A Familiar Path

Some more fan pictures

2009-12-08T14:29:00.001-06:00

People are posting Christmas bokeh photos on my facebook fanpage. I love it! What a great way to interact with all of you.

Some have asked how to do it. Ruthanne has some helpful tips:

“Go to the fan page. Underneath the tabs, you'll see a box that says "What's on your mind?" and then under that it says "Attach" ~ with two icons: a link and a picture. Click on the picture icon, choose the picture you want to upload and then click share.”

Thanks Ruthanne. There have been questions about it and I really had no idea.

The only thing I don’t like about the fan page is that sometimes I don’t recognize your blogs when I see your real name. That makes it difficult for me to link back here with your blog link.

Photo by Talysa.

So, if I post something by you and you want a link, leave it in the comments or email me.

Photo by Kelly Anderson.

Have you ever had one of those nights when your brain didn’t turn off and it felt like you didn’t sleep at all? I had one last night. Oh how I hate those. I haven’t had one in a long time. It felt like I’d had a Coke right before bed. That’s why I make myself quit the caffeine around 3 or 4 pm.

I didn’t have a Coke last night but I did have some really chocolatey brownies. Not sure if that contributed or not.

Tess pulled up to her feet for the first time this morning. Isn’t it fun to see them do those first new things?

My sleepless night plus a cold, rainy day is making me feel lazy and unproductive today.

You ever just want to hibernate all winter?

How many of you have gotten snow already?

Fun with bokeh

2009-12-07T15:20:00.003-06:00

This photo was taken and shared by Dianne Godwin on my Facebook fan page.

I love it! Have you tried it? A few friends who have my phone number have actually called for step-by-step specific instructions. I’m not naming any names or anything though. If you want to share yours too, add it on the fan page. I love seeing them.

And for the caption on this picture, Jenn wins it with, “I think the card should say, "I pick you... to get our love and best wishes this Holiday season. Merry Christmas!"”

I loved reading all the responses and laughing.

Jenn if you would like one of my homemade Christmas ornaments and a card of your very own, email me your address.

Secret sisters

2009-12-07T00:18:00.002-06:00

In our ladies’ auxiliary group at church we do a secret sister thing. Saturday night was our party and big reveal of who our secret sisters were.

But before we got to the exciting part, we had an ornament exchange, dirty Santa style. Who knew people would fight over ornaments? Who knew people would bring such gorgeous, nice ornaments?

Not me.

My ornaments were homemade.

As gifts were being opened one at a time and oohed and awed over and stolen from each other, I sunk further and further into that couch dreading when my pitiful little sack of felt birds was opened.

It was one of the last two left and thankfully my aunt got it and she pretended to love them. Well, she said she really did. No one stole them from her though, which I think should tell you something.

I was my friend Terri’s secret sister.

I had so much fun buying gifts for her throughout the year. She’s going to hate that I posted this picture. I think it’s so cute, but she always likes to be photographed from her best side and I can never remember which side it is.

She tried to make me stop. Is this your best side, Terri?

I gave myself away as her secret sister halfway through the year when I gave her a book. And then I really blew it when I gave her a remote clicker for her camera. So she totally knew it was me when I gave her a camera strap for her Christmas gift (not homemade).

She loved my gifts which made me happy. I’m a really bad gift-giver. I tend to be not very thoughtful and uncertain when choosing a gift for someone.

This is my friend Paula. Last year I was Paula’s secret sister. She was fun to buy for too. I also gave her a book. I guess that’s my trademark gift. I’ll have to stay away from that this year lest I give myself away.

We laughed so much. Tess got to come. She sat sweetly in my mom’s lap and went to sleep.

And then one of the most fought over ornaments, a box of nutcrackers, got broken by Andrea.

We laughed a lot. And ate good food. And enjoyed good company.

There’s nothing like having sisters in Christ who love you, pray for you, encourage you and make fun of your homemade gifts. I hope you have some friends like these.

11 months

2009-12-05T16:14:00.001-06:00

Really, I forgot and let 11 months slip right by. She was 11 months November 18th. The fourth child may get tons of pictures, but her baby book updates are way behind. I often forget to write things down about her.

