getting things done

there is much to be done around here. lists. school work. books. fabric waiting. piles. you get it. you know. you have lists too. i am sure. i hope.

i have been conquering things on the list. feeling productive for a few minutes at a time. good stuff.



and then there are days like this past monday. where, there were many things on the lists that needed doing. laundry, for one. two baskets clean and waiting to be folded and organized. so, what do i do? fold the laundry? oh no.

i walk past this chair that my son has just knocked over (as he was inventing some sort of elaborate pulley system of some kind), and notice that is it pretty disgusting.



really disgusting.

so i go hunting for the staple gun, pull out fabric that JUST got put away. and spent some quality laundry-folding time on this:



and i am pleased.

i hope your days are treating you well. i hope all of your laundry gets done in a relatively timely fashion (after i got my chair-recovering urge out of my system, the laundry was, somewhat reluctantly, folded). and that the lists don't overwhelm. those are the wishes at my house these days.

a new school year

we started school last week. and, friends, my boy is older.



i know you already know this. i know he had a birthday, lost a tooth, yada yada. i know. and i know cameras can be deceptive- making things look slightly different than they really are. each shot is just that- a striking shot into time, capturing just what is there that second.



but... when did my little one start to look like an 11 year old?

i know. i know. perhaps i'm exaggerating. maybe. but look at last year's first-day-of-school picture:



a little tiny cutie-pants. and now there is a kid. with a missing tooth.

and yet, here we are. first grade.

first week was good. a few... discussions about what to do with educational challenges, but, all in all, we had a good week.

i'm praying i have eyes open to truly see this soul sitting in front of me every day of this school year. that He would give me insight into that heart- pushing me to words and silence in their turn. that i would fall back into His hands of provision every day. in even this my Savior cares and sees. handwriting and geography. addition and science. He is among us.

nothing. really.

i sat down to write last night and i got... nothing. i know my brain is full of stuff, but i can't seem to put any of it down into something coherent. i wrote a post, thought it was a bit off, so had my sister read it. yeah, it doesn't make sense, she tells me.

so here i am. just typing away. typing nothing. and that's all i have for today.

that and the laundry.
the school work.
the thread on the floor.
the lunch that needs to be made.
the breeze blowing in and through, though the windows will need to be shut soon (it is still august, after all)
andrew peterson's new album waiting for some quiet this afternoon.
and then more laundry.

happy monday, friends. i'll try to find some thoughts soon.

oh my word

opportunities for humility have been around just about every corner recently. starting school (yeah). being a wife, a friend, etc.- been feeling a good bit of failure, er, humility, coming my way.

and then my sister calls me this afternoon and says that she tried the apricot cake  i had, a month ago,  raved about. she had a bunch of moms over yesterday afternoon and thought she'd make a little something for them.

"it was really gross, jo."

'no way! it is so yummy! i love it!'

"every bite tasted like baking soda. i almost had to spit it out. i threw the rest away."

'what?'

"all of my friends very kindly ate it but... it wasn't good. the recipe called for 2 teaspoons of baking soda. is that right?"

'let me check.... no. not baking soda. it's supposed to be baking POWDER!............. oh my word.'

and that's pretty much how that conversation went. friends. i'm so sorry. if you made the apricot/plum cake i had on here recently, my apologies. i'm sure it was disgusting. it was on me. if you had friends over who had to eat it, my apologies again. that's on me.

the recipe is now fixed and correct.

oh my.

good work.

these days i'm finding many threads sticking to my skirt and tiny corners of fabric cluttering the floor. my lap gets full of piles that look like this:


(there is some kind of soul-metaphor here in this pile of scraps. i'm not sure what it is. something to do with beauty and mess... fuzzy... when you figure it out, let me know)

but things are gradually getting checked off lists. getting ready for an upcoming show.

and check it out:



school books! we start tomorrow. another year of being completely responsible for the education of my child. yes, perhaps a tiny bit of pressure along with that. maybe the night before another year begins is not the best time to be talking about schooling my new 6 year old.

he is excited. i am excited. to start. to get one little sticker on our 180 day chart. one day down. baby steps. and good ones. good steps.

looking forward to a morning of books, banana cake, a new good-smelling math book and more adventure together. more good.

a birthday

our little man turned six this weekend.



six years this fabulous and interesting person has been with us. we are amazed.



we do birthdays up right around here. not too major, but find the celebration in all the little things. like: on your birthday, you get a whole piece of gum, not just a half. you get to pick something out in the check out line at the grocery store. you get to pick what we eat and what we do.

this 6 year old wanted to hike. a waterfall. so off we went.





the waterfall was much wetter than we're used to, so the hiking went... differently. but samuel was unfazed. we climbed rocks down stream.





we went home wet and satisfied. and ate lemon cake (per someone's request)





and as bedtime inched around the corner, our newly-six year old declared that his tooth had fallen out. on his birthday, he lost his very first tooth. pretty cool.

i can't say enough good about my boy. he's full of compassion and kindness. intelligence and curiosity. i'm in love and have been for six good years.

welcome to another year, my sweet boy.

baseball

samuel and i listened to a little of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion on Saturday night. The whole night was a tribute to baseball. in one sketch, two men were talking, and one said:

"didn't you hear, kids don't play baseball anymore?"

-- "what? you mean baseball isn't America's favorite past-time anymore?"

"nope. it's been replaced by talking. talking is America's new favorite past-time. texting, emailing, writing, gathering together to talk, etc."


now... yes. i realize the irony of me quoting that. here. on my blog. where i sit and talk.

but it stuck in my head. and i keep thinking about that little joke and how my kids don't really know much about baseball.

part of the radio program was a re-airing of an old Lake Wobegon story of Babe Ruth. and it made me miss baseball.



and what do you know, but someone gave us free tickets to our minor league team. our small group all got to go to an open air game last night. we sat on the lawn and watched the game.

 

perfect.





there is nothing quite like baseball in the summer. the pace of the game, the familiar sounds- crack of the bat, thwap of the ball hitting the catcher's mitt.





the natural pauses in conversation with your fellow spectators.



and our game ended with fireworks.





a beautiful night. the breeze of middle august cooling a bit. the sun setting a few minutes earlier than a month before. the bright lights of the field. and a little silence. some moments of just taking in the good. all the good we could fit.