Signs of Growth

Didn't find these in a Robin's nest, but these Robin eggs are tasty. Surely this is a sign that spring is here.

The scene as I drive around town. Makes me a Sunday driver. And I thought people were honking to be friendly...

Wacky friends "sprout" up.

Everything is growing and I do mean everything. Funny how losing something means you're growing...

All this growing is exhausting. I think I'll park it here...

The Highlight of Some One's Saturday.

So proud in my soccer gear. Check out my shin guards! The hair in a rare ponytail. It's the official soccer ponytail.

Look Cousin! I do the dance of joy!

I just love this look of exultation!

It's Good for What Ails Ya.

If you have a touch of spring fever, I may have found a cure....
go visit Jane Coslick. She has restored several cottages on Tybee Island, Georgia.

Her designs just glow with vibrancy and cheer.

Only the sun shines brighter.

Green Acres is the Place for Me.

Friday evening I had the opportunity to go out with one of my friends. Her husband gallantly offered to watch my girl along with his own two girls. I was giddy with excitement. I would wear heels because what girl wouldn't want to go strolling through Hobby Lobby and Books a Million without possibly breaking an ankle?

I was also gonna wear these shoes because, by gum, they matched my jeans perfectly.So as I hike my leg up to hoist myself into the car, I hear a little voice say, "Mommy, what's that on the concrete?" I look across the empty half of the carport and wonder if perhaps an interesting pollen formation has formed. I walk around the car and find...

a poor female cardinal who had met an untimely demise at the paws of someone of the feline persuasion.

The probable perp:

What's a girl without a man in the house gonna do?

Especially a girl in heels and designer jeans.

You don't let something like a pair of heels stop you from manhandling a shovel!

Dah--ling!!!

Because There's Not a Verse in the Bible About Virtous Husbands...

I love my husband with all of my heart but he aggravates the stew out of me sometimes.

Sometimes I think (ungraciously) that life might be a tiny bit easier if he weren't part of the equation. Then God slaps me around and rescrambles my brains.

This weekend God is giving me a taste of what life would be like if hubby were not here. Hubby is at a conference so, this weekend, if it is to be, it is up to me.

Hubby is our primary child caregiver. Our little girl goes to preschool until noon every school day and hubby faithfully picks her up (while I am at work giving it nary a thought). Suddenly, I had to figure out and arrange who would care for her while I was working.

I (usually) go to the gym for an early morning workout. Hubby is home with my girl and I just get up and go. Friday morning, same scenario: I go to the salon for some early morning bookwork because hubby makes that possible.

Not to mention hubby makes it possible for our daughter to participate in extracurricular activities like soccer and gymnastics. He's there to ferry her from place to place.

On a more personal note, I pride myself in being a rather capable woman. I try to be creative, rescourceful and have a "can-do" attitude. But I have to confess to you that closing up the house at night is intimidating. Feeling the weight of responsibility for the safety of my family is a bit frightening.

I realized several things.

My husband makes me feel safe, protected and cared for. By caring for our daughter so thoroughly, he cares for me.

He's dependable. I never worry or wonder if he'll remember to pick up our girl.

I also realized that he works in his sleep. The fact that I can leave the house in the early morning hours while they are both asleep in bed is a blessing I've taken for granted. No more.

Instead of stew, I'm over here eating humble pie.

Rolling Right Along

I'm on a roll.

And given the dedication to my current exercise regime, I'm growing them too.

This morning I arose at (say it with me) 5:20am. I felt remarkably alert and ready to head to the gym.

I breezed through getting dressed. Until I opened my lingerie drawer. Oh, who am I kidding... There's nothing in there racier than a pair of flower-dy panties. I shuffled around the first layer digging ever deeper as my quarry eluded me.

NO! NO!!

I ran to the latest pile of clothes waiting to be folded and pawed through them trying to fight the train of thought my brain began to board.

Too late. That train was leaving the station. Everything ground to a halt.

Reverse engines.

Look at the clock. Wow. I could get a lot done...

So I searched high and low (see a theme here?) for some receipts I could deduct for taxes and made chocolate/butterscotch chip cookies for my hubbie to take on a trip.

All for the lack of a sportsbra.

Sorriness: a Definition

Every Monday morning for at least the last three weeks, I have carefully set my alarm to go off at 5:20am, sternly telling myself that I would go to the gym.

For the last three weeks, I have risen at 5:20 am.