She was a late crawler, but she’s finally doing it right. She’s all over the place now. There’s no stopping her from getting where she wants to go. She’s pulling up to her knees, hesitant about using those legs.

She says a few things. Mama, Dada, Nana, Bye Bye, Dog and Hello. She also barks when you ask her what do the puppies say.

She still takes 2 naps each day. She likes her sleep. But she’ll often wake up at least once each night.

She loves to eat. Especially real food. She’ll slap baby food away after a while, but she’ll eat waffles till you make her quit.

I finally weaned her from breastfeeding just after she turned 11 months.

She makes us laugh with her funny expressions and her siblings can’t stand it if she’s upset.

We love her to pieces.

Even though she absolutely hates to wear those cute things I buy for her on her head.

The 1001 post

2009-12-04T11:26:00.001-06:00

I’m not going to start counting posts in the titles or anything, but this was supposed to be my 1000th post. Then I slipped in that photo post last night to test my new Disqus comment system and goofed up my schedule.

(Because a picture of a lovely, pink camellia enhances any post.)

One December day in 2004, I was sitting at my computer reading blogs when I finally decided to give in to the urge and create my own. It really was love at first comment.

I’ve written almost daily since then.

Given that, it’s really no surprise to me that I’ve written 1000 posts. Actually I’ve written more but some got lost in the shuffle when I moved to blogger.

It seems like a party post should include food, or at least recipes, but that’s something you’ll definitely find lacking on this blog. I don’t like to cook. I think I’ve only posted two recipes in all these years. But if you need a cookie fix, Ruthanne can take care of you.

If you were to look back last year on December 4, 2008, you would find this post: Anticipation. Last year was filled with anticipation as we waited to meet our fourth baby.

Go back one more year to December 4, 2007, and I wrote It’s a Joyful Season.

Oh the kids were so little.

A little further back, December 4, 2006, a little random homeschool post showed up called, When We Do Art.

Way back then, Milo was my baby and he still used pacifiers. Oh those days seem so far away now. Digging around in the archives you might find out where my husband’s nickname came from, some of those bittersweet Christmas memories, or you could take a walk with me around the property.

The posts my kids make me bring up over and over again are Fast Cars and Barbies and Young Love because they love it when I add words to things and people that can’t speak for themselves.

I got the most negative comments on the post When Good Pets Die, or Won’t and really, they just made me laugh because some people fail to get my sarcastic humor. (The hamster did finally die of natural causes and I did rejoice in a very somber way.)

I keep blogging day after day, over 1000th posts worth because of the community that has been created here. If I were the only one talking, I doubt I’d show up every day.

Thankfully, that’s not the case. You talk back and I love that. You make me laugh and think. You are an encouragement and an inspiration. I have made many friends through blogging, have enjoyed meeting a few and look forward to meeting many more.

If you’ve made it through this long celebration post, I want to ask three things from you.

1. Leave me a link to one of your favorite posts you have written.

2. Leave me a link to one of your favorite blogger’s posts.

3. Tell me your favorite thing about blogging or reading blogs (if you don’t have a blog).

You can do one of those three things or all three. Hopefully, I’ll get some great posts to read and meet some new bloggers from the links you leave. Because meeting all of you has been one of the most rewarding things about blogging and a huge part of the reason I made it to 1001 post.

Thanks for meeting me here every day!

1000th post You pick the title

2009-12-03T23:06:00.001-06:00

What if I used this for my Christmas card photo? What should it say?

Holiday bokeh, get yours now

2009-12-03T14:34:00.001-06:00

If you ever wanted to try to capture beautiful bokeh with your camera, there isn’t a better time than right now. A Christmas tree lit with bright lights is the perfect backdrop. As a bonus, you might even get that perfect Christmas card photo.

Some of these were taken with my 50mm and some with my 85mm. I couldn’t tell much difference in how they performed in this situation.

I took this first picture Tuesday and it wasn’t long before I was completely sucked in to the bokeh behind my subject, totally losing my focus and going crazy over colored lights.

Now I make someone sit in front of the tree every day.

