that mean for me? Two hours of my own time! Well, really and hour and a half but who's counting. I can't believe I am the mom saying that I will relish the fact that my kids are gone but heck, I have broken all expectations of being a perfect mother so far, why stop now. (It helps that the kids love school and I love our school too, it is a cooperative and a chance for me to meet some surprisingly hip mamas.) Here is what I have planned to do in my short time, eye doctor, garden (the eggplants and peppers are still coming in), make dinner (lentil loaf), read (Peace is Every Step- Thich Nhat Hahn and A Shooting Star- Stegner), walk Jake, pick up the house, go through my science stuff and clean up the heap that landed in the basement after cleaning out almost every closet/room in the house. What I really will do? Probably eye doctor, dinner and water the garden. Ahhh.



While having decluttered and painted the kitchen does feel great I am trying to remember that this order is only temporary. That our life is not very orderly and all I have is the present, a time to be with my 3 and 6 year old. Why do I have to work at that so much? After talking to many stay-at-homers through the years, I think it comes with the territory. Here we are, well educated, life-loving women who basically labor in repetitive tasks day in and out. And sometimes just want to sit down in a nice clean space! So much time to think, no time whatsoever to act on it. Think I'm whining? You try it.

So as my kids slowly break away from our nest, I am really relishing these years, and trying to be at peace with the clutter and the paycheck that never comes.