Quiet Night, Homey Night

Spending a quiet night cruising around on the internets a bit....kids all exhausted from baseball, marathon Lego creating and endless summer light...its just Elizabeth Mitchell and I in the house tonight. There are lullabies in the other room that I can't quite hear and a steady computer buzz in here....and giant stack of paper teetering on the desk next to me. Tomorrow is the day I sort every piece of paper we own and cull it all down into neatly arranged file boxes (or maybe even one!) and turn the office into a haven of neatness and order.

Today was the day that I painted more trim, washed more laundry and managed to actually re-hang the mirror by the front door....every little bit helps. So much to do around here. I am thinking maybe I'll throw one more load of laundry in before I head to sleep. I love the amazing modern magic of having in-house appliances that do chores for you while you are away. Brilliant. I've just started experimenting with the delayed cook settings on my oven. Its really kind of fabulous to stick a roast in there, add seasonings and set it to turn on an appropriate amount of time before you roll into the driveway from kid events with a bunch of whiney littles who are all starving. God bless the dude who invented that idea.

The garden has had a lot of rain and I am woefully behind on trimming, weeding, edging and mowing. I have to get the mower up and running tomorrow and get the lawn in decent shape. I think the pansies in the front planters have finally run the race too. Time to swap them out for some lobelia and marigolds or some other heat lover. They did their best...and now its on to the sweltering set.

The rabbits in the backyard have raised one baby and appear to have hatched the next one. The previous "baby" likes to munch clover in the backyard by the kids sandbox while we are out and then bolt in a panic when we all pull in the driveway. The newer, tinier fluffball of a kit is spending its time hiding out under the giant, lush hostas at the front of the house and runs in a manic dash whenever I do scary things like walk past on my way to turn on the hose. Love seeing them grow up in our yard and also love that the tax they take from our garden is tiny. They sometimes eat the leaves off of our bean plants but mostly they seem to prefer the clover in the lawn. (Yay for lawns that are more than just grass!!!!) I love this about city gardening. No deer. No woodchucks. No chipmunks. No moles. Just a couple of rabbits with a refined palette.

We have come into the weather where a quick run down to the beach after dinner sounds super good. Last night was our last night with A before he flew out this morning and we took a picnic of fridge leftovers, two towels to share and one boogie board and just ran out to the beach in time to take  short dip, eat dinner on the rocks of the point and watch the fishermen haul in sea robins. Then we poked around in the shore debris and collected shells to carry back to the car with us as we hiked up the beach path in the glow of fireflies. It was a great last night together. I hope the sunsets in California make him think of us, we're thinking of him over here. In my empty house tonight I'm thinking of little notes that we can send, ways to stay in touch and things to remember to tell him about tomorrow when we're chirping texts back and forth and having our Good Morning Talk over coffee and sausages. Lots of love, lots of connection, lots of dedicated energy. May you have the same!

Motherhood and Marriage When The Burner Is On High

 The weather is hot and thick, you can break a sweat just sitting in a chair lately. This kind of weather lends itself to festivals, public libraries, early morning outings and  basement contemplation. Today I went with the basement.

 We no longer own a laptop so the old "movies in the basement on a hot day" routine which was my go-to,  can't be used. Instead I play Pandora on my phone and let the boys build Legos until its time for quiet hour and then park them on blankets and throw pillows on the cool cement. Storage boxes and shelving units to separate them so that there is some amount of actual quiet. They nap, or build and I work. All the laundry in the basement got washed and dried and sorted and then I swept and organized and purged. I am proud to say that after one very hot and humid day's worth of work....we now have no more assorted nonsense piles of random junk that I threw into bags and hid when we had company coming over.

 What a great feeling! So much stuff that we can hand off to other folks and let go of finally, so much stuff that actually, truly was junk and went into the trash (which is going out tonight, hallelujah!!!!) and just a little stuff that simply needed to be put back into its proper home. I feel about 40 lbs lighter after such a productive day hiding out from the heat. Kinda makes me feel utterly at peace with the possibility of another blazing hot day tomorrow.

 I made a one pot dinner tonight and imagined up a trip to the beach spur of the moment as soon as A walked in the door. Sometimes life doesn't go as planned

The boys were having meltdowns and Giles had a diaper rash suddenly (chafing from a whole day in his swimsuit, in and out of the sprinkler?) and my brilliant dinner was being rejected by a bunch of pint-sized critics.

But, I have to brag. I didn't lose my cool and scream or meltdown and have a sobfest when A finally walked in.....I just pouted a little about the mayhem and had just a little grump-time. And then my brilliant man said spontaneously that we should eat our one pot dinner on the tiny, brick, front stoop together and then when it started raining he had the boys all scuttle inside for umbrellas and flip-flops and we had a hilarious march around the block in our bathing suits in the rain.

Sometimes the grand plan isn't what its all abut at all. Its about the rolling with all the punches, the keeping your chin up and keeping your sense of humor. Love that we had a silly, little adventure in the outdoors and that my tharwted plans didn't matter at all in the long run. When you find a good man....hold on.