Here’s how to do it. Set your aperture its lowest value. Both my 50 mm and the 85 mm I used it will go to 1.8. If you have some natural light in the room to light up your subject it will really help. I opened a door, but in some photos my subject still seemed too dark.

Position your subject a few feet from the tree. Now focus on your subject and your camera will do the rest. The background will blur and those lights will sparkle.

It’s holiday magic.

You won’t want to miss it.

If you get some shots please share them with me. Either leave a comment with a link to your blog or you can post them on my fan page on Facebook. I’d love to see them.

Now what do I do about that wet dog smell?

2009-12-02T14:15:00.001-06:00

This morning we opened the back door and

it was like 101 Dalmatians, only without the spots.

Puppies just kept pouring in. It was raining outside and they were cold and wet and lonely. Even though they had 10 other brothers and sisters to keep them company.

Being the fun mommy I am, I let them come in for a few minutes.

They have changed so much in the past week. They are simply adorable now. Playful, barking, growling bundles of black fur.

Finally it was time to herd them outside, which was next to impossible and took all four of us (not including Tess who was little to no help at all).

And now my house smells like wet dog times 11.

Coming up this week my 1000th post and a party! It’s going to happen Friday. Be there or get a puppy dropped off at your house.

Just a crazy Tuesday

2009-12-01T14:54:00.001-06:00

I’m babysitting for my cousin today. It’s just for a few hours. Adding one more baby won’t make that much difference right?

I learned a few things about busy babies plus:

Sharing, because a couple of strands of Christmas beads were the hit toy of the day.

Balancing, nap times are a circus when there are two.

Managing the quiet during naptimes is impossible.

Stinky diaper changes X 2. Not fun.

Meals…Phone calls…School…and a 5 year old boy = chaos!

A few sweet memories mixed into the crazy- worth it.

A Monday list

2009-11-30T20:33:00.001-06:00

The lazy blogger’s blog post.

1. I really enjoyed my December Southern Living magazine. It got me all ready to decorate for Christmas. Lots of good ideas. I’m just not that good at implementing them.

2. We started back to school today after our week long break. I changed our homeschool schedule this year in two ways. We take a week off at the end of every month and we do only history, science, journal and reading on Mondays. So, starting back today wasn’t nearly as stressful when they found out they didn’t have to do math or spelling.

3. I want to make one of these lightboxes like Emily did.

4. My tree is up, lights are on the Griswold house and I’ve started on the mantel. I changed things up a little this year so it’s a work in progress.

5. I got a used Blackberry after I smashed my old phone’s screen at the Type-a-mom conference. I love it! Texting is so much fun now.

6. While I don’t really understand the reason behind having a facebook fan page, I find myself over there typing a status update every now and then and wondering if that’s something I’m supposed to be doing. Are there facebook fan page rules? Is it for people who only like to use facebook and still want to read your blog? Who can explain this to me? It seems so redundant to have your feed up over there and here and yet, I’m interested and I want fans. Isn’t that strange?

7. Do you use twitter? Do you have a favorite time to be on twitter? Most used day? I try to check it every morning and usually once more during the day. My favorite thing to do is open up my google reader and tweet some of the posts I read.

8. Now that I have a blackberry I can tweet from my phone. But how do you know when you’ve reached the 140 character limit? Surely people don’t count characters on their phone. Do they?

9. I’m thinking Tess needs a tutu for her 1st birthday pictures. Like this or this.

10. Speaking of pictures, I made my girls pose for me Sunday so I could practice with the 85 mm. It’s good to have ready subjects.

Count our blessings

2009-11-29T00:15:00.001-06:00

This is how our family looked last year at Thanksgiving.

This is how we look this year.

Last year we had 11 kids at Thanksgiving.

This year there were 12.

I’m thankful for all our family.

What's your favorite camera?

2009-11-28T14:29:00.007-06:00

I get this question a lot, especially around this time of year. And, really, I'm not that qualified to answer it because, though I've had a lot of cameras, they've only been one brand. Canon. I tend to stick with what I'm familiar with. But, for those of you who have called and asked, here's a list of my favorite Canon cameras just in case you need to put one on you Christmas list.