After dressing in my workout clothes I walked into the kitchen, picked up my keys, paused and said....

Nahhhh.

The Weekend I Didn't Have

Feeling sluggish this weekend, I was looking forward to sedentary activities. I feel badly (or guilty--pick one) about how little I've been able to devote to the online art class, so I've been really looking forward to my first weekend off in a couple of weeks in order to paint and piddle.

The weather is even appropriate: it's been overcast for a few days now. Yesterday was even rather chilly. I hate leaving the house in weather like that so guess what I did? Went to a soccer game. Now, I am not sports minded IN THE LEAST, but because I birthed a child who now plays soccer (thank you daddy for signing her up), I received the unasked for blessing of attending soccer games on Saturday mornings. Oh joy. Oh delight. Watch me click my heels while gnashing my teeth. Did I mention it was drizzly and cold? I guess it was worth all that misery to watch my girl kick at least one goal. (She said grudgingly.)

Today I had an inner debate going as to whether or not I should skip church. I just felt my weekend had gypped me. I'd had all these plans to chill--paint, read, watch movies--and instead, I felt obligated to do all the stuff I "ought" to do. Like go to the grocery, play hide and seek with my little girl, go to a soccer game, get the tax stuff together, wash clothes and put them away... so by Sunday, I was sick of doing stuff because I "ought" to. Besides, I think church should be something you desire to do because you enjoy it and are blessed by it, not because you feel guilty if you don't go. (Yeah, I'm still working on that.) So I didn't go. But I didn't paint either, which was high on my priority list. I've spent the bulk of my day on the tax stuff, keeping tabs on my girl (which includes hide and seek) and taking far too long to book a hotel room for my hubby who's going to a conference this weekend.

I've really struggled with the juggling. Juggling all the things that make up who I am. All these parts of me demand time. The majority of my time is spent being a wife, mother and business owner. It feels all my time is taken up with those three parts of me and there's little time left to devote to the artist, runner, avid reader and friend who also reside in my body. I guess the most frustrating thing is when I do set aside time for the artist et al, that time is stolen by the other major parts of me. The default parts.

I don't know the answer. That, in itself, frustrates me as a Type A firstborn who is all about solving problems and telling people what they "need" to do. But I'll tell you one thing:

It's enough to make me want to kick a soccer ball into the next county.

Pssst. C'mere...

I am not a financial advisor. I know just enough to be dangerous. Actually, I probably don't know enough and am; therefore, dangerous.

With that encouraging disclaimer out of the way, I'm going to give you a hot stock tip.

Invest in facial tissue.

I'm serious. I am personally buying enough Kleenex and Puffs Plus right now to totally make it a worthwhile venture.

The advent of warmer weather has unleashed some killer pollen. Don't believe the hype about flowers and their beauty. Their beauty is a masquerade. They draw you in with their loveliness. You even lean down to inhale their fragrance and suck up even more of their powerful pollen potion into your airways.

Then you wonder why in the world you can't breathe. Your nasal passages close up completely, yet your nose drips like a faucet defying the laws of physics. I suggest you round out your portfolio with sinus and allergy medicine while you're at it.

All I ask is a small percentage of your profits.

Worry Threads

Fingering the threads of worry on the fabric of my day,
all it will take is a gentle tug--
and I will come undone.

(written 3-5-09 after a stressful day. I found myself overwhelmed and once the day was over, looked back worrying that my interactions with people during my workday.)

Here We 'Grow' Again

I know kids grow quickly. People tell me daily. I observe it for myself in my own child.

We've sailed through most of this growing up process.

No colic, sleeping through the night right on schedule--piece of cake. There was a little hesitancy in walking, but my girl is a cautious one and just took her time mastering that skill. We mired down in the murky waters, if you will, of potty training; but have gotten the hang of that as well. I'm coming to term with the fact that I put my child to bed one night and she was 3 months old and the next morning it seemed she'd turned into a 3 year old. I breezed through her first day of school with flying colors. No tears (on her part or mine.) Only enthusiastic excitement about school that continues to this day.

We've even signed her up for kindergarten and I am having only minor heart palpitations over it.

But I've finally encountered a milestone that has set me back on my heels. One from which I may never recover because once we pass through this, there will be no vestige left of the little girl I now have. I never imagined how six little words would knock me to my knees and leave me flabbergasted:

"Mommy! I have a loose tooth!"

I have braced myself for everything, even her leaving for college.

But I'm not ready for this.

Not at all.