If you're intimidated by a digital SLR and not ready to make that kind of commitment, you may like the Canon PowerShot SX20IS.

The Canon Powershot was the camera I got when I was too scared to get the digital SLR and it served me very well for 2 years. I loved the pictures that I got with this camera, though mine was the older version.

This camera has 12 megapixels, takes HD video and has image stabilizer which is very useful when you are really zooming in on something.

You can leave it on auto or you can learn more about its really wonderful settings by reading my using your camera series. It has some really great advanced settings.

Another bonus feature I found handy with this camera was the LCD screen that opens up and moves out. You can also tilt it. I found myself using it more often than I thought I would.

Want something smaller?

The Canon PowerShot SD1200IS is what my sister is getting for Christmas this year. Her requirements were small, easy to use and light-weight. Everyone wants something different from a camera, that's why there are so many choices out there.

The Canon Elph has always been a favorite of mine because of its size. It's small enough to carry in your pocket or purse. This one comes in colors and I love the blue.

It does not take video, but it does have a 10 megapixel resolution and a 2.5 inch LCD screen. It has a lithium rechargeable battery, another plus to my sister who was tired of buying batteries for her old camera.

Ready for something with more options?

Then I have to tell you about the camera I use now.

They've changed the Canon EOS Rebel T1i a little since I got mine two years ago. It now has a bigger LCD screen, 15 megapixels and it now shoots video (which seems a little strange to me for some reason). The advantage to this camera over the others is not only the advanced settings, but the ability to use a variety of lenses to help you get the shot you want.

I am a camera lover! I could get one every year for Christmas and not be disappointed. How about you? Do you have a favorite camera worth sharing?

Like this post? Subscribe and don't miss a thing.

Links

2009-11-27T09:35:00.004-06:00

One day left on this giveaway for a free canvas print.

It's been a hard days night: Loved this cute, easy idea for my kids to make gifts for friends (great Sunday school gifts).

MCPActions: Now you can find out if you love macro photography or not. Neat idea that I never knew about.

Mommy Snacks: Even with these detailed instructions setting up a Facebook fanpage and networking my blog was still not a breeze. I still cannot find my page with ease. I finally copied the link and you can find me here, A Familiar Path fanpage. I still really don't know why we need these, but since everyone else is doing it, I don't want to be left out. (Isn't that a good reason?)

Nesting Place: The Ultimate Tassel Guide is here! Get yours for only $10.

Just a Girl: I tried to make this wreath. Failed miserably. My wire was being difficult. My cheap, dollar tree balls kept breaking off the ends when I would try to thread them through and I didn't have enough ornaments to finish. But you, YOU can make one. I'm sure of it.

Little White Schoolhouse: Her felt owls are the cutest! Now this, this I might can do.

Now, tell me what deals you got on Black Friday while I was sleeping?

Thanksgiving day

2009-11-26T19:00:00.001-06:00

I’m cozied up on the couch under a blanket right now and it feels so nice. It’s been go, go, go today and it was not what I expected. We did not have plans for Thanksgiving day. Our family is doing Thanksgiving tomorrow. Our plan was to decorate for Christmas today.

A friend wanted me to do some pictures for her early this morning (10 am). I joked that I’d finally get to see one of those rare sunrises.

I came back home to find my husband, his dad and brother putting our icicle lights on the house. We also got to spend some time with my cousin’s two youngest kids. Someone came to look at the puppies, I took some more pictures and we ate with Clark’s family for supper.

It was a nice day. And I got lots of good practice with my lens. But the pictures I’m going to show you are from yesterday, my first day with the 85 mm.

Don’t worry, you’ll see plenty more and get a full commentary on whether or not you should get one of your own. I just don’t have the photos on this computer and I’m not about to get up off this couch.

Here’s a sneak preview of the 85 mm that I’m already in love with.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Delivery

2009-11-25T17:01:00.003-06:00

It’s here! My Christmas present.

I do all my dad’s Christmas shopping. I also wrap it. That means picking out and wrapping my own gift.

It arrived today.

A sneak peak won’t hurt anything.

It’s lovely. It’s a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras.

I don’t think it will hurt anything to put it on and see if it fits.

I wonder if I’ll still love my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens
as much after using the 85 mm?

I think I’m going to do a trial run with it. I’ll let you know the results tomorrow. I really think it’s in the best interest of my readers to make this sacrifice. Don’t you?

Gender balance

2009-11-24T23:05:00.001-06:00

I never had a brother. Having a boy child is a whole new world to me. He’s daring, competitive, loud, in a hurry and rough.

Half the time I don’t know what to do with him. Some days I feel like I’m disciplining him all day long. He makes me tired, exasperated and sometimes worried.

And he makes me laugh. He surprises me with his boy knowledge about race cars and wrestling and sports. Things I don’t care to know anything about, but he tells me anyway.

He loves to learn. He could be filled up all day with stories and explanations. He still climbs up in my lap and wraps his skinny arms around me. He likes to brush my hair; he can’t tolerate tangles. He told me thank you this morning for buying him new socks.

He’s a bright spot of blue in this sea of pink. He helps balance it all out and I’m so thankful for my only boy.

So, I’ve been sewing

2009-11-24T00:03:00.001-06:00

And here’s what I’ve made.

Remember, I’m a beginner. I’ve barely sewed since Home Ec 23 years ago. I’m figuring out some things on my own and with online tutorials which are a wonderful thing. I love the internet.

1. I made myself a camera strap.

I bought one for myself a few months ago but I didn’t like it because it was too long and kind of hard (I won’t mention where I got it because that’s just mean.) I saw my friend Dawn’s and Ruthanne’s and they both got theirs from My Funky Camera. I really liked theirs. It had this soft fabric inside (which I now think is minky) and felt really cushy. So I was determined to make one like it.

Only I bought chenille instead of minky. So, mine’s not quite as soft. Next time.

I made it to fit over my original strap and who would have guessed, it worked perfectly the first time. It must be some kind of sewing record for me.

2. Bags for the kids.

I have this idea to make each kid a bag for Christmas and fill it with a few little surprises. The girls can use theirs for their Bibles and Milo can use his for his Nascar collection. The black one (more of that chenille covering the outside) will eventually have straps.

Milo’s has a little handle sewn with binding. Another first for me. It’s ok for a 5 year old boy, but I wouldn’t go showing it around anywhere announcing that I made it. This summer I got him 5 brand new nascar matchbox cars at a yard sale for $1 each. I’m going to put those in his bag.

3. I want to embellish these overalls for Tess.

These are old. Clementine 12 years ago old and I wanted to spruce them up for Tess this Christmas. I’ve seen people add ruffles and all kinds of cuteness and I’ve been looking for some cute examples. Anyone have links they’d like to share?

None of that is sewn on yet, just some ideas I had.

B, because Tess is not her real name.

4. Finally, I wanted to say thank you to Meredith for this cute plate I won on her site. We’ve already used it this weekend to announce my husband’s birthday.

What’s worth printing to you?

2009-11-23T14:46:00.001-06:00

Every once in a while I capture a photo worth hanging on the wall. Worth framing. One I want to look at more than a few times a year in an album.

Those are the pictures I live for. That’s why I keep taking pictures day after day, deleting hundreds, keeping only a handful, looking for that one shot that makes me smile.

It comes in many different styles. Often it’s that one pretty good shot of all my kids. We all know how hard that can be.

Sometimes it’s a spontaneous moment of joy captured that just begs to be displayed.

Some of my favorite shots don’t even include people, although I really love the people too.

One of my favorite things about blogging is being able to share these images with you. Looking at your own shots day after day can make you hyper aware of your flaws, your limitations. But when I post a photo, like the one of my daughter jumping on the trampoline in her dress-up dress and so many people comment on how much they love it, it makes me take a second look and see it with different eyes.

Do you have an image hidden away on your computer that begs to be printed and enjoyed? What prompts you to take that step and get a certain photo printed?

Tell me about it in the comments. I’d love to hear about your favorite shots.

Sick days

2009-11-22T21:28:00.003-06:00

Beginning on Thursday Milo got sick. Then each day another kid got sick and it has worked its way through all of them ending with Emeline today. At least, I hope it has ended. Parents have no business getting sick.

It was just a 24 hour bug with a headache, low fever and loss of appetite. They are recovering and are hungry.

We had a quiet weekend at home. No place to go, just watch tv, rest and read. We watched Up and I cried. We watched it three times. It’s a good movie.

I sewed. I made something for one child for Christmas and something for myself. I’ll show you those things later in the week.

We read. I began reading A Child’s History of the World and they are loving it! They don’t want me to stop reading and that makes me so happy.

We started history at the beginning when Clementine was in first grade and Emeline was almost 5. So, Emeline remembers very little of the early history we did. I think this is a good way to get her caught up. She’s asking a lot of questions and is so interested in it which is a delight since she almost never enjoys anything school related.

My men went hunting.

They didn’t kill anything.

I did some Christmas shopping online. My favorite way to shop. I think I’ve mentioned that I’m an Amazon affiliate. What that means is that if you click on one of my Amazon links say when you want to do your Christmas shopping, I will get a few bucks off what you order. You don’t have to order what I link to, just clicking in from one of my links gives me credit. You can do this for any of your favorite bloggers who are Amazon affiliates. (There’s a sneak peak at what I’m getting for Christmas in those links.)

Check back in tomorrow. I have another fun giveaway to tell you about.

Happiness is…

2009-11-21T12:53:00.001-06:00

getting your Christmas cards done for free.

Emily at Chatting at the Sky is the winner of the Uprinting Greeting Card giveaway.

Congratulations!

Life now

2009-11-20T16:49:00.001-06:00

Here’s what is happening right now: playing with puppies, busy, crawling baby, an annoying younger brother (their words, not mine).

Winter is beginning to creep up on us, darkness finds us sooner each day. We spend many hours indoors. Some of it with a needle and thread. Some of it planning and dreaming.

I don’t pick up my camera as often in these shorter days. So I’m glad for opportunities to go outside and watch for a while, behind the lens.

A Walmart sunset

2009-11-19T23:18:00.001-06:00

This morning I found a beautiful sunset in my google reader. Joanne at Mylestones is always posting her incredible beach shots and this one had a captivating sunset.

I always miss the sunset because the trees come right up to our property line in my backyard and block it. And, I don’t live by a beach.

Imagine all the great photo opportunities at a beach.

Anyway, I had two sick little ones and I had to go to Walmart. We were out of eggs, milk, Doritos, the necessities. My mom kept the sick ones and I dropped my big girls off to play with friends and I found myself alone in Walmart.

Maybe this happens to you a lot. It almost never happens to me. I walked right in with my ipod earphone in one ear (I left one out so I wouldn’t appear rude) and got caught up on the last two days worth of Rush Limbaugh.

I was only interrupted one time by a young college boy who needed to know what kind of butter to put in creamed potatoes, the stick kind or the kind in the bowl. I directed him to sticks. And gave him the free choice of margarine or butter. As far as cooking goes, I’m almost at his level so he probably asked the wrong person.

The shopping experience was delightful.

When you’re in Walmart by yourself you actually consult your list. You remember coupons. You don’t mind going all the way back to the store if you forgot something because you’re not worn out from all the questions and crying and whining. When you’re in Walmart by yourself, it can be really quiet.

When I finished and was in line at the gas station, I looked back at Walmart and saw a beautiful sunset of my own. This Walmart always has the best sunsets. It’s no beach shot, but maybe it’s my own strange consolation prize.

Mood changing products

2009-11-18T22:46:00.003-06:00

1. Light a Mrs. Meyer’s Iowa Pine Candle. (Link goes to Peppermint. Amazon didn’t have Iowa Pine listed.)

2. Turn on your favorite Christmas CD. Mine is still Michael W. Smith’s It’s a Wonderful Christmas.

These are my favorite things right now and they will cheer you up right quick. And put you in the Christmas mood. They might even prevent any tragic Mondays. No guarantees though.

Total cost for this small pleasure: $20.00

I’m participating in The Diaper Diaries Things I Love Thursday.

It could have been worse

2009-11-18T00:24:00.001-06:00

At least, that’s what I told myself at the end of the day, after all the bad stuff had happened and we had survived.

Sometimes it helps me to put my life in perspective. Yeah, that was bad, but look how much worse it could have been. And then I think I got off lucky.

It happened on a Monday, as if I had to even tell you that.

Right away I put Clementine to work on her chore which was to sweep and mop the kitchen. That way I could put Tess down and let her crawl without worrying. Tess who was fussing and whining in the Tessmobile.

We sat down to lessons, me with a squirmy Tess on my lap, unhappy on the floor, equally unhappy in my lap, grabbing everything in reach, gumming it and then tossing it to the floor. I felt like I was holding an octopus.

Milo at the end of the table working on a painting.

I started reading.

Interruption.

I don’t need to explain it all to you. I know you’ve tried to read aloud before with a phone that rings, kids that ask questions, babies that cry. It’s a common problem known to moms around the world.

In the middle of it all Milo decided to lay his painting on the floor and press it down in order to make it try faster.

You don’t notice stuff like that sometimes, even if you’re in the same room when it happens, when a baby is making every effort to be the center of attention.

This lends credibility to my theory that a mopped floor is a floor waiting for something to happen.

So there’s paint on the mopped floor now.

It could have been worse.

It could have been paint on the walls, Sharpie on the walls (it has been known to happen) or silly putty in hair (worse than gum).

If it had ended there, it would have been a typical day, heck, if there had been a fight, a spill, a scraped knee, a fit and a lost item, it would have been a typical day, but it didn’t end there.

Later, after the paint had dried on the floor, I walked into the living room to see the blankets coming out from everywhere. Ever single kid was making a tent and Tess was right in the middle of it all grinning.

Which was their only saving grace because I had just cleaned the living room and tents make me absolutely nutso, even though I try to be all happy about their imaginative play, tents=crazy mama.

It could have been worse.

They could all be fighting and calling each other names, but they weren’t. They were playing together.

And it made Tess very happy to be included. So I let it go. I walked away. I, in truth, took a moment alone at the computer since Tess was occupied and not whining at my leg.

About an hour later I scooped Tess up for a nap and began my, “Time to clean up,” refrain.

I started supper. I put clothes in the dryer. I heard a crash.

The tent edge had been held down under one of my glass thingys on the mantel that held my seashells. It had crashed down on Clementine’s tent.

It could have been worse.

Glass could have gone everywhere instead of just on the sheet. Tess could have been awake and still under there. It could have hit someone on the head.

Still, I wasn’t happy. I didn’t handle it well.

As it turned out, neither did Tess. It interrupted her nap. Her 10 minute nap.

I let her cry while I cleaned it up. Complaining all the way.

While I cleaned, Milo asked if he could clean. Because there’s never just one thing happening at a time. You’ve got glass mixed with seashells, but questions still have to be answered. Boredom still has to be kept at bay. People still need drinks and food.

I handed him the spray cleaner and a rag and carried on with the glass management. His usual method is to clean the appliances, the French doors, a cabinet or two. I ignored him, finished up and went to Tess’s room where I settled in the rocker with her.

Still a little grumpy.

Milo opened the door.

Tess’s head popped up.

“Get out! I’m trying to get her to sleep.”

“I cleaned your picture and it messed it up.”

“OK, just shut the door.”

And I rocked and thought, “I cleaned your picture and it messed it up.” Messed it up. hmmm. How could it mess up my picture?

I got up and went out of the room and found my mounted picture, the only one I’d had professionally done with the girls, ruined.

It could have been worse.

(Ok, that was not my immediate reaction, but it could have been.) That could have been the only copy. I could have just had it done instead of years having already passed and the price I paid for it now a distant memory.

Besides, I always felt a little guilty that it didn’t include the other kids.

So, how was your Monday?

Bunny ears

2009-11-17T21:30:00.001-06:00

After all the fun we had with the flower headband, the girls decided to try bunny ears.

I realize she may need therapy later for all the forms of torture we put her through just to see her mad face.

We’re easily entertained.